The Women In No Man's Land by Liz Hamlin

The Women In No Man's Land by Liz Hamlin

When four women check into The Last Resort, a luxurious cabin nestled among rolling Ohio Valley hills, they are complete strangers to each other and to Cassandra, the owner of a secluded retreat for women only. They come from diverse geographic, cultural, and financial backgrounds; they differ in appearance, attitude, and social status. They have only three common denominators - gender, widowhood, and personal secrets which motivate them to temporarily black-ball men from their lives. A substantial ABSOLUTELY NO MEN PERMITTED ON PREMISES sign securely attached to the gate leading into Wit's End Road is welcome assurance to the women guests that the problems which prompted them to take time out from the male sex would not be worsened by a man's presence. The only exception to the edict abolishing males is Shep Stephens who temporarily lives with his young son in a cabin at the far end of Wit's End Road. Shep is hired by Cassandra to be her caretaker while he waits for an opening for his handicapped seven-year old to attend a school for the deaf in Columbus. Cassandra's quarantine against males includes the boy who ignores the sign on the gate repeatedly trespasses on her property to fish in the nearby Muskingum River. Cassandra's angry confrontation with Shep about his son's repeated trespassing makes her late in picking up her first guest who arrives by Greyhound. The second guest flies in on Peidmont, the third comes by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and the last drives herself. Their varying modes of travel are indicative of the differences among the four women who will share one cabin for thirty days. During their first week of togetherness, the women begin to interact. Animositiesand affections develop and continue to become stronger during the second week. Early in the third week, Shep is summoned to take his son to be tested at the school for the deaf. The women will be on their own. While he is gone, Cassandra and her four guests are trapped i

Author Liz Hamlin has written many books, including two mainstream novels, The Women on Country Club Drive and The Women In No Man's Land; two contemporary histories, Dorie And Me and I Remember Valentine; and one suspense novel, The Woman Next Door (subtitled Where's Miss Mary?). Two of Liz's works have been published in Germany and France.

I Remember Valentine was selected by the American Library Association as one of the best Young Adult novels of 1987; Kirkus Reviews calls the novel poignant, nostalgic, and affectionately moving. It was once optioned by United Artists, and is presently in the hands of an experienced script writer. Dorie And Me was one of the six finalists in the official EPPIE-2004 historical category.

Liz earned her Masters degree from Goddard College in Vermont, and taught in New Jersey for several years. Her teaching background provided ample material for writing a play, Faculty Room, and a contemporary novel, Little Mothers, which realistically portrays five middle-school girls who have nothing in common other than being very young and very pregnant.

When not writing, Liz is a freelance editor. She edited and helped write a non-fiction book, The Intangible Terror, which relates the life story of a victim of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). She has served as President and Vice President of the Eastern Shore Writer's Association, and is a member of the International Women Writers Guild.