S. Forrest Nomakeo is the author of ‘The Summer Palace’ she will read an excerpt from her book at the Blue Umbrella Books later in the month. Readers will learn about the main character of the book Katia, and what her life was like in the 17th Century patriarchal society. She is very willful and the palace that she resides in seems suffocating to her. Her yearning for freedom is palpable and she experience some of it when she goes to ride horses. There she meets Wiley, who she falls in love with. The relationship doesn’t go the way they both expected. Soon Katia’s family gets involved and make things very difficult. Shirley was part of the print/production industry for nearly 3 decades. She currently resides in Western Massachusetts with her family and blogs regularly about her experiences about writing.