Submitted by G. Elizabeth Kretchmer

San Juan Island author G. Elizabeth Kretchmer will release her newest book this month, titled “Bear Medicine.” The essayist, speaker, and author has written a character-driven and emotionally evocative novel about sacred friendships in a sacred landscape, infusing American western history and adventure into literary women’s fiction.

In the present day, Brooke sets off on a trail in Yellowstone National Park to train for an upcoming marathon and is savagely attacked by a grizzly bear. Anne accompanies her husband on a camping trip, 140 years earlier, in the nation’s first national park and awakens one morning to find he’s been captured by Nez Perce warriors. Both women fall under the care of American Indian women and must overcome multiple obstacles — internal and external — to find what they seek; “When four women share a dream, nothing can stop them.”

In 2014, Kretchmer released her first novel, “The Damnable Legacy,” with a second edition released the next year. Set largely against Alaska’s unforgiving landscape and narrated from beyond the grave, the action/adventure book is about love and survival, exploring the question of how far we should go to achieve our goals and at what cost. In 2015, she published “Women on the Brink,” a collection of loosely linked short stories about women facing life’s unwelcome challenges. Fans of these books will be delighted to discover that two of their characters make a cameo appearance in her newest release.

“Bear Medicine” will be available through Amazon and independent bookstores. E-book editions will be available through Amazon.com, iTunes and Nook.

A former CPA with Price Waterhouse, Kretchmer holds an MFA from Pacific University and has published other work in The New York Times as well as various journals and anthologies. In addition to writing, she is a wellness writing workshop facilitator, environmental advocate, and new organic farmer. For more information, visit www.gekretchmer.com.