Elizabeth Sumner Wafler

As Georgie Bricker turns 45, she is a French professor at a small women’s college in Foxfield, Virginia. At Willa Cather College and in town, Georgie is known as Madame Bricker or simply Madame. She is content with her life, but most nights are spent at her townhouse on campus in the company of her cat, Voltaire, grading papers or watching TV. Little did Georgie realize when she made her wish before blowing out the birthday candle that the wish for something extraordinary to happen in the coming year would begin at a faculty meeting with Dr. Susan Joshi’s announcement that the college is $12 million in debt.

This beautifully written story is more than a contemporary romance of a second chance at love. It is a novel about female friendship, women supporting women, female empowerment, and stepping out of a comfort zone to become one’s best self.

"There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm." —Willa Cather

I love a novel that has a meaningful epigraph, not only at the beginning of a book but at the beginning of every chapter. The quote above is simply one of the Willa Cather selections included. I loved each choice not only for the specific chapter but for the inclusion of different women, as their messages through the ages up to the present day are beacons of female empowerment.

Be like Georgie! "Find Your Fierce!"

Reviewer’s Note: I read "A Cleft in the World," as a stand-alone, unaware that it is a sequel to "Georgie Girl, a coming of age novel.… (mehr)