ONCE UPON A COMMUNE

After Woodstock, a generation decided to make some changes in how they lived and where they lived by pursuing self-reliance and self-sustainability. While many missteps occurred in our heroine's life, this is a story based in New England where many hippies thrived in spite of the old attitudes and difficult winters.

At the end of the decade that changed America forever, the post-Woodstock counterculture struck a chord that reverberated beyond the 1969 event. In the blink of an eye, thousands of communes sprouted up across the United States and Europe. From coast to coast, the back-to-the-land movement drew willing converts who wanted to follow the idealized dream of peace, love and happiness. ONCE UPON A COMMUNE is the story of Catherine Janson, wife of a powerful Boston attorney and mother of two little girls, who convinced her husband to buy a summer home in Vermont. Her romantic idea of a country getaway appealed, but ultimately deconstructed their unraveling marriage into a heartbreaking custody battle. As the summer home evolves into a commune, Catherine's leap into the unknown challenges her beliefs and changes her life in ways she never imagined.

Abilene Gray won a SouthWest Writers Award in 2002 for her short story, The Gemini Moon. From this seedling, a trilogy of tales unfurled around the turbulent years that influenced a generation to redefine America's view of herself. ONCE UPON A COMMUNE is the first of three novels that follow Catherine and her hippie friends who believe they can change the world by making their corner of it a better place.