Sand and Gravel

Clara Stites is a reader, writer, editor, sailor, wannabe farmer, sister of a swami, married with grandchildren. Life slips into her writing, writing into her life. Clara grew up in New England and her affection for the land, water, and people shines through her novel which is set in an entirely fictional, yet tantalizingly familiar community. The inspiration for Sand and Gravel came from an old farmhouse that fascinated Clara when she was a child; all the earth around the house had been dug out and carried away by a family-run gravel operation, yet the family still lived in the house. How strange, she thought. From there, the book grew, combining memory and imagination.

Sand and Gravel is Clara Stites' first novel. She has also written four historical books for middle readers and several dozen short stories that have appeared in literary magazines. She lives in southeastern Massachusetts with her husband, half a dozen chickens, and four border collies.