Author Penelope J. Stokes, photo courtesy of the author
Major Works
- Saint Someday (2013)
- The Book of Peach (2010)
- Heartbreak Café (2009)
- Delta Belles (2006)
- The Amber Photograph (2005)
- The Blue Bottle Club (2005)
- Circle of Grace (2004)
- The Wishing Jar (2003)
- The Memory Book (2002)
- The Treasure Box (2001)
- Remembering You (1997)
- Till We Meet Again (1997)
- Home Fires Burning (1996)
- Turner’s Crossroads (1993)
Biography of Penelope J. Stokes
Penelope Stokes was born in Charleston, Mississippi, but she grew up in Jackson. From the age of four, she wanted to become a writer. Stokes’s undergraduate work was completed at Mississippi University for Women (MUW) in Columbus, Mississippi, and her Delta Belles reflects her experiences there.
At graduate school, Stokes proposed a creative project (a novel or collection of short stories) for her doctoral dissertation, but the committee turned her down, saying that it was impossible to earn a living as a writer. She became a college professor and taught writing and literature before deciding to begin her career as a writer. Her route to a career in writing was, as Stokes states, “Ten years of university study, culminating in a Ph.D. in Renaissance Literature.”
Stokes moved to Minnesota after graduate school, where she lived for fourteen years. She worked as a teacher and editor while honing her writing skills. Following her time in Minnesota, she moved to Georgia, Connecticut, and back to Mississippi, before settling down in Asheville, North Carolina.
Her early books were published by Christian publishers, but her later books have not been. 
Because she took on freelance editing projects that became a full time editing business, she was connected with many editors and publishers. By the time she wrote her first novel, she already knew a lot of people who were willing to publish her works. She made a conscious decision to broaden her readership base. Her current general market novels contain subject matter that would be unacceptable to an evangelical readership. To date, she has now written over fourteen books.