The 86th Degree

Amber Helm begins her third year of teaching full of excitement, glad to be back in the comfort zone of the classroom. At the beginning teacher inservice, she discovers that for several weeks, a former lover from college will be the "Artist in Residence," the man she walked out on three years ago. Set back by the inevitable confrontation, she resolves to treat him as an adult, a resolve not likely to happen. Just as Amber thinks life is under control, in walks Jocelyn Quint, angry sophomore and abused child. When Amber reaches out to Jocelyn, she is falsely accused of assault on Jocelyn's mother and suspended. The ripples of her own relationship with a toxic mother surface, and she must do more than get her job back. She must learn to love herself, and then be open to a love that waits for her.

Barbara Harken Raised in Chicago, Harken moved to Iowa when she was sixteen. She taught high school English and social studies for thirty-eight years. Now retired, she dabbles in a side career as a singer. She has published educational material and personal essays and teaches writing at Wartburg College in Iowa. She is married with two grown children.