Introducing Dyed in the Wool

Winter 2013

Dyed in the Wool is set in Arizona and the Navajo Nation and features Annie, a chemist, weaver and stepmother of two teens, Dylan and Walt. Annie’s husband has been assigned to Uruguay to launch a communications satellite and will be gone for three months. This leaves Annie and the boys to learn to live with one another, and the boys are soon in trouble. Annie decides to take them out of town, away from bad influences  and the Navajo reservation is her destination. Once the three are ‘on the rez’ they find toxins in the water. So the saga begins.

Preparation for this book encompasses a lifetime of interest in other cultures, particularly Native American, an anthropology course on Native Peoples at Stanford University and a great deal of library and internet research. The most important additional research involved interviews with many who have spent years of their lives in the Navajo Nation, and the Navajo people themselves. The story itself grew out of my own experiences and the generous sharing of expertise by others, especially my daughter, Elaine, a geologist who spent years working in the hazardous waste industry.

Those unfamiliar with the Navajo culture will have a glimpse of it through this book. Should you want a look at one woman’s parenting skills under trying circumstances, you’ll find it here. Most important of all, this is a mystery.
Enjoy!