The Last Outrageous Woman

Eighty-six-year-old Mattie Snorgenson has had enough! She's spent most of her life caring for family and fitting into polite society. Now, she is ready to follow her dream. Inspired by Mattie's courage, four other senior women join her in escaping the boredom of life in their retirement home. Together they travel the world, each seeking to fulfill the one, secret desire she has always held.

With help from a pierced, tattooed and dreadlocked granddaughter, the friends journey from Florida to the Emerald Isle, and from Tasmania to the markets of Egypt. When their story goes viral, surfers, hitchhikers, priests and a Crocodile Dundee impersonator pitch in to help the "outrageous grannies." Even Doctor Phil gets into the act.

The ladies must outsmart relatives who seek to return them to "senior living," and conmen who see them as easy targets. And, each must face her own frailties and mortality. Finally, forced to choose between the security of home and the danger of continuing their quest, ringleader Mattie is challenged with the most important decision of her life.

In its subtext and its spine, this novel is about the ultimate act of liberation.

Jack Remick, author of The Trio of Lost Souls

A delightful, poignant, later-in-life coming of age story.

Elizabeth Engstrom, author of Benediction Denied

Jessica H. Stone is an author, ghost writer, and long-distance sailor. Jessica and her Border Collie, Kip McSnip - the Famous Sailing Dog, sailed together for sixteen years. They cruised the Caribbean, navigated Puget Sound traversed Canada's waters, sailed the Mexican coast, wandered the Sea of Cortez and crossed the Pacific Ocean. Kip celebrated his eighteenth birthday as they crossed the equator for the first time. Their experiences led to the popular book, Doggy on Deck: Life at Sea with a Salty Dog and the long-running syndicated column, Cruising with Critters. Sans her four-legged crew, Jessica sailed the waters of Australia, New Zealand, and the Med. Most recently, while serving as crew on a vessel from Panama to the Honduras, she experienced the terror of being chased by (real life) pirates. Many years of living aboard her 41' sloop provided a solid foundation for her book, How to Retire on a Boat and for her on-line column, At Home on the Boat. Following two decades of teaching marketing and strategic business planning at the University of Washington Jessica turned her focus to full-time writing and consulting. She has served as the "ghost pen" for three important memoirs. Jessica is a sought after public speaker and offers presentations on both the sailing and the writing life. Her debut novel, The Last Outrageous Woman, won First Place in The Somerset Award for Women's Literary Fiction. The Chanticleer Reviews - Best Book of 2014.