About
Ilana's debut novel, Shaken Loose, will be published by Hypatia Press in July 2023. A former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and Sacramento Bee, Ilana is author of Where Girls Come First: The Rise, Fall and Surprising Revival of Girls' Schools, (Tarcher/Penguin 2004), which grew out of her experience helping start an all-girl middle school in Oakland, California,
Ilana is an alum of the Community of Writers (formerly called the Squaw Valley Community of Writers) and an active Audubon Society member. Her web site is https://ilanadebare.com, and her blog is at https://ilanadebare.substack.com.
Born and raised in New York City, Ilana lives in Oakland with her husband Sam and their extraordinarily fluffy cat Bowie.
Featured Work
Shaken Loose
Annie Maple was a 29-year-old San Francisco underachiever, a college dropout living in the shadow of her genius older brother. Then she died and went to Hell—classic Christian Hell with fire and sulfur and devils, a place she never imagined might truly exist. Annie can’t remember how she died or was sent there. But the systems governing Hell are starting to run down, giving her a chance to escape.
Joining other “shaken loose” souls from different eras in search of an exit, Annie treks across volcanic deserts, flees marauders, and confronts an existentially depressed Satan. Hell, she learns, is an unjust place filled not only with truly evil people but with billions of average souls who simply didn’t happen to be Christian. Seeking the courage to transcend her past failures, Annie must ultimately choose between returning to life and challenging this system of divine injustice.
Other Works
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Where Girls Come First: The Rise, Fall and Surprising Revival of Girls' Schools
2004
