K. Paxton
If you love stories about family secrets, you will adore Stay Out of That Room! By Clare Bills. Or if like me you come from a small family with no sisters, you will love Bills’s keyhole view of a large family of sisters in the 1960s. Stay Out of That Room! Is a summer coming of age story set on a Midwestern lake where two of the sisters learn about family secrets, boy crushes, their aging aunt and each other. They learn that life is never as it appears to be on the surface.
In Stay Out of That Room! Clare Bills addresses timeless and serious topics in a lovely setting with her keen sense of humor. You will almost smell Aunt Polly’s old house and feel the tingle of young love as you watch Cindy and Kitty claim their independence while seeking forbidden family clues and scoring first dates with the boys next door.
Reading this book made me go back and find “Mountains of Trouble,” also by Clare Bills. “Mountains” is set in a more distant time and place, but also addresses timeless struggles of young women trying to weave their ways through difficult situations.
In Stay Out of That Room! Clare Bills addresses timeless and serious topics in a lovely setting with her keen sense of humor. You will almost smell Aunt Polly’s old house and feel the tingle of young love as you watch Cindy and Kitty claim their independence while seeking forbidden family clues and scoring first dates with the boys next door.
Reading this book made me go back and find “Mountains of Trouble,” also by Clare Bills. “Mountains” is set in a more distant time and place, but also addresses timeless struggles of young women trying to weave their ways through difficult situations.
Clare Bills
Clare Bills is a Minnesota author with three published novels. She holds an MS in journalism, three BA degrees and is a graduate of Brown Institute for broadcasting. She worked in radio, public relations while also teaching at Iowa State University. She's also completed courses in writing from the Institute of Children's Literature, and novel writing from Jerry Jenkins, Susie May Warren, and James Scott Bell.