Campbell, Drusilla

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CAMPBELL, Drusilla

PERSONAL:

Female; married; husband's name Art; children: Rocky, Matt. Education: American University, M.A.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Kensington Publishing Corp., 850 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, workshop instructor. Teacher, including in London, England, and Changuinola, Panama; worked in Washington, DC, as a secretary, receptionist, and as an on-air personality for NPR affiliate WAMU-FM.

WRITINGS:

The Frost and the Flame, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1980.

A Dream of Fire, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1982.

Silent Dreams, Dell Publishing (New York, NY), 1982.

Stolen Passions, Dell Publishing (New York, NY), 1982.

Tomorrow's Journey, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1982.

Autumntide, Dell Publishing (New York, NY), 1984.

Men Like Gods, Dell Publishing (New York, NY), 1984.

Reunion, Dell Publishing (New York, NY), 1985.

(With Marilyn Graham) Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace: A Guide for Managers, Facts on File Publications (New York, NY), 1988.

Wildwood, Kensington (New York, NY), 2003.

The Edge of the Sky, Kensington (New York, NY), 2004.

Also author of two other novels, published in the 1980s.

SIDELIGHTS:

While in her twenties, Drusilla Campbell traveled and taught, but she has been writing for as long as she could remember. When she lived in Washington, she was an on-air personality for a National Public Radio affiliate, and then turned to full-time writing. Campbell wrote ten novels, then, with Marilyn Scott Graham, an administrator of a substance abuse rehabilitation program, published Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace: A Guide for Managers. To write this work, Campbell drew on her own experiences working with recovering women alcoholics and drug addicts. The result is a book that Booklist contributor David A. Rouse called "timely and important."

Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace lists warning signs and alternatives for handling problems, including intervention, supervisor training, and establishing an employee-assistance program. The authors provide information on drug testing and a drug-by-drug examination of available illegal substances. They emphasize that managers who deny a problem exists only exacerbate it. Five preventive measures are suggested, including establishing a strong policy regarding abuse, minimizing opportunities for drug trafficking and use on the job, making help available, creating as pleasant a workplace environment as possible, and educating employees about the effects of abuse.

Nearly ten years elapsed between Campbell's tenth and eleventh works of fiction. Wildwood, which was called a "thoroughly enjoyable read" by Booklist contributor Deborah Donovan, is a tale about the power of female friendship. The first of the three protagonists is Hannah, who is happily married with teen children, but who longs for another baby. She decides to adopt a crack baby from Resurrection House, where she volunteers. Hannah's friend Jeanne operates a boy's school with her husband; Jeanne's marriage is failing, and she drinks to excess to ease her torment over giving away her infant son. Finding out where her son is, she begins to stalk him. Hannah's other friend Liz has returned to their Silicon Valley hometown of Rinconada to try to pull her life together. The three women share a secret about a violent incident that happened when they were adolescents, a secret they have kept for decades, but one which has obviously had an impact on how they all have lived their lives. Harriet Klausner wrote for Best Reviews online that "women of all ages will be able to identify with the problems these women face. Drusilla Campbell is a wonderful storyteller who probes into the human psyche with some uncanny insights."

After Wildwood, Campbell completed The Edge of the Sky. The protagonists are Lana Porter and her husband, Jack, who run a nursery business. They have two teen daughters, Beth and Micki, the latter being an adopted child. When Jack dies, Lana loses interest in everything and the girls must fend for themselves. Micki begins skipping school, and Beth quits the basketball team and replaces her old friends with a pot smoker who lives in a condo. Lana has to pull it together when her sister confides to her that she has been abused for years by her husband and when Micki's birth father shows up. She gets support from her reading group and the family turns things around through a year's worth of therapy. Writing in another Booklist review, Donovan noted that Campbell "brings her second paean to the power of female friendship to a tidy conclusion."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 15, 1988, David A. Rouse, review of Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace: A Guide for Managers, pp. 1377-1378; February 1, 2003, Deborah Donovan, review of Wildwood, p. 971; February 15, 2004, Deborah Donovan, review of The Edge of the Sky, p. 1034.

Journal of Economic Literature, September, 1989, review of Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace, pp. 1294-1295.

Library Journal, May 15, 1988, Grace Klinefelter, review of Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace, p. 76.

Reference Book Review, number 2, 1988, review of Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace, p. 25.