Books
After I quit my day job, I decided to become a writer. I have written two novels and am working on a third.
THE THREE LIVES OF MARY SUTTON
In 1878, young Mame Sutton escapes her oppressive father through a quick marriage to the charming stage manager of a New York theatre, while her younger sister Lizzie makes the same escape by eloping with a young Jewish jeweler. Which sister has made the better choice?
Life for Mame in a theatrical boarding house in 1878 offers new kinds of friendships and unexpected challenges. Through the tales of the theatre workers, she gets a backstage look at the Gilded Age of the Astors, Goulds, and Rockefellers, but she has no share in the freedom given to the ladies of the stage. Her husband’s view of a wife’s role is as narrow as her father’s idea of a daughter’s role was. How can Mame break free?
For Lizzie, marriage into the Cohen family offers warmth and support, but also cultural differences and expectations which she finds hard to master. Her husband, though loving and tolerant of her mistakes, is financially dependent on his family. Lizzie longs for a life apart from the Cohen world.
When disasters shake their worlds, can the sisters help each other onto new paths?
My second novel, The Three Lives of Mary Sutton, will be released by SheWrites Press on November 10, 2026. You can pre-order a copy here or your independent bookstore can order for you through Simon & Schuster.
*****
FOX SPIRIT
At the turn of the 21st century, China has begun a cautious opening to the west. Two wounded people from different cultures come together, but can they resist the forces lined up against them?.
Sara Miller is a recent widow, cut off from her family after a quarrel with her daughter-in-law. A job in China should be the perfect escape, but Sara is soon caught up in the political undercurrents, cross-cultural misunderstandings, and religious conflicts swirling through turn-of-the- 21st century Beijing. And then she meets Storm Cheng.
Storm has been scarred by the Cultural Revolution and the abortive student protests of Tiananmen Square, and he has nearly given up his activist ideals. A foreign interloper in his office is one more unwelcome expense on the balance sheet.
After a wary start they fall in love, even as the forces of family, culture, and history muster to tear them apart. Now, both of them must decide between love and family, or risk losing both.
My debut novel, Fox Spirit, was published in twice – weekly episodes on ajmccready.wordpress.com between February 22 and December 21 2023. If you’d like to take a peek here’s a link to a synopsis of the first 50 episodes. (Don’t worry, each one is short.)
Catching up with FOX SPIRIT – Episodes 1-50 | Allyson Johnson
From there you can skip to the August 2023 archive to pick up the last 35 episodes. Or you could read the whole story by starting here.
Allyson Johnson 