Goodbye, Miss February

If your sister asked, you'd fly halfway across the country to help her, wouldn't you? But what if you're afraid to drive, let alone fly? What if she lives somewhere that's white and cold? That's the dilemma 60-year-old Jane Emerling faces in Goodbye, Miss February. Jane is the exact opposite of her independent, adventurous older sister Andy. She feels like Miss February on the calendar, sitting on her cushion doing nothing. Although seemingly content with her sheltered life, deep down Jane wants to be the person others go to for help. Her life changes when Andy becomes ill and asks Jane for help. Jane leaves her comfortable life in California and flies to tiny Cherry Glen in the middle of a bitter Iowa winter. Once there Jane becomes friends with several residents, including feisty, blue-haired Florence. She becomes involved in not only her sister's illness but the town dramas of a missing teenager and a bank robbery, as well as the lives of the Cherry Glen citizens, who exemplify what is special about small towns in the Midwest. Although she acts ditzy when stressed, Jane finds strength no one, least of all Jane herself, knew she had.

Sally O'Brien grew up in a small town in Iowa, although at the time she didn't consider a place with 4000 people small. After graduating from high school she attended the University of Iowa, married young, had five children, and spent 23 years as an administrative assistant in a Des Moines hospital. Currently she lives in a town that's just the right size. During all this time she wrote. Several of her stories were published, including three in Chicken Soup for the Soul books. At the end of Goodbye, Miss February she missed the daily visits with her best friend (and the main character), Jane, and began writing the sequel. Problem solved.