Over, Under, Across & Through (The Real World Series)

A young widower fights to overcome substance abuse and emotional instability as his daughter attempts to find solace for them despite overwhelming odds. Set in southern Louisiana, Over, Under, Across & Through tells the story of Tristan and Sarah Maes and their extended family. Spanning the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the novel explores how the father and daughter and those closest to them confront abuse, neglect, and deception. While Tristan grapples with the loss of his wife and his subsequent battle with alcohol and drugs, Sarah strives to carve out a normal life for herself. This is made more difficult by the onset of juvenile macular degeneration, which results in partial blindness that develops during her teenaged years. Parent and child must come to grips with their actions and choices in the past in order to gain the elusive peace of mind so desperately sought by both in their present.

Barbara Cutrera has been a writer since childhood but didn't begin writing novels until 1999.  Her first novel to be completed was Over, Under, Across & Through), which is the initial book in her Real World fiction series.  Not satisfied to be limited by writing in only one genre, she next penned a mystery called In a Manner of Speaking. Cutrera took a dare from friends who suggested she write a romance and wrote The Healer's Gift, a romantic fantasy.  She released True:  3 Short Stories in October, 2013.   A Good Man's Life, Book 2 in The Real World Series, will be released in February, 2014.  Novels in queue for publication include Mercy, Book 3 in The Real World Series, A Lovely Dream, a romantic thriller, Prim and Proper, a contemporary romance with a touch of mystery, and Lucky, a thriller set in the not-so-distant future in post-plague Earth.  Cutrera has also completed another work of fiction entitled Compromising Positions. She  has started writing a contemporary romance entitled Sight Unseen, and a sequel to The Healer's Gift, which she has decided to call Jordan's Way. 
Cutrera, a member of the Romance Writers of America, the Florida Writers' Association, and the Tampa Area Romance Authors was born and raised in Louisiana and moved to Florida with her family in 2004.  She works with the visually-impaired and is visually-impaired herself.  She firmly believes that our minds are only limited by the restrictions we place upon them.  Her literary credo?  "Transcending reality by exploring it one story at a time...."