TRIAL BY FAMILY tells a story of need, greed, love, and money–part family saga, part legal drama. Alvin Segal, desperate for a little peace, transfers a huge sum to his second wife. His grown children discover that the transaction jeopardizes the entire estate plan. The ensuing inheritance battle goes all the way to a jury trial, transforming everyone involved. TRIAL BY FAMILY combines compelling relationships, dark humor, and intense courtroom drama. The sibling protagonists–Alyssa, a hoarder living in her childhood home, Ken, a financially-stressed father and amputee, and Lorraine, the eldest, estranged from her sister–must earn genuine adulthood, as they publicly defend themselves against their stepmother, who plots to assure that this widowhood reaps more than her previous two. Told from multiple points of view, including the wise housekeeper, a gambler son-in-law, and dueling lawyers,TRIAL BY FAMILY tackles what families leave, inherit, and must let go. Gold Medal winner, 2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards for Best Regional Fiction Chapter One- TRIAL BY FAMILY TBF Press Kit  For Book Groups: Reader's Guide for TRIAL BY FAMILY PANDA TV YOUTUBE Interview (minute 15:26)–9/18/19 Q & A with Deborah Kalb 10/1/19 Review in "Earmark These 7 Books for October Reading" Chronogram Magazine 10/1/19 Interview w/Cheryl Jones on Good Grief, VoiceAmerica Radio 10/16/19 _LivingRhinebeck cover profile_July2020   LISTEN TO WVIA (NPR AFFILIATE) INTERVIEW on 3-BOOK EVENT   THE CHOCOLATE JAR AND OTHER STORIES  Explores the Everyday and the Extraordinary Award-winning author Roselee Blooston has written a collection of humorous, incisive, and poignant tales. Its 8 stories explore transgressions large and small, and the lingering power of past conflicts. Whether an intra-office escalation over candy in the award-winning title story; a couple nursing their marriage through a sick plant; a first job leading to first love; boundaries crossed between neighbors; a spa weekend reconciliation between sisters; a daughter resisting her mother’s intervention; a high school rivalry exploding into adulthood; or the struggle between a single mom and her teenage son, longing for his father––all will resonate with readers who relish short fiction that gets to the heart of everyday tensions and extraordinary ones. ADVANCE PRAISE for THE CHOCOLATE JAR AND OTHER STORIES: "Engrossing...An engaging collection of tales" ––Kirkus Reviews “The stories often teeter on the edge between satire and pathos, mixing bitter with sweet.”  ––National Book Award Nominee, Ellen Prentiss Campbell “Roselee Blooston has crafted a delightful collection of tales. She blends humor, love, and slices of life wherein we recognize our own inner spaces and the intrusions of unexpected truth…. Enjoyable and thought provoking!” ––Nancy Burke, author of Independent Press’ 2021 Distinguished Favorite, Only the Women are Burning “Roselee Blooston is a celebrant of the observant life, especially its enigmas and knots. The action that drives these compelling stories is her bravura perspicacity about our entanglements.” —Djelloul Marbrook, winner of the International Book Award for poetry "Life is hard, but sometimes there’s something to learn, or a silver lining. And sometimes, it’s just life. The stories in The Chocolate Jar and Other Stories by Roselee Blooston are hard-hitting, but it’s easy to connect with them and find yourself and your experiences in the stories...thought-provoking." ––Reader Views "Blooston examines everyday power struggles and how relationships fail or thrive in these eight stories." --Chronogram from "6 Books to Read This May" Order here on Goodreads,  Bookshop.orgAmazon and Barnes & Noble Q and A with Deborah Kalb Featured Fiction on Chick Lit Central

AVAILABLE NOW from Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, Apprentice House Press, or  your  independent bookstore.

 ADVANCE PRAISE:

“…tense, realistic, and relatable drama about the complicated nature of family, entitlement, money, and love.”

–Claudia Larsen, “Earmark These 7 Books for October Reading,” Chronogram Magazine

BuzzworthyMontclair Magazine, Fall 2019

very compelling

–Deborah Kalb, book blogger

A family and step-family struggle worthy of Shakespeare, a tense courtroom drama, unforgettable characters…Trial by Family kept me up all night! Roselee Blooston is a novelist to follow for years to come.”

–Alice Elliott Dark, author of In the Gloaming

Aptly compared to a Shakespearean entanglement, Blooston’s story…pulls the reader through each character’s perspective…Trial by Family is a compelling read.”

–Ann Hutton, Almanac Weekly 10/17/19

Roselee Blooston puts characters on the page that are as real and raw as you or ITrial by Family pairs a trio of adult siblings and their aging father with one heckuva antagonist–a scheming, conniving second wife who’s trying to assure her own healthy retirement while supporting a failed-to-launch kid and her spouse. Blooston allows the reader a kind of literary eavesdrop, an intimate peek at a battle no neighbor could keep from opening the window to overhear, and no passerby could help stopping to gawk at. Then, with kindness and wisdom, she gives us hope that we would do as well.”

–Jenny Milchman, USA Today bestselling author of Cover of Snow and Wicked River

 

“A fractured family comes together over a contested inheritance, only to reopen the wounds of deep sibling resentments. Masterfully told through tense courtroom drama and a shifting point of view that gives each player their turn on the stage, Trial by Family explores the complexities, the pitfalls and moments of clarity, that define the web we call love.”

–Marina Antropow Cramer, author of Roads: A Novel.

 

“Roselee Blooston’s Trial by Family is a devastating tour de force about a family’s slow-motion explosion, triggered by anger over an inheritance but really about the jealousies and losses within that have been festering for years. It may be too familiar to many, too honest and true, but Blooston lays it out for us with such insight and compassion––and, at times, humor––that we emerge shaken but wiser, disturbed but enlightened. We are thankful it is not our family, yet the power of the story-telling warns us that it very well may be.”

–Martin Golan, author of One Night with Lilith

 

“Roselee Blooston’s Trial by Familyis a tale of a family in crisis. It touches on many issues that we come across in our elder law estate planning practice. The raw emotions stirred up when a family fails to plan for the future, courtroom drama, and ultimate resolution are not only entertaining but act as a reminder that “getting your affairs in order” should be a priority… all of the characters are thoroughly engaging.  We recommend Ms. Blooston’s novel not only as a good read but as a cautionary tale as to how vital proper planning can be.”

–Michael Ettinger, President & attorney, Ettinger Law Firm

 

“Blooston shows a deep understanding of the complexities of adult sibling relationshipsTrial by Familyis a story of modern day family dynamics many of us will recognize, and many of us will relate to.”

–Gail H. Goodman, founder of Talking Alternatives, a family mediation firm

TRIAL BY FAMILY tells a story of need, greed, love, and money–part family saga, part legal drama. Alvin Segal, desperate for a little peace, transfers a huge sum to his second wife. His grown children discover that the transaction jeopardizes the entire estate plan. The ensuing inheritance battle goes all the way to a jury trial, transforming everyone involved. TRIAL BY FAMILY combines compelling relationships, dark humor, and intense courtroom drama. The sibling protagonists–Alyssa, a hoarder living in her childhood home, Ken, a financially-stressed father and amputee, and Lorraine, the eldest, estranged from her sister–must earn genuine adulthood, as they publicly defend themselves against their stepmother, who plots to assure that this widowhood reaps more than her previous two. Told from multiple points of view, including the wise housekeeper, a gambler son-in-law, and dueling lawyers,TRIAL BY FAMILY tackles what families leave, inherit, and must let go.

Gold Medal winner, 2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards for Best Regional Fiction

Chapter One- TRIAL BY FAMILY

TBF Press Kit 

For Book Groups: Reader’s Guide for TRIAL BY FAMILY

PANDA TV YOUTUBE Interview (minute 15:26)–9/18/19

Q & A with Deborah Kalb 10/1/19

Review in “Earmark These 7 Books for October Reading” Chronogram Magazine 10/1/19

Interview w/Cheryl Jones on Good Grief, VoiceAmerica Radio 10/16/19

_LivingRhinebeck cover profile_July2020  

LISTEN TO WVIA (NPR AFFILIATE) INTERVIEW on 3-BOOK EVENT

 

THE CHOCOLATE JAR AND OTHER STORIES
 Explores the Everyday and the Extraordinary

Award-winning author Roselee Blooston has written a collection of humorous, incisive, and poignant tales. Its 8 stories explore transgressions large and small, and the lingering power of past conflicts. Whether an intra-office escalation over candy in the award-winning title story; a couple nursing their marriage through a sick plant; a first job leading to first love; boundaries crossed between neighbors; a spa weekend reconciliation between sisters; a daughter resisting her mother’s intervention; a high school rivalry exploding into adulthood; or the struggle between a single mom and her teenage son, longing for his father––all will resonate with readers who relish short fiction that gets to the heart of everyday tensions and extraordinary ones.

ADVANCE PRAISE for THE CHOCOLATE JAR AND OTHER STORIES:
“Engrossing…An engaging collection of tales”
––Kirkus Reviews

“The stories often teeter on the edge between satire and pathos, mixing bitter with sweet.”
 ––National Book Award Nominee, Ellen Prentiss Campbell

“Roselee Blooston has crafted a delightful collection of tales. She blends humor, love, and slices of life wherein we recognize our own inner spaces and the intrusions of unexpected truth…. Enjoyable and thought provoking!”
––Nancy Burke, author of Independent Press’ 2021 Distinguished Favorite,
Only the Women are Burning

“Roselee Blooston is a celebrant of the observant life, especially its enigmas and knots. The action that drives these compelling stories is her bravura perspicacity about our entanglements.”
—Djelloul Marbrook, winner of the International Book Award for poetry

Life is hard, but sometimes there’s something to learn, or a silver lining. And sometimes, it’s just life. The stories in The Chocolate Jar and Other Stories by Roselee Blooston are hard-hitting, but it’s easy to connect with them and find yourself and your experiences in the stories…thought-provoking.”
––Reader Views

“Blooston examines everyday power struggles and how relationships fail or thrive in these eight stories.”
Chronogram from “6 Books to Read This May”

Order here on Goodreads,  Bookshop.orgAmazon and Barnes & Noble

Q and A with Deborah Kalb

Featured Fiction on Chick Lit Central