Clifford Mae Henderson, Perfect Little Worlds

Bookshop Santa Cruz is pleased to present award-winning author Clifford Mae Henderson for a book discussion and signing of her new novel set in Santa Cruz during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, Perfect Little Worlds.

Lucy can’t hold the secret any longer. Twenty-six years ago, her sister did the unthinkable.

Portland, Oregon, 1989: Lucy Mustin, living somewhat happily, pumping out wedding cakes for starry-eyed heterosexuals while she, a lesbian, can’t legally marry, is called upon to travel to Santa Cruz to help her autistic sister, Alice, care for their Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother. She knew the call was coming sooner or later. She’d just hoped it would be later. Mother issues. The possibility that resolution might be lost to dementia is a heartbreak she doesn’t feel like feeling.

Santa Cruz, California, one week later: a trip to the family bakery ups the ante tenfold when the Loma Prieta/World Series Earthquake, racking up a whopping 7.1 on the Richter scale, traps the sisters below ground. There, Alice reminds Lucy of a promise made to their mother many years ago, a promise she plans to keep.

Clifford Mae Henderson, also writing under the name Clifford Henderson, was named after her grandmother Clifford who once wore a nightgown to a formal event because she liked it better than any of the dresses she could find. Clifford Mae has attempted to follow in her renegade grandmother’s footsteps, spending as much time as possible trying to shake things up. Her novels have each garnered awards, including a Foreword Review Book of the Year Award, an Independent Publisher Book Award, and a Golden Crown Literary Award. When not writing, Clifford Mae and her life partner of over a quarter century run the Fun Institute, an improv school in Northern California where they teach the art of collective pretending.

This free event will take place at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Chairs for open seating are usually set up about an hour before the event begins.