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C25-39. Lisa K Friedman’s novel “Hello Wife” 

Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

Mental Health Awareness with Sara Troy and her guest Lisa Friedman, on air from September 30th

K. Friedman, author of the novel Hello Wife Lisa explores the devastating impact of opioid abuse on the families of those who are addicted

Single, unfulfilled, and well into middle age, Charlotte Lansing desperately seeks love and acceptance. When she announces her engagement to an unemployed morphine addict, her family is thrown into turmoil. Her mother tries to prevent disaster, her father tries to bridge the divide, and her sister clings to the hope that their bond will protect Charlotte. But Charlotte has finally found happiness, and she resists their efforts even as she disappears into her new husband’s addiction.

As Charlotte’s family grapples with the storm her choices unleash, Hello Wife lays bare the fragility of love, the strength of sisterhood, and the invisible scars of the opioid crisis. Darkly funny, achingly real, and unexpectedly hopeful, this unforgettable novel pulses with emotion and humanity on every page.

With razor-sharp insight and tender prose, Friedman invites readers into the life of a woman determined to hold onto happiness, despite all consequences. And, in this case, the consequences are dire.

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Lisa K Friedman is an award-winning essayist, author and educator whose work appears in newspapers and magazines in print and online, including The New York Times, Smithsonian, and in The Huffington Post, where she maintained a humor column for several years. She holds a MA degree in Fiction from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in American Literature from George Washington University. She teaches creative writing at American University, and mentors professional and beginning writers in the art of fiction. When she is not writing, Lisa is sailing on a sunfish with her dog at the bow. She lives in Washington DC.

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AK25-39. Sam Hawksmoor, Flamenco can be Murder

Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

Authors Kiss with Sara Troy and her guest Sam Hawksmoor, on air from September 29th

“In Sam’s new novel Days After She Went Dancing, readers are taken on a gripping journey of liberation, murder, crypto, and friendship—all woven together in one powerful story.”

Nia is an editor at a small publishing house with secret dreams of becoming a Flamenco dancer. She meets with a psychic/fortune teller who warns her that she must leave her abusive husband immediately; she sees extreme danger coming.
That night Nia discovers her husband owns a fake passport, a gun and a bundle of Euros of hidden in the freezer. She suspects he’s either leading a secret life or about to leave her. The cash is a chance to beat him to it and escape to study dance in Spain.
The very morning Nia flees, her husband, and her father-in-law are executed in a professional hit. Naturally, the police and the media look no further than the scheming,’ killer housewife’ who has fled the scene.

Enter Joss, a tracker for a news outfit, dispatched to trace this woman before anyone else can get to her. But her husband’s killers have unfinished business with Nia and won’t be far behind.
All Nia wanted was to change her life, but as people say, ‘be careful of what you wish for.’

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Sam says “Ever since I was a child, I’ve found myself lost in the world of words and stories. I am Sam Hawksmoor, and writing isn’t just what I do; it’s who I am. It’s like I discovered my calling before I even knew what a calling was. Each blank page was a canvas for my imagination, a gateway to unknown worlds and uncharted territories’.

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RGC25-39. Fiona and Molly McIntosh. U Shape Us

Sara Troy

Raising Our Gifted Children with Sara Troy and her guests Fiona & Molly McIntosh, on air from September 30th

U Shape Us: The power of imagination to turn ideas into friendships

So many of our children carry creative gifts that go unseen. I first noticed this with my daughter Molly, when we used a simple imagination game to help her make friends. From that moment grew U Shape Us—our mother–daughter social enterprise creating playful imagination games to spark creativity, connection, and belonging across generations. Each time a child shares an idea and sees it welcomed, it builds self-esteem and the deeper belief: “I am someone whose ideas matter. I am creative.” Parents, grandparents, and teachers often tell us they’ve discovered a new side of their children through these games, as ideas turn into friendships and voices are heard. At its heart, our message is simple: you belong where your ideas are welcomed.

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Molly and her mum Fiona McIntosh co-founded U Shape Us, a social enterprise based in Canberra, Australia using imagination games to build belonging. What began when Molly was just six years old—with a simple game that helped her make friends during a difficult time—has grown into games now reaching families, schools, and communities across the world. Today, Molly plays an active role in shaping and running the enterprise, bringing fresh creativity, lived experience, and the voice of a young person showing what it means to belong. Fiona, a solo mum with a background in human services, community development and inclusion, works alongside Molly to bring the games to life and share them widely. Together, they are proving how simple, playful ideas can ripple out to create lasting confidence, connection and community.

20 sec version : Fiona and her daughter Molly McIntosh are the co-founders of U Shape Us, a social enterprise from Canberra, Australia. What started when Molly was six years old as a simple game to help her make friends has now grown into imagination-based card games reaching families, schools, and communities around the world. Together, they’re proving how playful ideas can spark creativity, build confidence, and turn ideas into friendships.

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AK25-38. Bad Girl Pie by Marilyn Horowitz

Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

An Authors Kiss with Sara Troy and her guest Marilyn Horowitz, on air from September 23rd

Set in New York City, Dorothy Sherlock, a prolific ghostwriter, shares her running commentary on the absurdity of the human condition as she navigates her future. Until now, she’s spent her life crafting other people’s success stories and mourning a failed romance. After a near-fatal encounter with her abusive father and his sudden death, Dorothy resolves to write her own book, blending her expertise in dieting and dessert. A whirlwind trip to a tango festival in Mexico reignites her passion for love through a romantic tryst with a tango-dancing firefighter. Hopeful and happy, Dorothy returns home, only to discover that her agent has stolen the manuscript and sold it to a new client, and her late father has cut her out of his will. As if this weren’t enough, Dorothy reconnects with her ex-boyfriend, but after a night of bliss, she finds out that he’s living in sin with his cleaning lady. The triple whammy drives her to despair. Can Dorothy’s sense of humor and talent save her and help her find success?

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Marilyn Horowitz is an award-winning author, retired New York University professor, TV show creator, and writing coach, working with successful novelists, produced screenwriters, and award-winning filmmakers. Two of her students have been nominated for an Emmy, and a third won a Peabody. Horowitz received the coveted New York University Award for Teaching Excellence in 2004 and has an active online audience, including 2,500 readers of her weekly blog. Since 1998, she has taught hundreds of aspiring writers to complete their feature-length screenplays, novels, and TV pilots using her trademarked writing method, The Horowitz System®. Horowitz has also written five books on screenwriting, two of which are used as textbooks at New York University. Recently, she served as associate producer of “Hunter Is F**cked,” an award-winning comedy short based on the life of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, and as associate producer of The Heart Stays, a Native-American drama that will be released in April 2024. Her latest book, The Word of the Day Practice: Transform Your Writing in Fifteen Minutes a Day, will be available in bookstores in April of 2024. In addition, she has written two novels, The Book of Zev, published in 2016, and Bad Girl Pie, to be released in 2025. She’s an active member of New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT), serves on the board of the Florence Belsky Charitable Foundation, and co-chairs their monthly writer’s group meetings.

A Darkly Delicious Romp Through Heartbreak and Hilarity 

— Rick Mowat, Award-Winning Writer/Director

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AK25-38. Constanze Hawkins, Natures Poetry

Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

An Authors Kiss with Sara troy and her guest Constanze Hawkins, on air from September 23rd

Inspirations is a collection of photographs, each accompanied by a poem depicting Constanze Hawkins’ love of the natural world. The poems capture the thoughts and wonder inspired by the photos. Constanze took all of the photographs herself, mostly near her Perth home on the grounds of the University of Western Australia. Even the photo of the peacock was taken at UWA, which has a few peacocks and peahens roaming freely in its gardens.
Inspirations offers an interesting, and at times thought-provoking, read as Constanze’s reverence for nature shines through in both image and verse.

Constanze discusses a wide range of themes found in her work. She often reflects on the challenges of handling loss, weaving emotion and experience into verse. She can also explore how the length of a poem influences the way readers engage with it, and how nature—its beauty, complexity, and timelessness—continues to inspire her writing. With her background in fashion, Constanze brings a unique perspective on how that world has shaped her creative voice. She also pairs her poetry with photography, offering a visual dimension that deepens the reader’s experience. Another recurring theme in her work is the lament for the loss of childhood, which she captures with poignancy and thought-provoking insight.

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Constanze Hawkins was born in Stuttgart Germany. Her family migrated to Melbourne Australia when she was four. Hawkins studied fashion at the Melbourne College of Textiles. She completed her studies after her marriage, and her young family’s move to Perth, Western Australia. She also earned a Graduate Certificate of Design from the Curtin University of Technology and worked in fashion as a pattern maker and grader until retirement. 

A recurring theme in the author’s first book, Eloise and Other Verses, is the inescapable human experience ‘Loss’. She became interested in loss when her father died, followed by the breakup of her marriage and then the death of her mother. Her experience of loss is that it is often dealt with alone — a theme that she explores in her poems. Inspirations is her second published book.

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She can be found on Instagram @constanzehawkins.  

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