Nel Rand, author

Mississippi Flyway

  In the lush literary tradition of such acclaimed Southern writers as Flannery O'Connor and Katherine Ann Porter, Nel Rand pens an extraordinary tale of one woman's search to uncover a past full of haunting family secrets.     Thirty-one year-old Ellie Moon goes on a three-week road trip with her estranged father, Tiny, conman and famous gambler. They follow the Mississippi River from St. Louis down to New Orleans, while being chased by a crazed Kentucky sheriff hell-bent on revenge on Tiny. Amidst poker games, an eating contest, a near drowning in the Mississippi River, and a Voodoo ceremony, Ellie retrieves memories from childhood that connect her dark past with the present. She learns that in order to forgive she must first remember.

    Nel Rand was born a stones throw from the Mississippi River, in St. Louis, and grew up in southern Illinois, and Kentucky. She now lives in a cabin in the woods near Portland, Oregon. Mississippi Flyway is her first novel. She has finished her second novel, "The Burning Jacket", and is currently working on a collection of short stories