NEW BOOK ALERT: "EAST OF EVERYWHERE," AVAILABLE NOW!

News Release | November 11, 2021

 

On November 11, my fourth novel, East of Everywhere, was released across all major retailers. This novel, set across the 1940s and 50s, explores the struggles and joys of seventeen-year-old Janie as she runs away from an orphanage towards the place she calls home.

From the description: 
 

It’s been almost a decade since the end of the war, when the telegram first arrived at their house on Lennox Lane.

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Four years since the apartment on Harker Street, where food was scarce and nights were long and their mother slept away her grief.

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Three months since Janie was forced to leave her little brother, Brayden, and best friend, Leo, behind at Anthers Hall.

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Two weeks since she stole a bicycle and ran away from the new children’s home on the other side of the state.

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One day since she arrived in Montours City.

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No one knows her secrets in this small town. If Janie is going to make it back to her brother and the only place she’s ever called home, she needs to keep it that way. But when a hard-hearted widow, a boy in a boxcar, and a dog named Panda weave their way into her life, Janie begins to wonder if what she’s searching for isn't better off laid to rest.

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To find out more about Janie's journey, including where to purchase hardcover, paperback, and digital copies, check out the book's main page: East of Everywhere.

 

GOLD IN THE DAYS OF SUMMER - RE-RELEASE

News Release | October 26, 2021

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Return to Annie's world and the summer of 1979 with the re-release of GOLD IN THE DAYS OF SUMMER!

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The new, revised edition has been polished and contains bonus material such as a new short story set prior to the start of the novella, Annie's diary entries, and a sneak peek of her neighbor, the soldier's story, in next year's release, Ashes in Autumn. The book was released on October 26, 2021 in honor of my grandmother's birthday, to whom this book is dedicated. Learn more in the blog post or visit the Gold in the Days of Summer page for information and purchasing options!

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KIRKUS FEATURED REVIEW
Kirkus Indie Review | December 1, 2020

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The Last Letter was favorably reviewed and selected by Kirkus Indie editors to be included in the 12/1 issue of Kirkus Reviews! The Last Letter is one of thirty-five reviews in the independent author section of the December issue of Kirkus Reviews magazine. According to Kirkus, less than 10% of indie authors are selected for this feature. Read the full review for The Last Letter below or check it out here: Kirkus Reviews.

 

Adolescence is bad enough, but suppose you also have Lyme disease and no one can diagnose it?

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In this novel, Amelia “Lia” Garrett Lenelli is your garden variety teenager. But in addition to the usual teen angst, she has more subtle problems—such as getting a D on a test that she should have aced (she’s clearly bright, a good student) and then experiencing panic attacks, memory loss, and physical debilitation. She has been referred to a therapist, a guy who simply sits patiently and encourages her to keep producing the letters that she has admitted to writing and burying in her garden in a “time capsule”: her old My Little Pony lunchbox. These letters, addressed to “Dear Whoever You Are,” make this a strange sort of epistolary novel and form the basis and bulk of the book. Lia has a loving and supportive family. She gets even more support (eventually) from her friend Mollie’s big brother, Josh. But a big problem is that Lyme disease is so mysterious that many of her friends (like Mollie) simply don’t believe that she is really sick, but rather that she is some sort of drama queen. She finds all of this maddening. The doctors have no clue—Lia is losing patience with them and they with her. Finally, almost as a fluke, Lia finds a fellow sufferer. Yes, it’s Lyme disease, and yes, there is a kindly physician who understands and treats it. A slow recovery begins, though there can be relapses. Battles are won, but Lia acknowledges that “the war still lingers dormant within me.”

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“Whoever You Are” is, of course, you, dear reader, a powerful device to yank you into the riveting story. (Ultimately, while planting a rose bush, Lia’s father unearths the lunchbox, but that is just a bit of stagecraft.) Pogorzelski is an experienced writer and has created a wonderful character in Lia, who is tough but always on the brink of being overwhelmed. The teen also has a wicked way with observations. When the Lenellis decide to have a garage sale, to Lia it looks “like our childhood threw up all over our lawn.” Lia finds school excruciating, with the students being pack-oriented. She is sidelined, if not outright ostracized. Readers will feel her agony, anger, and, most of all, her growing fear. At one point, she comes close to suicide. One exception among the well-meaning but unhelpful people is Lia’s nameless shrink. He has a past of his own from his stint in Vietnam and resists any facile judgments, setting her on the writing therapy path. In some ways, he seems no more helpful than the others, but Lia realizes an essential wisdom in him and suspects that he is a fellow sufferer, not from Lyme disease but from a deep sadness, having seen too much. He is a strong character who clearly represents a lesson in trust. Like Holden Caulfield, Lia can spot a phony a mile off; her therapist is the real deal. In an afterword, readers will discover that this is actually the author’s own story, slightly fictionalized. Pogorzelski is now a crusader and provides helpful links for those who are suffering as she was.

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A gripping, sensitively written account of a terrible affliction that is more common than realized.

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NEW BOOK ALERT: "LILAC IN WINTER," AVAILABLE NOW!

News Release | March 26, 2019

 

On March 26, 2019, my newest book, Lilac in Winter, was released across all major retailers. This novel--a coming of age story about a sixteen year old girl with a terminal illness who lives her life in daydreams--is in many ways a companion to 2016's The Last Letter for how it explores the emotional vulnerability of living with a chronic or terminal illness. 

From the description: 
 

Lilac Sophia Carpenter is sixteen years old. She’s going to be sixteen years old for the rest of her life. 

Confined to her bed as her health declines, Lilac lives her life in daydreams, imagining her love story to her former best friend, Nathan Emery. But Lilac and Nathan haven’t talked since that fateful night—the night of her sister’s wedding, when her health worsened and his life unraveled and the already-fractured pieces of their friendship became irreparable.

With the comfort of her daydreams becoming more and more elusive, Lilac must decide if reality can be greater than her own imagination when there’s little time left for living. 
 

To find out more about this fated love story, including where to purchase paperback and digital copies, check out the book's main page: Lilac in Winter: A Novel.

 

25TH ANNUAL WRITER'S DIGEST SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK AWARDS
Writer's Digest | October 12, 2017

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In October, I received notice that The Last Letter was selected as an Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest 25th Annual Self-Published Book Awards competition. The official announcement on the Writer's Digest website will be up in 2018, but in the meantime, here's what the judge had to say: 

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Teens reeling with personal and national crises will find themselves in this teen girl’s voice. The story evolves from a letter writing assignment, completed out of duty, to a journal that provides much needed mooring through difficult times. The protagonist’s voice is the heart of the novel; she is earnest, honest, and her emotions and thoughts are easy to relate to. The book gives an inside look at what it was like to be a teen during September 11, 2001 and its aftermath—a time today’s teens don’t recall. The broader historical crises matches the tone of the difficulty in the character’s life, creating a resonance that will feel familiar and authentic to teens. The story will relate to a wide variety of teen readers, but particularly those who are dealing with Lyme disease or another chronic illness that it hard to live with, understand, and share about with others. The pace of the novel apt and the intensity of the narration increases at just the right times. The themes of loneliness and connection, despair and perseverance, and beauty in the midst of ugliness are timeless and vital to teen readers looking for something positive in life and in the world around them. The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and the interior page layout is well done too.

 

​"PUTTING THE PAIN TO PAPER"
Lancaster Newspapers | August 13, 2017

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I was featured in my local newspaper talking about The Last Letter, my Lyme disease story, and how it has affected my writing. Read the full story here!

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​PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY
BookLife Review | May 19, 2017

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BookLife has partnered with Publisher's Weekly to create a system by which PW reviews exceptional self-published books. Read the full review for The Last Letter below or check it out here: Publisher's Weekly (BookLife).

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Pogorzelski’s exceptional debut shares the challenges, dreams, fleeting optimism, and difficulties of 15-year-old Amelia Lenelli at the turn of the millennium. Adolescence is hard enough, but Amelia is facing other troubles: her physical and mental health are deteriorating. As the symptoms of her mysterious illness worsen—and the attempts to identify a diagnosis continue to fail—her friends disappear into their active lives while Amelia wonders if her own life is ending. She describes her struggles in letters addressed to “Whoever you are,” an imagined reader who fills the companionship void. She hides nothing, sharing the depression—and thoughts of suicide—that can accompany sickness, pubescence, and loneliness. Pogorzelski writes this semiautobiographical novel with authenticity, and her young character displays relentless wisdom in an honest, mouths-of-babes style.

 

​AUTHOR AIMS TO RAISE AWARENESS FOR LYME DISEASE IN NOVEL WAY

Official Press Release | September 20, 2016

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The official press release for The Last Letter was issued on September 20, 2016, marking the date of print publication and describing my Lyme Disease awareness efforts. Here's a small excerpt:

 

Written as a series of letters between 1999 and 2003, The Last Letter: A Novel is a classic coming-of-age tale about a teenage girl who struggles to shape her own identity while a chronic illness threatens to tear her world apart. Drawing on her own blog posts and personal journal entries for inspiration, Pogorzelski crafted a narrative that closely resembles her years-long health journey. “Writing about my experiences with Lyme Disease was necessary for my own emotional healing,” Pogorzelski explains. “I chose fiction as the medium because I was too close to the subject, the emotions still too raw. Fiction let me get close enough without living through the worst of it again.”

 

​Check out the full text here: Press Release.

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​PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY
Select Review | October 14, 2013

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In October of 2013, three months after its official release, Gold in the Days of Summer was one of 25 books chosen for a full review in Publisher's Weekly PW Select catalog, a print supplement exclusively devoted to indie books. Read the full review below or check it out here: Publisher's Weekly.

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It's the summer of 1979, Annie's 13th birthday is approaching, and change is in the sweltering air—none of it welcome. It's Annie's first summer without her best friend Ava, who is away at camp; the Vietnam veteran who lives next door, a confidante and adviser, is moving away; Connor, her neighborhood crush, seems smitten by the new girl moving into the vet's house; and her grandmother is sinking into dementia, something her parents try to shield her from. Annie's soulful attempts to sort things out are insightful and realistically muddled. Pogorzelski captures the sense of a girl holding onto the last days of a waning childhood—Annie prefers her memory-stained old sneakers to a new back-to-school pair, and she pans for gold in the local creek, which holds only rocks ("maybe everything was gold if you just looked at it the right way")—but who also recognizes that her life is at a turning point and that she's growing up. Relatable family dynamics enrich this promising debut. Ages 12–18.

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"LITITZ RESIDENT'S DEBUT IS GOOD AS 'GOLD'"

Lancaster Newspapers |September 6, 2013

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Gold in the Days of Summer was featured in the Sunday edition of the local newspaper.

Check out a copy of the article here: Sunday News.

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COMING-OF-AGE NOVELLA FROM DEBUT AUTHOR SPANS SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS
Official Press Release | July 22, 2013

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The official press release for Gold in the Days of Summer was issued on July 22, 2013, marking the date of print publication and introducing the interactive, social media initiatives as part of the storytelling. Here's a small excerpt:

 

Susan Pogorzelski is bringing her nostalgic debut book, Gold in the Days of Summer: A Novella, into the 21st century with breakthrough storytelling that spans the social media spectrum. Available in print and digital versions from Brown Beagle Books, the narration continues on the most popular social channels as readers get an in-depth look into the protagonist’s life leading up to the book’s 1979 events.

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Check out the full release here: Press Release.
 

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