There’s something special about holding a book and knowing the author wears the same Tri Delta letters. Our sisters are creating incredible works on the page, and their stories are as bold and meaningful as our sisterhood.
From peaceful reflections on nature and animals to thrillers, children’s books and poetry born from survival and healing, your next great read starts here!
BOOK FEATURES
“Behind the Gate”
Leslie Baird McDonald, DePauw
This book is a beautiful collection of captivating photography and haiku blended to define the seasons “behind the gate” of a secluded country haven. Discover a peaceful setting where a love of nature and horses combine to delight those who seek quiet tranquility, expressed on the dew-tipped petal of a rose, a wisp of clouds in an azure sky, the promise of an unexpected rainbow straddling the lane or a foggy, frost-covered fence line.
Leslie has been active professionally in the horse industry for over 40 years and grew up in Chicago. A gold medal dressage trainer and popular author, she lives with her husband Doug on a horse farm in southern Ohio with five warmbloods (horses), a Labrador retriever and a corgi named Birdie.
“Tread Lightly”
Elizabeth Kennedy Kemp, Southern California
When a lifeguard’s body is found at the local pool where Tierney swims laps daily, she is pulled back into the life she thought she had left behind when she was a member of the Crisis Intervention Squad in Dublin, Ireland. A former hostage negotiator turned stay-at-home mom, Tierney’s move to Silicon Valley for her husband’s job offered the contrast of a calm, domestic life. But the murder investigation disrupts all that, connecting to an event in her past and threatening to overwhelm her.
On the domestic front, the cliques at her kindergartener’s new private school aren’t making it easy for her to fit in either. This “fish out of water” story is a domestic thriller set against the backdrop of the tech industry’s 2007 stock option backdating scandal.
Elizabeth was born and raised in California and lives in Silicon Valley with her high school sweetheart husband. She studied public relations at the University of Southern California, earned a Master of Business Administration from Santa Clara University and led a successful career in high-tech marketing communications before becoming a stay-at-home mom. That decision helped rekindle her love of reading for fun and enabled her to pursue writing full-time. When away from her laptop, Elizabeth enjoys lap swimming, hiking, pickleball and golf. “Tread Lightly” is her first novel.
“I Wish My Dad Was a Platypus!”
Erin Shular Butler, Southern Methodist
Young readers are whisked into a wildly imaginative journey through a child’s playful wish that her dad were something far more exciting—like a platypus! With humor, heart and a splash of the absurd, this charming illustrated book celebrates the quirky dreams of childhood while gently revealing that the best kind of dad is the one you already have. Packed with rhymes, giggles and love, Erin’s story is perfect for bedtime laughs and meaningful hugs.
Known for her engaging storytelling and vivid imagination, Erin uniquely connects with young readers and their parents. Her work is inspired by the everyday magic of family life, making her stories relatable and enchanting! Erin is a wife, mom to many fur babies, amateur photographer, world traveler, old Hollywood fanatic, birthday enthusiast and lover of anything royal!
“All the Things I Never Said”
Danyelle Addesso, Stockton
This touching poetry memoir was written in the aftermath of a decade-long abusive relationship. The collection transforms silence into testimony. Through verse, Danyelle chronicles the progression from darkness through clarity and into healing, offering a raw but hopeful testament to the idea that even what is shattered can rise again. The book is a deeply personal collection about darkness, clarity and healing, born from the pages of her diary and transformed into a message of resilience and self-worth. Danyelle shares her story to help others recognize the early signs of emotional abuse and know there is life, strength and love on the other side of survival.
Tri Delta’s values of truth, self-sacrifice and friendship have carried Danyelle through this journey. She draws inspiration from music, memory and the quiet observations of daily life. Her style blends lyrical honesty with emotional precision, weaving fragments of lived experience into poetry that resonates with both survivors and seekers of truth.
When she’s not writing, Danyelle is often reading, exploring new cities or building creative projects that connect people to stories, whether through literature, marketing or design. She believes in the power of words to heal, to witness and to remind us that we are not alone. Danyelle currently resides in Florida, where she’s preparing for her next chapter.
“More Than a Mushroom Hunt”
Tonalee Shinabery King, Indiana State
Pull on your red rubber boots and join a girl and her father on a sensory-rich quest through the woods that is more than a mushroom hunt. The pair encounter forest animals, pawpaws, wildflowers and many different kinds of mushrooms on their adventure.
Tonalee’s debut picture book draws on her 35+ years as an educator and her time at the Fort Wayne Zoo, where she honed her appreciation for conservation. She resides in rural Ohio, where she still searches for mushrooms and listens for the frog chorus with her husband. They are the parents of two grown daughters.
“The Women”
Kristin John Hannah, Washington
“The Women,” follows the story of one Army nurse serving in the Vietnam War, but shines a light on all the women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, “The Women” is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine, whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.
Women can be heroes. When 20-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
Kristin is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels. “The Four Winds” immediately hit #1 on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and indie bookstores’ bestseller lists and was selected as a book club pick by both the “Today” show and the Book of the Month club, the latter of which named it the best book of 2021. In 2018, “The Great Alone” became an instant New York Times #1 bestseller and was named the Best Historical Novel of the Year by Goodreads. In 2015, “The Nightingale” became an international blockbuster, was named Goodreads’ Best Historical Fiction Novel for 2015 and won the coveted People’s Choice Award for Best Fiction in the same year. It was named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, iTunes, BuzzFeed, the Wall Street Journal, Paste and The Week. “The Nightingale” is currently in pre-production at TriStar Pictures. “Firefly Lane,” her beloved novel about two best friends, was the #1 Netflix series around the world the week it came out. The popular TV show stars Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke. A former attorney, Kristin lives in the Pacific Northwest.