Mary Ellen Campagna

The Blue Velvet Glove Mary Ellen Campagna

The Blue Velvet Glove is nearly 70,000 words of suspense, mystery and humor. The Memoir reads like suspense fiction but it's totally authentic non-fiction. The title comes from a quote from the author's mother. Toward the end of her life she said, "Don't worry about me; the real me is hidden deep down in a blue velvet glove where nothing can hurt me." Those words would come to haunt the protagonist's life in some mysterious and profound ways. Setting is tied both to the protagonist's physical and psychological roots, which are as wide and diverse as they are deep. They include: her heritage as the daughter of a highly successful woman in Northern Virginia and the niece of a famous theologian in D. C.; marriage, motherhood and deep depression in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwestern Virginia; teaching and writing in the Lowcountry of South Carolina; and teaching gigs in both South Korea and on a Navajo reservation in the Four Corners area of Arizona. Plot is arranged mostly in chronological sequence, but with some flashback. Each chapter holding its weight. There is a bittersweet love story featuring a lover who comes back over twenty years later. Some of the other complications are so bizarre that they seem fictional, but I have documentation. Conflict abounds and is, at times, astounding. For example, the protagonist barely escapes being murdered for her unbridled tongue and conspicuous actions in a racially discriminatory southern town. Yet, later she counsels the mentally ill and travels alone across the country to teach on a Navajo Reservation. Vividly detailed life experiences add complexity to the tone and give the reader more than a whiff of terror. Yet, in some places, the mood is refreshingly humorous. I earned a B. A. in English from Hollins University in 2000, and a Master's in Liberal Art Studies in 2002. I also did postgraduate work in education at the University of Virginia in 2003. I was a freelance journalist and a teacher for several decades. In addition, I counselled mentally ill adults until last year when I began writing full-time.
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