Download or read book Even Sunflowers Cast Shadows written by Douglas Armstrong and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2010-10-29 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About the Book: Winner Anne Powers Fiction Book Award Best Novel of 2010 by a Wisconsin writer Council for Wisconsin Writers Emma Starkey is a spunky little girl trying hard to be charitable and virtuous. But her calculated attempts have a way of backfiring with tumultuous consequences in this poignant story of small-town life in 1920s Kansas. As Emma's cranky grandmother observes, "Even sunflowers cast shadows." Weaving through four years of Emma's engaging disasters is her chaotic friendship with a transplanted Yankee whiz kid, Margaret Drummond, whose family arrives one summer burdened with a heavy secret and a flair for the dramatic. Emma's and Margaret's brothers and sisters become friends, too, but their screwball pursuits and youthful infatuations spawn rivalries that threaten to split them apart. Perilous-even tragic-turns await, along with powerful and unexpected lessons about friendship, jealousy, compassion, and the curious world of grown-ups. Cornucopia, Kansas, is filled with colorful crackpots, bullies, and quiet heroes. In their stories, and most especially Emma's, "Even Sunflowers Cast Shadows" recaptures a faded moment when innocence could still be lost grudgingly.About the Author: Douglas Armstrong has been a newspaper reporter, editorial writer, columnist, and film critic. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, from "Ellery Queen" to "Boys Life." Born in Kansas, Armstrong now lives in Wisconsin. He is married and the father of four. This is his first novel.