The Sausage Maker's Daughters

THE SAUSAGE MAKER'S YOUNGEST DAUGHTER IS HEADING FOR THE FIGHT OF HER BATTLE-SCARRED LIFE

It's the era of the counterculture and Vietnam. Women's consciousness is being raised and they're beginning to find their places outside of the home.

But twenty-four-year-old Kip Czermanski is nowhere near her home in California. She's in a jail cell in her hometown in Wisconsin awaiting a court appearance in the mysterious death of her ex-lover, who happened to be her brother-in-law.

Since her father is the small town's leading citizen, Kip isn't overly worried-at first. But the personal grudge the DA holds for all the Czermanskis is about to find a foil. Kip.

What follows is a wild ride through Kip's present predicament and her past. Family dynamics and sibling rivalries, magnified by her counterculture attitudes and feminist beliefs, will lay bare Kip's life before the crowded courtroom, right along with the self-important Czermanskis' darkest secrets.

Kip's rebellious reputation is well known by the townsfolk. Plus, she cannot fully trust her own attorneys. Things both personal and legal spiral out-of-control.

The Sausage Maker's Daughters is a superb character study and a riveting courtroom nail-biter, with an ending that evokes a gasp of, "Wow! I didn't see that coming."

"Here are the tangled roots of our troubles in a beautifully told, multi-generational saga. Bravo!"

- Aram Saroyan, author of Door to the River

"AGS Johnson's novel is a fresh new voice on family dynamics and, ensconced in a male dominated society, what it meant to be a counterculture activist and budding feminist during the Vietnam War. But once Kip Czermanski is accused of murder in her conservative hometown, it stops mattering which side is right - just try to figure out who committed the murder."

- Nancy Ellen Dodd, author of The Writer's Compass: From Story map to Finished Draft in 7 Stages

"A compelling page-turner of a novel that highlights the secrets that even good families keep from one another - with devastating, unexpected results. Johnson, a keen observer of peoples' foibles, has brilliantly captured Midwestern values, small town gossips, and rebellious spirits in her remarkable first novel. Told from inside the mind of one accused of a crime of passion, you experience the torture of being charged with a crime you think you didn't commit. Finding this author is like discovering a young John Grisham. This is spell-binding courtroom storytelling at its very best."

- Madelyn Cain, award-winning author of Laffit: Anatomy of a Winner, The Childless Revolution, and First Time Mothers, Last Chance Babies