Kathleen Ernst

press release: Bestselling author Kathleen Ernst writes mysteries, historical fiction and non-fiction for adults and young readers, and poetry. To date 1.9 million audio, ebook, and printed copies of her 42 published books have been purchased. 

Over the years Kathleen's work has earned many honors, including a National Park Service Residency, a Daughters of the American Revolution National Award for Literature, a Major Achievement Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers, the Sterling North Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, an Emmy for Children's Educational TV, Edgar Allan Poe and Agatha Christie mystery award nominations, and more.

About Between These Rivers:

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, 1895. Bordered by mountains and the mighty Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, the area’s scenic beauty is legendary. A dark current is rippling through the town, however, and threatening to tear lives apart.

Ida Mae Parker will soon graduate from high school. Although her parents want her to become a teacher, she yearns to become a professional singer. A descendant of enslaved people, Ida Mae wants to focus on her studies and to stay away from trouble caused by the Jim Crow laws designed to keep Black people from thriving. As racial ugliness targets her own family, though, she struggles to find her place in the world.

Circumstances force Hazel Whitaker to leave home and support herself. Finding only wretched jobs, survival becomes difficult. She longs to create a better future for herself, but her dearest dream of becoming a photographer seems impossible to achieve.

Hazel and Ida Mae have nothing in common. When fate throws them together, however, an unlikely friendship emerges. After tragedies strike, will supporting each other provide the inner strength that Ida Mae and Hazel need to stand tall for themselves?