Sharon Noble Autumn Desire

Autumn Desire

Sharon Noble

Five Star, Aug 2006, $25.95

ISBN: 1594144869

Paula met Sam Wincott when she was an eighteen years old college student at the University of Colorado and he was her chemistry professor. They married; she became pregnant and dropped out of school. They raised two children over the three decades they were together, but at sixty-eight Sam died.

Fifty years old Paula decides to go back to school. However, she is unhappy to find her chemistry class taught by Boyd Mackenzie who her late spouse hated and accused of stealing his work. She holds him in contempt, but the Department Chair Dr. King forces them to work together to complete Sam's last project. As they fall in love, her daughter Emma objects while her son Morgan encourages her to fly free.

This deep character study pays homage to Ibsen as Paula begins to come out of a cocoon starting with her return to college. She is clearly the star, but the support cast including her late spouse enable the audience to follow her progress from a secure caged bird to a fledgling (even though a grandma) learning to fly. The romance serves as a further catalyst that encourages Paula to leave Ghosts behind in A Doll's House. Sharon Noble provides her audience with a strong look at a woman seeking self-actualization.

Harriet Klausner