Be Prepared
Today I fly from Krakow back to Paris. I packed almonds in case my Easy Jet crashes in snowy mountains and passengers and crew begin to eat each other. I’m betting my America flesh will be marbled with fat much…Continue Reading →
Recent Books by Ellen Herbert
THE LAST GOVERMENT GIRL
Winner of the Maryland Writer's Association 2014 Novel Award
Published by Apprentice House
On Sale at Amazon
FALLING WOMEN & OTHER STORIES
Published by Shelfstealers
On Sale at Amazon | more
The Voice in My Head
Here in Paris, John, you are with me in a new way. When I transfer from one Metro line to another, when I get on the wrong bus, when I stand before Monet’s “Water Lillies” in the l’Orangerie, you are…Continue Reading →
Here, There and Everywhere
I’m at Costco when I see you from the back. You’re at the front of the store in a long checkout line. Slender, lithe, gorgeous tan with a thick thatch of gray, wearing your violet colored polo, a color most…Continue Reading →
When a Man Writes a Woman
What fun we had discussing A City of Women, a suspenseful novel set in 1943 Berlin. And again I am reminded how literary taste is so individual. I chose this book because I love it and believe the author was…Continue Reading →
Go Simple
On the morning of February 14, 2016, I opened The Washington Post and glanced at a headline about Justice Scalia being a leading conservative and decided this was an article about the Supreme Court’s latest decision. Ho-hum. Not until I…Continue Reading →
The Light in My Darkness
My husband did not come into 2016 with me. I have written of his death to various institutions in settling his estate, yet his leaving has not sunk into the dark soil of my heart. I still expect to see his face at…Continue Reading →
Confessions of a 4H Dairy Princess
I learned the difference between fiction and nonfiction young. This painful, shameful lesson occurred at the time of my greatest triumph: the night I was crowned 4-H Dairy Princess of Onslow County. The pomp and gold satin will come later,…Continue Reading →
Spinning Fact into Fiction
I have lived the story behind my novel, The Last Government Girl. My mother Helen Edward Smith, a twenty-year-old college graduate, with a year of teaching high school behind her, boarded the train for Washington in May of 1944. Earlier…Continue Reading →