Find me Alone

Cee and her family live under a terrible curse. It may not be a spell out of the fairy tales, but it still dooms Cee and her sisters, Deana and Rose. Her father’s alcoholism hangs over their house like a black cloud. It is getting worse, and young Cee doesn’t know what to do.

Cee tries to block it out and spend more time with her best friends, Mo and Jimmy, but Mo is drifting away for some unknown reason. At the same time, Cee makes friends with someone who understands exactly what she’s going through. Will it be enough support for the hard road ahead?

This poignant story examines one family’s fight against a terrible illness. Cee and her sisters each cope in their own way. Cee struggles in school. Rose becomes more and more withdrawn from the outside world. Deana becomes infatuated with her boyfriend. Each is trapped in her own thoughts and fears. When Cee’s father spirals down a path of rage and bitterness, his actions put the entire family at risk. Cee and her sisters will have to decide if they can forgive him for the pain he has caused those he loves.

Lisa Graff is a novelist, essayist, columnist, and teacher. Several of her essays were published in the Washington Post. One, "No Teacher Can Compensate for Neglect Many Kids Suffer at Home," was the winner of the AAUW Mass Communications Award. Graff's essay about her family, "My Father's Death from Alcohol," appeared in Woman's World.

Graff published a regular column in the Gaithersburg Gazette and writes a bimonthly column for the Cape Gazette.

Graff received her bachelor's degree in speech communications and English from Frostburg University and her master's degree in theater from Northwestern University. She spent her career teaching English, speech, drama, and ESL in Maryland's public schools. Graff retired in 2010 and now lives in Lewes, Delaware. She enjoys participating in the Rehoboth Writers Guild and writing. She is currently working on a children's book, Sassy the School Bus Kitten.