Elizabeth Zinn

The Happiness Lottery Elizabeth Zinn

Publisher Marketing: The Happiness Lottery By Elizabeth Zinn It is Christmas Eve in an affluent suburb of Detroit, located on a lake looking across to the Canadian shore. A horrific accident launches a series of events that generate the story in The Happiness Lottery. Anna Thiers' parents are killed instantly, and she will spend months recovering from her grave injuries - both to her body and her spirit. A compassionate psychologist, Peter Wheaton, guides her through the first weeks after she awakens from a coma, and becomes a steadfast friend throughout the book. He also takes on the job of counseling her troubled grandmother, Elizabeth Brady, who is appointed guardian of both Anna and her little brother, Toby. As Anna struggles to regain her health she is caught up in Elizabeth's neurotic behavior and her own fragile emotions. And Peter Wheaton becomes increasingly pessimistic about Elizabeth's ability to cope with her grandchildren as he uncovers more and more of her past. We also now learn of Peter's bouts of extreme depression, his own demons and the anguish he endures from extraordinary hallucinations. After an outburst of rage Anna banishes Elizabeth from the house for good -- an act that can't be undone and will determine the future for both of them. The Happiness Lottery is a collection of intertwined personal journeys: Anna's difficult path back to health after a devastating accident and her metamorphosis from a surly adolescent into a mature young woman; Elizabeth's passage from a horribly damaged early life to existence as a bitter older woman and beyond, to hope and peace; finally, Peter's brave struggle to overcome his own personal demons and a final confrontation with his destiny. Written with compassion and a deep perception of human relationships, The Happiness Lottery lingers in the mind long after the last page is turned. Contributor Bio:  Zinn, Elizabeth Heart's Blood received the coveted Kirkus Star. Kirkus says, "The author's love for Arizona is immersed in her lyrical writing, as the impact of environment on family is threaded wonderfully into various plotlines... Zinn's characterization is purposeful, deep and rich... An eloquent, refreshing perspective of the struggles faced by those living along the Mexican border." The San Francisco Book Reviews gives Heart's Blood 5 of 5 stars, and says, "A nostalgic western mixed with a modern drama primed with enough action to keep you wanting more. Every character, and even the animals, feels genuine in this book. After reading this book, the people in it will stay with you forever--that is how powerful these characters are emotionally. But the best thing about this book is its heart." Elizabeth Zinn graduated from the University of Michigan. She attended the University of Paris as a Fulbright Scholar, and enjoyed a long academic career in music. She then spent eight years as Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Arizona before retiring to write full-time. As a fiction writer Ms. Zinn has now completed three novels. Two of them, Dancer and Heart's Blood, are set on the southwestern border and share some of the same characters. In its short story form, Dancer, won an Honorable Mention in Glimmertrain's 2010 Short Story Award for New Writers competition, placing it in the top 5% of over a thousand other works. Heart's Blood won Honorable Mention in the Leapfrog Press 2011 Fiction Contest, placing it in the top 3% of entries. Her third novel, The Happiness Lottery, is set in Michigan, where she grew up. She has also authored a collection of short stories, a number of poems, and is hard at work on a fourth novel. Ms. Zinn lives and writes in a small town on the mountains of southern Arizona.