New Page 1

Louella's nonfiction book While in Darkness There is Light, forthcoming with Black Lawrence Press, is now available for preorder at Amazon. The book follows the friendship of five young American men who became expatriates in Australia during the Vietnam War.

"A bittersweet coming-of-age story that wanders from Harvard Yard to the Australian outback to the jungles of Laos, While in Darkness There is Light recaptures some of what was most inspiring and some of what was most heartbreaking about America in the early 1970s. This book is both a celebration and an elegy; it filled me with an enduring sense of wonder and of loss." -- George Howe Colt, author of The Big House

"This riveting book held me from start to finish. It's a wonderfully researched story of idealism, a portrait of an era, and a narrative of unusual force that takes us into unlikely, dark, beautiful places. Louella Bryant has done an admirable job here, summoning an era of remarkable dreams. I won't forget this book for a long time, if ever."

"As much a chronicle of a lost time and generation, Louella Bryant’s WHILE IN DARKNESS THERE IS LIGHT is a gripping portrait of a valiant yet troubled group of idealists, free spirits, and the scions of the American aristocracy trying to navigate a turbulent time. Told in unadorned yet compelling prose, Bryant brings the reader on a journey from the prep schools of the East Coast to a commune in Australia and the jungles of Laos, and in doing so, creates a story that trades not in nostalgia but in inspiration." -- Robin Hemley, author of Nola: A Memoir of Faith, Art, and Madness

"A well-researched, straightforward recounting of the adventures and misadventures of a group of privileged young expatriates during the Vietnam era. The book explores how -- with idealism, a deeply engrained sense of entitlement, and, in the case of Charlie Dean, tragic results -- they tested themselves against the world." -- Laurie Alberts, author of Lost Daughters

Louella is a writer, a reader, a teacher, and a community activist. She has published short stories, essays and poems in anthologies and literary magazines. She also has two young adult novels about the Civil War period, The Black Bonnet and Father By Blood. She also has a picture book, Two Tracks in the Snow, about adaptive skiing.

The Black Bonnet: "Bryant writes a compelling story with lively characters that will give young readers a new perspective on everyday life for slaves as well as the anxieties of running for freedom." Booklist

Far From Home: A compelling new anthology of essays in paperback . . . provides much inspiration for engaged and adventurous parenting. Seattle Post-Intelligencer

For more information on Spalding's fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, playwriting and writing for children programs, visit Spalding's website.