More on Rolfe Author, Ruth Agle and Hazel Twigg & The Hollyhock Hideaway

As promised, here is Ruth's bio.  She announced on her blog yesterday that there will be a very special price for her books ordered on Amazon on Black Friday!  Think Christmas gifts! 

Hazel Twigg & the Hollyhock Hideaway is basically about three things.

The first is Iowa: Ruth Agle is the middle child in a family of seven kids whose dad had a healthy dose of wanderlust. She’s lived in many places from Hawaii to England. Nine years ago, she moved to a small, dusty town in Iowa with a population of less than 600 because it beckoned her with its flashing stoplight and cold but welcoming people.

The second is dolls: For the past 25 years Ruth has been collecting composition (sawdust and glue) dolls from the 1920s and 30s. These dolls are often found abandoned in attics or forgotten in closets or tucked away in barns. She gently restores these O.L.D.s (Once-Loved Dolls) and makes new clothing for them so that they can go back out into the world and be loved once again.

And third: All her life, Ruth has believed in magic. She read all the Oz books she could get her hands on and dreamed of one day visiting that place.
Which brings us to her book.
Hazel Twigg is a little girl with no known relatives other than her overprotective mother, who never lets Hazel out of her sight. One ordinary day, two things happen to Hazel that have never happened before: her mother not only lets her out of her sight, but she puts her on a train to an unknown destination to meet a relative. A relative! From the moment Hazel meets Aunt Ruth, strange things start to happen. Hazel finds herself pulled into a world of magic, where old dolls come to life and sinister forces use every means in their power to remove Hazel from the Hollyhock Hideaway and to stop Hazel from achieving her destiny as the last Holder in the Hollyhock line. And it all happens in a tiny town in the Midwest. Land of Scotcharoos, ham balls, and tenderloin sandwiches the size of platters.

Hazel Twigg & the Hollyhock Hideaway is a very homegrown book in its very early stages of life. It’s the first in a series. The entire book is 81,000 words and 410 pages long. Even though it is novel length, it has been beautifully illustrated done by artist Nina Khalova, who lives in the Ukraine. It’s available on Amazon, or if you happen to catch a “Hazel Twigg” presentation at your local library, books will be available for purchase there. For more information or to contact Ruth, go to hazeltwigg.com/blog. 

another of the amazing illustrations in the book