About the Author

Born in Michigan's downriver district, author Sharon M. Clarke, the eldest of five siblings grew up in a traditional middleclass home. Her mother was a homemaker while her laboring father toiled in the tough steel industry. Each year, during school holidays, the young family packed their bits and bobs and traversed the Ohio, Pennsylvania Turnpike to visit the kinfolk left behind. Sharon, being young and impressionable, absorbed the romantic tales her, Pap Pap, great grandfather told while exploring the by then abandoned coal yard, coke ovens and slate dump. From a child's prospective, the combination was magical and influenced the author to write her own story about the mines. Her first novel, Mourning Redemption, became such a hit with her readers that she followed their insistance and wrote its sequel. Sharon's keen whit and sometimes caustic sense of humor comes shining through the pages in both her novels. While Mourning Redemption made the reader cry, Morgan's Crossing will make them cheer. With pen and paper put aside, Sharon will return to her love of painting and plans to learn the guitar.