The Somewhere Series

Where the rules were clear, and made to be broken.

Historical fiction about women finding their resilience in times of change, written from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Meet Somewhere Still Get in touch
“[Denitta] paints a vivid portrait of Kansas City in the Roaring ’20s.”
Kirkus Reviews
Cover of Somewhere Still by Denitta, Book 1 of the Somewhere Series The Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2017 Finalist

The Books

Read them in any order.

Each Somewhere book stands alone, though if you follow the series you will meet some recurring characters.

Somewhere Still book cover

Novel · Book 1 of the Somewhere Series

Somewhere Still

One woman’s transformative journey of love, betrayal, and redemption, set in the Roaring ’20s when the rules were clear and made to be broken.

From the day Jean Ball lands a job at the elegant Empire hotel, she quickly learns the secrets of the entitled class. Dazzled by a Roaring Twenties society on the cusp of radical change, this naive and innocent young woman finds herself dancing, bobbing her hair, and falling for Elden Whitcomb, the handsome son of the wealthy hotel owner. The stakes rise when the Whitcombs’ powerful secrets are revealed and loving Elden comes at a price, one that may be too high for Jean to pay.

Shattered and alone, Jean is in the battle of her life in a city alive with romance, smoky speakeasies, jazz music and scandal, but divided by race and class. With the help and encouragement of influential women, Jean may find what she has always needed, though her choices could echo through generations. But will the man she trusted and so fiercely loves redeem himself?

More about the story

A poignant and compelling portrait of a young woman making her way in an era of opulence and abundance, at a time of great division and separation. It takes you back to a city known as Paris on the Plains, alive with jazz clubs, speakeasies, and a burgeoning Prohibition bootleg trade, with a rich tale of women’s social groups changing their corner of the world, the birth of baseball’s Negro League, and fast changes that bring traditional social mores into question.

In this coming-of-age story, we see the thin reed upon which many lived in the Roaring Twenties and witness the power of love and its ability to heal and mend divides.

Find it on Amazon Also on Barnes & Noble and Kindle Unlimited
Prohibition Cocktails: 21 Secrets and Recipes, book cover

Non-fiction · Recipes & history

Prohibition Cocktails

The history, secrets, and recipes of 21 of the most popular drinks of the Roaring Twenties. For 14 years, from 1920 to 1933, the production, sale, and transport of liquor were banned, and speakeasy cocktail culture flourished. From the sweet Mary Pickford to the startling Monkey Gland, come learn the stories behind the glass.

Find it on Amazon
Historic photograph of a road winding up the mesa toward Los Alamos, New Mexico, during the war years

Up next · A time travel novel

Somewhere Sometime

Los Alamos, during the War effort. Two lovers, separated by time lost. Watch this space for updates, sneak peeks, and release news.

Get in touch
Portrait of author Denitta

About Denitta

From legal briefs to the stories she really wanted to tell.

Denitta writes historical and contemporary fiction from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

After decades of writing legal briefs and contracts, Denitta picked up her pen and decided she would write the stories she really wanted to tell: about young women discovering their own resilience in times of transition.

Somewhere Still, written as a Mother’s Day gift, captures a society in transition. It is a world of jazz, baseball’s Negro League and a burgeoning Prohibition bootleg trade, all a backdrop for a story of the price of love, the hurts that are slowest to heal, and a certain kind of infinite redemption found when women band together across race and class.

  • Women’s Fiction Writers Association
  • Historical Novel Society
  • Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers
Visit Denitta’s Amazon author page

Inspiration

Postcards from the Roaring Twenties.

The hotels, shops, and magazines that inspired Somewhere Still.

Did the Kansas City women’s consumer league really exist?

Yes. The city’s Consumer League was very active in the 1920s and, yes, the women actually inspected dairies.

Was there really a Negro League baseball team in Kansas City in 1921?

Yes. The Monarchs had a 73-43 record in 1921. The League was first formed in Kansas City, which today is home to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

  • Historic photograph of the Pompeii Room, Hotel Baltimore

    Kansas City’s Baltimore Hotel inspired the creation of the Empire. See the Pompeii Room itself.

  • The Ladies’ Home Journal cover, April 1921

    The “Sweet Nothings” of the April 1921 Ladies’ Home Journal inspired Jean and Francie.

  • Postcard of the Emery, Bird, Thayer department store

    The Emery Bird Thayer, Kansas City’s first and premier department store. Its elegant elevator still exists.

  • Illustration of the dining room at the Savoy Grill

    The Savoy Grill’s stained glass is still captivating, almost 100 years later.

  • Vintage postcard of a grand hotel lobby

    The grand lobbies of the era set the stage for the Empire.

Historic photograph of the road up the mesa to Los Alamos

Where the next story begins

Up next

Somewhere Sometime

A first look at Los Alamos in the war years, the setting for the next book.

  • Historic photograph of Fuller Lodge, Los Alamos, with people seated on the lawn

    Fuller Lodge, the social heart of the Hill.

  • Historic photograph of a dining room at Fuller Lodge with a stone fireplace

    The lodge dining room, with its stone fireplace.

  • Historic photograph of wartime housing curving along a road in Los Alamos

    Hurried wartime housing on the mesa.

  • Historic photograph of men digging out a jeep stuck in mud at Los Alamos

    Mud, jeeps, and frontier-town improvisation.

  • Historic photograph of a man working at a laboratory bench

    Laboratory work on the mesa.

  • Black and white photograph of the Nuclear Reactor Center, Burt Hall, at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, in the 1960s

    The University of Kansas Nuclear Reactor Center (Burt Hall) in Lawrence, Kansas, about 1963. Photo: University Archives, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas.

Press & Praise

“[Denitta] paints a vivid portrait of Kansas City in the Roaring ’20s. Well done.”

Kirkus Reviews
The Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2017 Finalist badge

Finalist, The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, 2017

Literary agent: Elaine Spencer, The Knight Agency

From the Journal

Craft, curiosity, and book charms.

Nov 25, 2018 · 2 min read · book charms

Mini-Book Charms: How To

Miniature book charms are a fun addition to bookmarks or to your holiday decorations collection.

Read the full tutorial

Supplies

  • Color print out of your favorite book cover
  • Scissors
  • Thin cardboard (like a cereal box)
  • Aleene’s craft glue
  • Sculpey white modeling clay
  • Rolling pin
  • Sharp knife
  • Mod Podge

Make and glue up your covers

  1. Copy a picture of your favorite cover and size it to 1″ tall, or however large you want your mini-book to be.
  2. Cut out your covers. A paper cutter helps if free-hand cuts tend to be crooked.
  3. Cut out thin cardboard the exact same size. Cereal box cardboard is thin enough to bend easily.
  4. Glue the cover to the cardboard square and let it dry.
A printed wrap-around cover of Somewhere Still lying on a granite countertop
1. Print the full cover: front, spine, and back.
A printed sheet of mini covers being trimmed on a paper cutter
2. Trim the covers with a paper cutter.
Eight trimmed mini covers laid out on a countertop
3. Your cut covers, ready to go.
A sheet of thin cardboard next to a printed cover
4. Thin cardboard to cut to match each cover.

Make book blanks

  1. Roll out white Sculpey clay to just over ¼″ thick, nice and even.
  2. Using a cardboard piece as your guide, cut out a rectangle that becomes the book blank you will insert inside the cover.
  3. With the knife, make page hash marks on the top, one side and the bottom of the blank. They look remarkably like pages after it’s baked.
  4. Insert the screw eye finding (10mm x 3mm hoop) into the top of the book blank.
  5. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees.
A knife cutting rolled white clay into rectangles along a wooden ruler
5. Cut the rolled clay into rectangles with a sharp knife and a ruler.
Two dozen baked clay book blanks with screw eyes on a metal baking sheet
6. Baked blanks with their screw eyes, cooling on the sheet.

Making your book charm

  1. While the blanks cool, take a ruler and gently bend your covers so there is a spine for the blank to fit inside.
  2. After the blanks are cool, glue the cover (now reinforced with the cardboard) around the blank. Make sure the screw eye is at the top of the book.
  3. Paint all parts of the book with Mod Podge and let it dry.
The back cover of a mini book held against a ruler edge
7. Press the back cover against a ruler edge to start the fold.
The front cover of a mini book held against a ruler edge
8. Repeat with the front cover.
A mini cover wrapped around a thin dowel to shape the spine
9. Wrap the cover around a thin dowel to shape the spine.
A hand holding a mini book with its cardboard cover glued around the white clay pages
10. The cover glued around the blank, with the page edges showing.
Twenty-four finished Somewhere Still mini-book charms laid out in rows, each with a small metal screw eye at the top
11. A finished batch of charms, each with its screw eye at the top.
Close-up of one finished Somewhere Still mini-book charm with its metal screw eye
Up close: one finished charm.

Congratulations. You have mini-book charms.

Contact

Say hello.

Send Denitta a note about her books, a review, or just to say hello. She tries to respond to messages within 2 to 3 days.