Travis Mulhauser – författare

A tense cat-and-mouse game and a brilliantly realised story of hope in a seemingly hopeless placeA LIFE IS IN HER HANDSThe last thing Percy expected to find in the local drug den was a baby girl. Now she needs to get the baby to a hospital, and fast. But there’s a blizzard outside and soon two-bit criminal Shelton Potter has woken up and is on the hunt for whoever has taken the baby . . .‘Read-in-a-day, stay-up-all-night compelling’Stylist‘The Catcher in the Rye meets Fargo’Digital Fix‘Hilarious, heartbreaking and true’ NPR

A tense cat-and-mouse game and a brilliantly realised story of hope in a seemingly hopeless placePercy is sixteen and used to her mama disappointing her. But this time her mama’s been gone for nine days and she’s been seen up at Shelton Potter’s farmhouse. Which can only mean she’s strung out on meth again, and who knows when she’ll be back.A blizzard rolls in and Percy jumps in her pickup and sets off for the farmhouse. She finds Shelton and a woman passed out on the floor, sleeping off the latest binge. But no sign of her mama.Percy heads upstairs and finds a neglected baby girl, in urgent need of care and attention. Percy knows she has no choice. She has to take the baby and get her to a hospital as soon as she can.But the blizzard shows no sign of stopping and soon her pickup is snowed in. Now she’s on foot and before long two-bit criminal Shelton wakes up and heads out with four of his associates, on the hunt for whoever has taken the baby . . .Taut, darkly humorous and told in Percy’s unflinching voice, Sweetgirl is a moving exploration of courage and sacrifice that is horrifying, tender, and hopeful.

A teen searches for her mother in a blizzard, rescues a baby and goes on the run from criminals in this “hilarious, heartbreaking and true” debut (NPR).As a blizzard bears down, Percy James sets off to find her troubled mother, Carletta, who’s been unraveling for as long as her daughter can remember. Fearing Carletta is strung out on meth and won’t survive the storm, Percy heads for the cabin of her mother’s dealer, Shelton Potter, deep in the woods of northern Michigan.But instead of Carletta, Percy discovers a crying baby girl alone in a freezing room. Percy knows she must save her—a split-second decision that commences a dangerous odyssey in which Percy must battle the elements and evade a small band of desperate criminals on her trail.Filled with the sweeping sense of cultural and geographic isolation of its setting, Sweetgirl is an affecting exploration of courage, sacrifice, and the ties that bind, a taut and darkly humorous tour de force that is horrifying, tender, and hopeful.

Greetings from Cutler County is both a nonstop ride of tragic hilarity, and a piercing look at the complexities of youth. In one northern Michigan community the lives of desperate small-town dreamers are examined through an ensemble cast as earnest as they are outrageous, and as compelling as they are heartbreaking. The lovers, crooks, failures, and survivors of Cutler County are so flawed and genuine you can''t help rooting for them-no matter how foolish or hopeless their pursuits may seem. The stories take place in Cutler County, Michigan. Most of the characters are young men who think of themselves as losers and outsiders. Short on cash, popularity, and the ambition needed for success, they nevertheless are able to examine their failings with the self-knowing humor and resignation of the perpetually thwarted ne''er-do-well. The stories are inseparable from the stark shoreline of their Lake Michigan settings-the cavernous woods and vast inland lakes that shape life in northern Michigan-and create a landscape as rugged and dramatic as youth itself. Greetings from Cutler County explores the common triumphs and tragedies of coming of age, while providing a rationale and humor that is uniquely and unforgettably its own.