Four Koehler Books authors have been recognized by the 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards! Elaine Holt MD won bronze in the category of Best First Book: Non-Fiction for The Doctor Next Door. Raymond Hutson’s Finding Sgt. Kent won silver in the category of Military/Wartime Fiction. Angela Correll’s Granted won silver in the category of Religious Fiction. And Whitney Ellenby’s Autism Uncensored: Pulling Back the Curtain won gold in the category of Parenting.
Congratulations!
Dr. Elaine Holt is not your average doctor. Her medical practice is small, while her heart for her patients is huge. The Doctor Next Door is a collection of extraordinary stories about ordinary people. The stories spotlight the physician as a down-to-earth person, sometimes flawed and unnervingly close to her patient’s suffering. They showcase the vulnerability that both doctor and patient experience as they weave through life’s challenges. The Doctor Next Door celebrates life, relationships, and the indomitable human spirit.
When U.S. Army sniper Robert Kent retires at the age of 36, he returns to a civilian culture filled with hostile, petty people living in a virtual world who don’t realize how fragile their lives are. As he struggles to find out where he belongs, his psychiatrist suggests he try finding out who his father really was. He succeeds, but in doing so his entire life is upended. Kent is forced to do the one thing he’d rather not: trust, and love, another human being. A turbulent and tragic, heart-warming journey of redemption.
Former international flight attendant Annie Taylor is embracing her country roots and racing toward a future with her sustainable farmer fiancé, but wedding plans are complicated by her new job, a mysterious ex-boyfriend, and a narcissistic father.Meanwhile, Annie’s old-fashioned grandma, Beulah, is facing a shake-up in the last place she ever thought she would–home. A crisis on May Hollow Road follows a friend’s betrayal, challenging Beulah’s forgiving nature. An unwelcome diet, a new houseguest, and a possible overseas trip will all stretch her spirit–if she lets it. Granted takes readers from the comforts of the Kentucky countryside to old-world Tuscany with a cast of memorable characters. Granted follows Groundedand Guarded in the May Hollow Trilogy.
“And when in the grips of a public tantrum, amidst the horror and humiliation of him shrieking and splayed out on the floor while strangers recoiled in shock, my mind lurched towards an inescapable truth—that I want out from this nightmare. I want out from this child.”
So begins the turbulent ride of one parent’s decision, crafted in despair and desperation, to abandon traditional interventions for her autistic son in favor of a “hands on” approach of repeatedly exposing her son to real-world settings. Autism Uncensored is an unrestricted portal into the mind of someone who had no intention of sacrificing her career or life for Autism, unaware of the many ways it would irreversibly redefine both. As she clarifies at the outset, “this is not the story of a miraculous breakthrough or recovery.” Zack is still very much autistic and always will be. It is instead the true, real-time account of her decision to allow Zack to indulge in the very behaviors that formal therapies sought to extinguish, to disclose Zack’s diagnosis in public settings, and to repeatedly expose him to real-world situations and override his tantrums regardless of public ridicule or scorn.
Autism Uncensored goes where no other book dares—revealing the private disgrace and self-blame about having a “defective” child; the near disintegration of marriage; the failure of the traditional behavioral interventions; and the mercenary way in which service providers prey on parents’ desperation for a cure. It is a personal manifesto about how a socially integrated life is attainable regardless of whether a child overcomes the major limitations of Autism, sparking a new conversation which goes beyond simply accepting persons with Autism for who they are, but considers pushing them beyond their comfort zones to learn who they are capable of becoming. An unstoppable ride with jolting twists and turns, Autism Uncensored will leave you exhilarated, informed and still gasping for air.
