Hazel Warlaumont

Mildred Penniwink Hazel Warlaumont

Mildred Penniwink, unpredictable, quirky, and bits and pieces of every woman, drives a public bus in Myers Junction, a small but charming town quintessentially part of the Midwestern landscape. Our first glimpse is of a woman in crisis, denying a tragedy she carries in some protected corner of her soul, revealed only through an unexpected confrontation with a gang of thugs riding and vandalizing her bus. The audacity of her response is shocking and misguided, but deviously fun. In the process, we meet the townspeople who ride her bus, and witness how both community and adversity can lead to awareness and empowerment. Mildred comes to life on the page as both flawed and poignant; an ordinary woman put in an extraordinary situation. Yet it's the dazzling odyssey of a woman piecing her world together in search of herself that captures our attention. The humor takes us away only temporarily as we explore, along with Mildred, the darker underbelly of loneliness and loss. Her image lingers in the mind even after the last page.