Carla J. Underwood
Carla J. Underwood was born in Indiana and grew up in a small town in the northwest corner of the state. She understood both the challenges and the rewards of living in a small community.
She embraced those small-town ideals and attended a small university outside of the state with a close-knit community of students. She earned her B.A. degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology.
Recently, she and her husband relocated from their home in the desert Southwest to their home in Montana. They again live in the rural town where they once owned a business and are surrounded by family.
Works
Mrs. Ivey's Cafe; A Willowdale, Indiana Story
A family-oriented, coming-of-age novel, Mrs. Ivey's Cafe is the first book in the Willowdale, Indiana Stories trilogy about Shirley Ivey. In this book, the teenager is forced by family obligation to spend a summer working in her grandmother's cafe. It chronicles her reluctant journey toward young adulthood as she adjusts to the small town of Willowdale and its eccentric residents.
When she and a local boy are asked to work together to fulfill a promise, they find themselves in a real-life game of tug of war. Their struggles not only threaten their friendship but the well-being of the town's best loved resident.