Born in Durban, South Africa in the fifties, and now an American citizen, Lynette Brasfield is the author of Nature Lessons, a novel that evolved out of her short story "Suits, Spines and Spikes" and is rooted in her experiences as the daughter of a mentally ill woman. Nature Lessonsreflects also the volatile climate of apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, the beauty of its land, and the diversity of its people. She is now at work on her second novel, Anyhow in a Corner, which is set in Zimbabwe in part during the War of Liberation.

In 1985, Lynette Brasfield left her home in Johannesburg to live in the States, settling in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where parts of Nature Lessons are set, until she relocated to California in 1988. A former corporate communications consultant, she has also been a high school teacher, toy salesperson, journalist, and library assistant at the University of Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). She enjoys books, cats, wine, conversation, independent movies, travel, and good food, especially Indian cuisine.

Lynette earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Rhodes University in the Cape and a graduate degree in English Literature at Natal University, South Africa. She now lives in Orange County, California with her husband Bill. She has two sons. A member of PEN West and NAMI, Brasfield's literary influences include Penelope Lively, Jean Rhys, Margaret Atwood, James Thurber, Patrick McGrath, Julian Barnes, and Jane Austen.

A portion of Lynette's advance and five percent of her future American royalties from sales of Nature Lessons funds an annual Get Involved for Mental Health Scholarship (GI4MH), a nonprofit 501 (c) 3 organization, to benefit a child with a mentally ill parent or sibling. Five percent of her foreign royalties will go to the Centenary Fund of Rhodes University, her South African alma mater.

More information about Lynette Brasfield can be found at http://www.literati.net/Brasfield.

Books by Lynette Brasfield

Nature Lessons: A Novel

by Lynette Brasfield