When Julie Crawford’s whirlwind four-year-old is kicked out of preschool, suspected of having ADHD—likely genetic—her husband moans from his recliner that “even my genes are failures.” At work, Julie is a high school math teacher who requires her students to solve complex problems. But faced with an unsafe daycare home and no other daycare openings, a husband who hates the idea of labeling their son as a “problem,” and a supervisor who’s angry at the amount of time she’s taking off school, she’s at a loss for how to come up with a solution to this particular dilemma.
After writing hundreds of government reports, Lorelei Brush has stepped into the glorious freedom of fiction. She loves to occupy a comfy coffee house chair and imagine her characters acting out each scene.
Her first novel, “Uncovering,” came from her experience managing a large USAID-funded education project in the northwestern part of Pakistan. She was inspired by the strength and resilience of the women on her staff and invented a group of characters working to improve the health of pregnant women and their children as they confronted the severe restrictions of fundamentalist Islam.
“Chasing the American Dream” rolled from her pen following a six-month stint in the National Archives researching the role of her father in the Office of Strategic Services in World War II. He’d told his children exciting stories of his feats as a spy behind enemy lines, all of which turned out to be lies. She had to write about his quest to be a hero and how, when the war had not provided the opportunity, he might have used the 1950’s to achieve his goal. This second novel will be out October 2, 2020.
Along with two gentle cats, she lives outside of Washington, D.C. in a community of good neighbors, friends, and fellow writers. In her spare time she reads novels, sings with a community chorus, hikes, and works out at the gym.
