On November 22, 1963, the day of John Fitzgerald Kennedy's brutal assassination, Joanne Anderson, a young Detroit school teacher, traumatized by her hero's death, is further traumatized when her debonair boyfriend, Michael St. Clair, takes advantage of her sorrow by convincing her to have sex with him. The next day she learns through a newspaper clipping that Michael has another girlfriend, Susan Scott, the daughter of a wealthy socialite from Grosse Pointe, Michigan whom he plans to marry in just a few weeks.

When Joanne finds herself pregnant with Michael's child, she is sent on a riveting, karmic voyage of self-destruction and renewal as she searches for unconditional love in the arms of two controlling men: David Sanders, a narcissistic, only child and Derek Wilson, a pathological liar.

Mandy Badrian, was born in Sudbury, Ontario on May 6, 1942. She presently lives in Waterloo, Ontario but spends much of her year in either Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina or Destin, Florida. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in history and psychology from Wilfred Laurier University and a Bachelor of Education from Nipissing University. Her author's name is derived from her son’s names, Michael and Jeffrey. For most of her 35 years as a teacher, Michelle taught English, drama and mathematics at the junior high level. She is presently happily retired. She has held many leadership positions for the Waterloo Regional District School Board at the school level including chairperson of the English and mathematics liaison committees between junior and secondary panels, curriculum development leader for the junior high English program, and director and producer of musical productions for her school. She also served on the teaching team Project Overseas for the Ontario Teachers’ Federation in Sierra Leone, West Africa. This special team’s purpose was to upgrade teaching methods in third world countries.

In December, 1997, Michelle won second prize in the Toronto Sun column-writing contest for a discerning piece on her experience as a teacher as it related to the breakdown of education in Ontario. As well, in April of 2001, she won an award for her fitness article featured in the March issue of Fit magazine based in New York City. She also appeared twice in the Voices column of her local newspaper The Record, one article dealing with the changing climate in teaching through the years and the other dealing with the emotional fallout that occurs when a mother sends her child far away to university. Lastly, Michelle has won several awards for her poetry which appears in several American anthologies.

As part of her future career plan, Michelle hopes to take an active part in the marketing of her first novel and herself as a new author.She hopes as well, to publish her other three books: “The Phoenix Shall Rise” which deals with the theme of adoption, “Don’t Tell” which deals with the theme of incest, and her children’s story “Two Christmases”, a story about her younger brother, Timothy Robert Beaver, whose belief in Santa Claus is restored. This latter book will be illustrated by her son, Michael. Also, down the road, Michelle envisions herself as a seminar speaker on the issues that represent the themes threading her works.