Pella, Judith

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Pella, Judith

PERSONAL:

Married. Education: Attended college. Hobbies and other interests: Sailing, quilting, collecting things for her dollhouse, reading.

ADDRESSES:

Home—OR.

CAREER:

Writer. worked previously as a nurse and an elementary school teacher.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Frontier Lady, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1993.

Heirs of the Motherland, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1993.

Stoner's Crossing, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1994.

The Dawning of Deliverance, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1995.

Warrior's Song, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1996.

Blind Faith, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1996.

White Nights, Red Morning, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1996.

Passage into Light, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1998.

Beloved Stranger, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1998.

Texas Angel, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 1999.

Heaven's Road, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 2000.

Written on the Wind, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 2002.

Somewhere a Song, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 2002.

Toward the Sunrise, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 2003.

Homeward My Heart, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 2004.

Mark of the Cross, Bethany House Publishers (Bloomington, MN), 2006.

Bachelor's Puzzle, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 2007.

WITH MICHAEL PHILLIPS; NOVELS

The Heather Hills of Stonewycke, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1985.

Flight from Stonewycke, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1985.

The Lady of Stonewycke, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1986.

Jamie MacLeod, Highland Lass, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1987.

Robbie Taggart, Highland Sailor, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1987.

Stranger at Stonewycke, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 1987.

Shadows over Stonewycke, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 1988.

Treasure of Stonewycke, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 1988.

My Father's World, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1990.

Daughter of Grace, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1990.

The Crown and the Crucible, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 1991.

A Place in the Sun, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1991.

On the Trail of the Truth, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1991.

Travail and Triumph, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 1992.

A House Divided, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1992.

The Stonewycke Legacy, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 2000.

The Stonewycke Trilogy, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 2000.

WITH TRACIE PETERSON; NOVELS

Distant Dreams, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 1997.

A Hope Beyond, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 1997.

Westward the Dream, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1998.

A Promise for Tomorrow, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1998.

Separate Roads, Bethany House Publishers (Minneapolis, MN), 1999.

Ties That Bind, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 2000.

SIDELIGHTS:

Judith Pella fell in love with storytelling as a child and began to experiment with writing herself. But as she grew older, she pursued other types of work, spending time as a nurse and then as an elementary school teacher. Eventually, she shared some of her writing with good friend and published writer Michael Phillips. Phillips was very encouraging and suggested Pella might collaborate on an upcoming project with him, as he did not feel he had sufficient time to devote to it. The result was Pella's first published book, The Heather Hills of Stonewycke. So began the first series Pella was to write with Phillips and a writing partnership that would continue to thrive for more than two decades. Pella also writes in partnership with Tracie Peterson, and on her own.

Pella's books are classified as Christian fiction and focus primarily on individuals struggling to find love and redemption in the eyes of God. Her settings range from Scotland to the Old West, providing a backdrop for stories that aim to inspire and exude hope. In Written on the Wind, the first in her World War II, "Daughters of Fortune" series, is about three sisters living in California at the start of the war. They struggle to please their tough, entrepreneurial father, who publishes a major Los Angeles newspaper. Each daughter attempts to gain her father's favor, and the results are a series of romances and adventures that take place over the course of the book. A Publishers Weekly reviewer remarked that the novel "offers some humorous touches and fine descriptive detail, though Pella spends too much time telling rather than showing." Though John Mort, writing for Booklist, criticized some of Pella's modern language as inappropriate for the setting, he noted that "her story does come to life in wartime Yugoslavia, Egypt, and especially the Soviet Union."

Mark of the Cross offers readers a medieval romance, set in thirteenth-century Europe, between the noble Beatrice and Philip, an illegitimate son. When Philip is accused of murder and banished from the country, the romance appears more hopeless than ever, but Beatrice's faith leads them back together in the end. Marty Medley, in a review for Armchair Interviews, remarked: "The author fills in the history [of] that era quite nicely—adding to the story rather than distracting in its complexity."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 1, 2001, John Mort, review of Heaven's Road, p. 335; January 1, 2002, John Mort, review of Written on the Wind, p. 804; April 15, 2006, John Mort, review of Mark of the Cross, p. 28.

Library Journal, April 1, 1995, Henry Carrigan, review of The Dawning of Deliverance, p. 82; February 1, 1996, Henry Carrigan, review of Warrior's Song, p. 66; November 1, 1996, Melissa Hudak, review of Blind Faith, p. 54; February 1, 1997, Melissa Hudak, review of White Nights, Red Mornings, p. 68; April 1, 1997, Melissa Hudak, review of Distant Dreams, p. 80; April 1, 1998, Melissa Hudak, review of A Promise for Tomorrow, p. 78; November 1, 1998, Melissa Hudak, review of Passage into Light, p. 66; November 15, 1998, Kristin Ramsdell, review of Westward the Dream, p. 56; November 1, 1999, review of Separate Roads, p. 68; November 1, 1999, Melanie C. Duncan, review of Texas Angel, p. 68; April 1, 2000, Melanie C. Duncan, review of Ties That Bind, p. 84.