Story Avenue

Description

Orders now open. This book is scheduled for release on August 4, 2026. Orders placed before then will ship on or before release date. 

Story Avenue: Growing Up on an Iowa Gravel Road

By Lisa Gray

ABOUT THE BOOK

Sometimes it takes time and distance for a heart to clearly see the place they once called home.

Story Avenue is a memoir about the people who shaped a Northwest Iowa girl seeking to understand the place that shaped her and the family whose hallmark is their open hearts. The rural Iowa farm is the backdrop for a young woman longing to see a world beyond cornfields and churches. As an adult Lisa watches as the country’s identity politics rage, and suddenly she finds herself wanting to share what she already knows—the people of “flyover” country cannot be judged by their geography. A much closer look is required.

Author Lisa Gray is a Midwest girl, through and through. She grew up in Northwest Iowa desperate to leave and landed in exotic Minnesota to attend college in Mankato. After nine years of teaching high school English and public speaking, she found herself writing as a way to stay sane while raising two kids and being married to a physician. Lisa now teaches developmental reading to adults of all ages, taking their first steps towards their dreams. She recharges with the help of books, nature, and trying to get a good photo in a favorite spot, most often the side of a gravel road.