Arts
Author Susan Miura successfully combines mystery, romance, and Christian Fiction in a delightful, award-winning novel, SHARDS OF LIGHT. Ice crystalizes around Shilo’s heart, threatening to plunge her into darkness as she’s gripped by evil. And it is only Week Two of her summer-long exile to Sicily. But Shilo will face the evil, and the torment of missing Kenji, because the reason she crossed an ocean is worth that and more. Nonna Marie, her great-grandmother. The one who set their family tree on fire. Years ago, she received The Gift – a miraculous, divine power to heal. The same power bestowed upon Shilo just before her seventeenth birthday. Becoming a Healer has already led to danger and heartache, but it is nothing compared to what lies ahead. High on Mt. Etna, in a centuries-old convent, Shilo will discover the horrors of human trafficking, heroic feats propelled by courage and faith, and the unbearable pain of another loss. On a ballet stage halfway around the world, Melody grand jetés into a life-changing moment. But after years of strenuous preparation, something goes terribly wrong. When she regains consciousness, her ballet dreams lie shattered, piercing Melody with shards of hopelessness. What is life without ballet? And how will she survive this ordeal without Shilo? As Melody struggles to piece together the fragments of her broken life, she reflects on the Nigerian-Russian parents she never knew, and a pair of hauntingly familiar ebony eyes. About Susan: Susan Miura grew up in the Chicago suburbs, reading voraciously, longing for a horse and longing to see the world. After attaining her goal of becoming a newspaper reporter, she headed for the wide-open spaces of New Mexico, until her heart lead her back home to Illinois. Love and marriage followed, along with a career in public relations. Susan works for the Schaumburg Township District Library, teaches writing workshops, gives travel presentations, reviews books for The Book Report, and serves as president of ACFW-Chicago.