DEBORAH K. SHEPHERD’S first novel, So Happy Together, was published in 2021 when she was 74. Her essays have appeared in Oldster Magazine; Fauxmoir; Motherwell Magazine; Herstry; Eat. Darling, Eat; Persimmon Tree, and more, and her Covid-themed essay was a winner in the Center for Interfaith Relations 2020 Sacred Essay Contest. A retired social worker, she spent much of her career focused on the prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault and the provision of services to survivors. The mother of two and grandmother of two, Deborah lives in Maine with her husband and one sweet, jaunty rescue dog.
AN OLD MAN’S DARLING
“…unflinchingly honest….a thoughtful and multidimensional examination of love, power, and self that doesn’t shy away from asking difficult questions.”
– KIRKUS REVIEWS
In her captivating memoir, Deborah K. Shepherd examines her first great love, with a man thirty-four years her senior. In 1968 and at age 21, Shepherd ditched college in Tucson for hippie life in New York. When that soured, she found a low-level corporate job, where she met Bill Shepherd, an unhappily married, 55-year-old senior executive. That they had a fling is unsurprising for the time. What is surprising is that they stayed together, for twenty years and two children, despite their age gap, differing religions, and society’s expectations. With today’s perspective, and the benefits of both age and hindsight, Shepherd revisits her past, scouring old letters and asking tough questions, of herself and about
romantic love, religious roots, judgement from others, and feminism. But she offers no easy answers in what becomes a powerful, engrossing, and unforgettable read about an unlikely love.
“We all have facile opinions about a young woman falling for a much older man, stereotypes that…were totally overturned.”
– JEAN ZORN, PUBLISHER, PERSIMMON TREE
“… an insightful, tender and generous account of Deborah K.
Shepherd’s May-December marriage to her first husband. It’s a
tribute and a confession wrapped in a love story, bringing the reader
deep into the nuances of youth, aging and the mysterious power of
connection. I didn’t want it to end.”
-Blair Glaser, author of This Incredible Longing
“…an incredibly compelling and well-written love story. More importantly, I appreciated Deb’s thoughtful and multi-faceted examination of the relationship—from the points of view and social mores of both her younger and older self.”
– Elly Burnett, anodyne bookshop
“…pulls triple-duty as a love story, an interrogation of feminism,
and a front-row seat to a generation’s worth of significant events in American history. In compelling prose… readers are allowed inside the author’s awareness of all the ways her personal story might seem to contradict what we think we know about men and women, power dynamics, families, and what love can look like when we’re open to all possibilities. Right until the last page,
Shepherd’s story denies us easy answers, and we are better for
having lingered in the questions she poses.”
– Penny Guisinger, author of Shift: A Memoir of Identity and Other Illusions and Postcards from Here
‘…searingly honest and deeply moving….A free-spirited, young woman with low self-esteem, Shepherd falls madly in love with the middle-aged, unhappily married man steeped in the corporate world, both of them hungry for that life-affirming validation of being truly seen, desired, and understood. From the wild passion of the early years, to the money troubles and squabbles of domestic life, to the inevitable and harsh reality of time catching up to the couple’s magical
thinking, it is a testament to the mantra that “age is just a number,” until it becomes much, much more.”
-Nina B. Lichtenstein, author of Body: My Life in Parts
“…captures the spirit of a young woman who falls madly with every bone in her body in love with a married, mature colleague. Despite their huge age difference and differing religious backgrounds, their love lasts. What could have ended up a disaster is a surprising story with the usual—and unusual—ups and downs. A heart-capturing tale…”
– Jennifer Lang, author of Places We Left
Behind: a memoir-in-miniature and Landed: A yogi’s memoir in pieces & poses
AVAILABLE NOW
and from your favorite independent bookstore.
So Happy Together
Winner of the 2022 Firebird Book Award for Marriage Fiction; Third Place for New Fiction; Third Place for Relationship Fiction
Finalist in the 2022 American Writing Awards in the categories of Debut Fiction and Women’s Fiction
Read the first few pages of Deborah’s debut novel, So Happy Together, HERE..
My first novel, So Happy Together, entered the world on April 20, 2021.
Gestation period: 30+ years.
You can purchase my book at your favorite local bookstore or favorite online retailer—where you can also purchase the ebook and audiobook.
So Happy Together is available from you favorite local, independent bookstore or online retailer. EBook and Audiobook versions are also available.
AVAILABLE NOW
For more information, please contact my publicist:
Melissa Gerety
MCG Creates
207-299-0485 / melissagerety@mcgcreates.com