L.N. is the first prize winner at the prestigious San Francisco Writers Conference for her poetry collection I Sing of Things Unspoken. She is an award-winning essayist and short story author who has published nonfiction works on therapeutic nutrition, including her groundbreaking book on pediatric mineral deficiencies.

Historical Fiction Follows Five Immigrant Women Linked by Blood and History From the Killing Fields in Ukraine to the Fire-Scorched Hollywood Hills All In Pursuit of the American Dream
Everyone has their American dream. Just make sure yours doesn’t turn into a nightmare.
Five modern immigrant women–five destinies, linked together by blood and history. From the killing fields in Ukraine to the fire-scorched Hollywood hills, from three-star Micheline restaurants to home kitchens, here comes a multi-generational saga of tragedy and vengeance, love and conflict, loyalty and betrayal, and above all – chasing that elusive American dream.
Flora, Russian zealot and spoiled housewife, is married to a successful American businessman. Terrified of getting old and feeling ill at ease in her new homeland, Flora is lost and angry, looking for meaning in infidelity and plastic surgery.
Oksana, mistreated shopaholic desperately wanting to escape the clutches of her thug of a husband and needing approval of her own patronizing St. Petersburg family. Naïve, romantic Oksana dreams of designing beautiful women’s shoes. Does she risk too much, having faith in an improbable love?
Gentle people-pleaser Sasha caught between a homophobic adoptive father and her American born gay son. Happily married to a hard-working Ukrainian man, Sasha worries about doing everything for everyone. Who will she choose?
Doctor Bella, the main breadwinner, is ready to walk away from her successful dental practice to focus on her passion for horses and writing. Deeply in love with her brilliant, but competitive husband, Bella is not prepared for the betrayal and changes that lie ahead.
And then there’s Maya, a real-life female “Godfather”. This wise and funny, seemingly humble manicurist with a big appetite for food and pleasure feels perfectly at home in America. Following in the bloody legacy of her Ukrainian grandmother. Maya wields surprising, ever-expanding power as head of a criminal underworld clan. Maya is no one to cross.
The past and present collide as these women deal with it all – caring for aging parents, managing businesses and careers, struggling to understand their American-born children and not always ideal husbands; and never giving up on the needs of the heart.
About the author:
L.N. Gruer was born and raised in the former Soviet Union. She is an internationally recognized wellness expert, blogger, and entrepreneur. A holistic life coach, amateur competitive ballroom dancer and world traveler, she holds a master’s degree in Eastern European Studies from UCLA, along with a PhD in Holistic Nutrition. When not at her desk, she can be found at her piano, gardening, or playing baseball with her two grandchildren. Dr. Gruer lives with her husband and adorable Maltese, Pasha, in Southern California.

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