About
Jill Ocone has been a writer/editor for Jersey Shore Magazine/Jersey Shore Publications since 2014 and a high school communications/journalism and English teacher since 2001. Her debut novel “Enduring the Waves” will be published by Wild Rose Press in November 2023. Her work has also been published in Read Furiously’s Stay Salty: Life in the Garden State, Exeter Publishing’s From the Soil hometown anthology, Red Penguin Books’ Where Flowers Bloom, the leaves fall and ‘Tis the Season: Poems for Your Holiday Spirit, Everywhere magazine and elsewhere. She loves making memories with her nieces and nephews, exploring and traveling, laughing with her family and friends, and sharing her Point Pleasant home with her husband. Visit Jill online at jillocone.com.
Featured Work
Enduring the Waves
As Waterville High School’s newest English teacher, Kelly Lynch befriends fellow educator and James Joyce enthusiast Shannon Moran.
While Kelly grapples with deep scars from her past, she struggles to balance her active life as a teacher and her stagnant marriage to shiftless alcoholic Wayne Coopersmith. Shannon’s encouragement resurrects Kelly’s passion for writing, while Kelly inspires Shannon to pursue her lifelong dream of studying in Dublin, Ireland.
After two devastating events fracture Kelly’s life, she searches for meaning in her grief by following a trail of mysterious clues that guide her from the New Jersey shore to Dublin. Sparks ignite her long-dormant creativity and a raging inferno in her heart while on the Emerald Isle as two unsuspecting Dubliners combine forces to hearten Kelly’s awakening. She returns home to the Jersey Shore having endured the waves spurred by her past, present, and future and ready to pursue her true calling.
