Triumph

Two friends of different races. Two families: one wealthy, one poor. A rich family saga that resonates throughout centuries of American history to illuminate some of the central questions of our time.
 

Jodi Lea Stewart's remarkable new novel Triumph: A Novel of the Human Spirit spans the 65 years between 1903 and 1968 to dramatize who we are, how we got here, and where the better angels of our nature impel us to go. 
The novel's epic sweep weaves together three vivid storylines set in Louisiana, Texas, and St. Louis. It opens in 1903 when two children are displaced from their homes. One is abducted by a secretive voodoo sect; the other is presented to a former Texas Ranger as part of a life-changing plea for help. Their uncertain fates set in motion a series of events that reverberates decades later.
 

Triumph's central storyline describes the friendship between Mercy and Annie, two girls growing up in late-1950s St. Louis. As they grow older, their friendship is tested and strengthened by their encounters with the city's simmering bigotry and tenacious legacy of segregation. As their story moves forward, the past and future begin to weigh more heavily on the present, bringing Mercy and Annie to a dramatic crossroad that casts an honest, wrenching, and hopeful light on issues we grapple with to this day.
 


Artfully conceived and beautifully written, TRIUMPH, a Novel of the Human Spirit, will take you places you didn't expect to go.

Jodi Lea Stewart's writing reflects her life starting in Texas and Oklahoma, moving to an Arizona cattle ranch next door to the Navajo Nation, and resuming later in her native Texas. She left the University of Arizona to move to San Francisco, where she learned what she didn't want to do with her life. Since then, she graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Business Management, raised three children, worked as an electro-mechanical drafter, penned humor columns for a college periodical, wrote regional western articles, and served as managing editor of a Fortune 500 company newsletter. She currently lives in Arizona with her husband, a Standard poodle, a rescue cat, and numerous houseplants. Jodi is a member of the Southwest Writers and New Mexico-Arizona Book Co-op.