News
Cathy Stucker, Selling Books.com interview with Lois West Duffy - 2/6/2011
This is your first book, right? Tell us a bit about it.
Yes, it’s my first book, and is meant to be the first of a series of books with young girls as the heroines, but in an exotic time and place—2,000 years ago in the Middle East. This book, Zillah’s Gift, is a story of miracles, and the adventures of a girl who follows a star and three princely sages to a destiny beyond anything she could have imagined.
Why this story, and why now?
Several reasons. First of all, I wanted to write stories that place girls into familiar stories from the Bible; too often, girls’ and women’s stories haven’t been told. I want to write stories to make history and myth come alive. I think of Zillah’s Gift as a fable, putting a girl in the story of the Magi.
And it’s a coming-of-age book, with Zillah as a role model; a story of loss, but also of acceptance. My character, Zillah is an orphan–I always loved orphan books as a child. Something about that feeling of risk, I think, with no parents to stop you from taking fearful chances. She is forced to fight off bullies and bandits. Worse, Zillah has a birthmark on her face that makes her an outcast in the caravan serai where she lives.Click here for full interview.
Ben Franklin Award Finalist - 5/4/2010. Click here for story.
"Lois West Duffy is Back: Youth literature Zillah’s Gift is set in Middle East"
Article featuring Lois in Albert Lea Tribune, 10/16/2009. Click here for full story.
"Local Author Writes Biblical Story for Girls: Lois West Duffy's Zillah's Gift takes young girl on adventure with Magi"
Article featuring Lois in Woodbury Bulletin, 10/28/2009. Click here for full story.
"Zillah’s Gift's is Christmas tale of adventure, faith"
Article featuring Lois in The Catholic Spirit, 12/17/09. Click here for full story.
Media Kit
Info sheet: Zillah's Gift
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Press release: "New Young Adult Novel Tells of a Girl in the Magi Story"
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Photo of author Lois West Duffy
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Book cover: Zillah's Gift
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