Midwest Writers Room
Podcast from the Wisconsin Writers Association. We discuss all things writerly, with an emphasis on the unique flavor of works that originate in the Midwest.
Midwest Writers Room
Chapter Break with Joan Elizabeth Bauer
BIO:
Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Joan Elizabeth Bauer lives with her husband Paul in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they have raised three children. Joan holds a master’s degree in English from Marquette University and has worked as a trust officer in a bank. Her short fiction and book reviews have appeared in various journals, including Dappled Things, The Windhover, and Last Syllable. “Consignment,” a novelette, was published in 2023. The Bicycle Messenger is her debut novel.
SYNOPSIS:
In the 1970s, when a distant cousin dies unexpectedly, Mary Ellen and Charles Hawley agree to adopt his seven-year-old son Steven. The child’s birth mother, a Polish immigrant, has schizophrenia and can't assume custody. Steven later develops bipolar disorder, and when a manic swing sends him on a quixotic journey to Poland, Mary Ellen agrees to harbor a secret no mother should ever keep.
The Bicycle Messenger is a story of generational trauma that stretches from the last days of the Kraków ghetto in 1942 all the way to 2016. But it is also a story of unexpected grace.
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