A Cleft in the World

French professor Georgie Bricker hasn't poked a toe outside Virginia's Willa Cather College for women in two decades. She realizes the irony: she's working to shape her students into world leaders even as PTSD-induced agoraphobia, a result of trauma she suffered as a girl, keeps her prisoner on a tiny college campus. She tells herself her life is fine. Yet on her forty-ninth birthday, she wishes for something extraordinary.

Georgie is shattered to learn that her sanctuary is heavily in debt. While she scrambles to rescue the French department, her first love, Truman Parker, arrives to serve as a financial consultant to the school. By day, Georgie works as faculty liaison to his committee. By night, she's a moth to his porch light.

When the college announces it will shutter, Georgie and fiercely independent Laurel Cross, the student who's closest to Georgie's heart, organize a rally to save it. Between her rekindled love for Truman and Laurel becoming the daughter she never had, her wish for the extraordinary seems to have been granted. But the pivotal rally forces Georgie into the bigger, unsheltered world, where she must confront her final fears-or forfeit her chance for emotional freedom and a fulfilling new life.

2023 International Book Awards Finalist in Fiction: Women's Fiction

"An engaging, feel-good love story with plenty of plot twists."
--Kirkus Reviews

"A heart-warming story of female empowerment and love, with--hurrah!--a middle-aged heroine to root for."
--Erica Bauermeister, New York Times best-selling author of The Scent Keeper and The School of Essential Ingredients

"In this suspenseful, exuberant story, nothing is predictable, but nothing is impossible."
--Jacquelyn Mitchard, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Deep End of the Ocean

"A Cleft in the World serves up Southern charm with a quirky main character, combining page-turning intrigue in a small college town with a long-lost love story. The result is a novel that keeps you guessing but has you cheering for a win."
--Kathryn Dodson, author of Tequila Midnight and President of the Good Book Collective

"A Cleft in the World showcases a woman's journey to push past her fears and become the person she's always wanted to be. Wafler creates a visual world that is beautifully written with well-developed characters. This story will leave you smiling and missing the characters long after you close the book."
--Leslie A. Rasmussen, author of After Happily Ever After

"A heartwarming, hopeful story with glorious prose and inspiring characters."
--Dara Levan, author of It Could Be Worse and host of the Every Soul Has a Story podcast

The author of four novels—with another on the way—Elizabeth writes evocative women’s fiction and romance. She is an active member of the South Carolina Writers Association, and she enjoys working with other writers through her side hustle, Four Eyes Editorial. In 2022, she created her own publishing entity, Evocative Publishing, LLC.Elizabeth can be found working at her blue desk, at a farmer’s market, poking through a book or vintage furniture store, taming her garden into submission, or enjoying a great read and a pretty cocktail on her porch. She resides with her husband in Simpsonville, South Carolina.

French professor Georgie Bricker hasn't poked a toe outside Virginia's Willa Cather College for women in two decades. She realizes the irony: she's working to shape her students into world leaders even as PTSD-induced agoraphobia, a result of trauma she suffered as a girl, keeps her prisoner on a tiny college campus. She tells herself her life is fine. Yet on her forty-ninth birthday, she wishes for something extraordinary. Georgie is shattered to learn that her sanctuary is heavily in debt. While she scrambles to rescue the French department, her first love, Truman Parker, arrives to serve as a financial consultant to the school. By day, Georgie works as faculty liaison to his committee. By night, she's a moth to his porch light. When the college announces it will shutter, Georgie and fiercely independent Laurel Cross, the student who's closest to Georgie's heart, organize a rally to save it. Between her rekindled love for Truman and Laurel becoming the daughter she never had, her wish for the extraordinary seems to have been granted. But the pivotal rally forces Georgie into the bigger, unsheltered world, where she must confront her final fears--or forfeit her chance for emotional freedom and a fulfilling new life.

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