Elizabeth Gauffreau
Elizabeth Gauffreau writes fiction and poetry with a strong connection to family and place. She holds a BA in English/Writing from Old Dominion University and an MA in English/Fiction Writing from the University of New Hampshire. Her fiction publications include short stories in Woven Tale Press, The Long Story, Soundings East, Ad Hoc Monadnock, Rio Grande Review, Blueline, Slow Trains, Hospital Drive, and Serving House Journal, among others. Her poetry has appeared in North of Oxford, The Writing On The Wall, The Larcom Review, and Natural Bridge, among others. Her short story “Henrietta’s Saving Grace” was awarded the 2022 Ben Nyberg prize for fiction by Choeofpleirn Press.
Liz has published two novels, The Weigh of Snow and Regret, based on the closing of the last poor farm in Vermont in 1968, and Telling Sonny: The Story of a Girl Who Loved the Vaudeville Show She has also published two collections of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance and Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right.
Liz’s professional background is in nontraditional higher education, including academic advising, classroom and online teaching, curriculum development, and program administration. She received the Granite State College Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. Liz lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire with her husband.
Books
Our Commitment to Giving Back
$5.00 of every purchase of The Weight of Snow and Regret paperback through the Paul Stream Press website will be donated to Age Well Meals on Wheels, Franklin County, Vermont.
Telling Sonny: The Story of a Girl Who Loved the Vaudeville Show
Telling Sonny is a coming-of-age novel set in the 1920s, when much of vaudeville had devolved into the Small Time. Not so for Faby Gauthier, a naïve girl from the small village of Enosburg Falls, Vermont. For Faby, the annual vaudeville show that comes to the village is worthy of the Great White Way itself.
Pretty and vivacious, Faby catches the eye of Slim White, America’s self-proclaimed Favorite Hoofer. She spends time with him during the week of the show’s run in hopes of learning first-hand how it feels to perform on the vaudeville stage.
On Slim White’s last night in the village, seduction would appear inevitable, and Faby succumbs. Her desire to forget her lapse in judgment is not to be, however. In a misguided to attempt to do the right thing, Slim White marries Faby on a whim and takes her with him on the vaudeville circuit. Little does she know that in a few short months, she will learn the true meaning of Small Time, setting her life on a path she never imagined.
The Weight of Snow and Regret
For over 100 years, no one wanted to be sent to the Sheldon Poor Farm. By 1968, no one wanted to leave.
Amid the social turmoil of 1968, the last poor farm in Vermont is slated for closure. By the end of the year, the twelve destitute residents remaining will be dispatched to whatever institutions will take them, their personal stories lost forever.
Hazel Morgan and her husband Paul have been matron and manager at the Sheldon Poor Farm for the past 20 years. Unlike her husband, Hazel refuses to believe the impending closure will happen. She believes that if she just cares deeply enough and works hard enough, the Sheldon Poor Farm will continue to be a safe haven for those in need, herself and Paul included.
On a frigid January afternoon, the overseer of the poor and the town constable from a nearby town deliver a stranger to the poor farm for an emergency stay. She refuses to tell them her name, where she came from, or what her story is. It soon becomes apparent to Hazel that whatever the woman’s story is, she is deeply ashamed of it.
Hazel fights to keep the stranger with them until she is strong enough to face, then resume, her life–while Hazel must face the tragedies of her own past that still haunt her.
Told with compassion and humor, The Weight of Snow & Regret tells the poignant story of what it means to care for others in a rapidly changing world.
Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right
The simple pleasures of our favorite places in nature are gifts of the spirit to be shared with others. In this collection of 53 haiku, each paired with a nature photograph, poet Elizabeth Gauffreau invites readers to join her on a poetic journey through the picturesque landscapes of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Each poem captures a moment of clarity and serenity, offering a window into the tranquil beauty of northern New England and the profound feelings these places evoke. Through her blend of poignant haiku and vivid imagery, Gauffreau creates a relatable and uplifting experience that resonates with anyone who cherishes nature’s gifts and the memories made with loved ones in these serene settings.
Grief Songs: Poems of Love and Remembrance
When a loved one dies, the family will often turn to their photograph albums as an act of solace, to keep their loved one with them just a little while longer. Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance arose from that experience. The collection opens with three free verse expressions of raw grief, followed by a series of photographs from the author’s family album, each paired with a poem written in tanka. Taken together, they tell the story of a loving family lost.