• Age: 15 to 18
• Grade: 10 to 12

Sylvia Kramer flees two thousand miles from home and switches out her Jimmy Choos for rubber boots. She stubbornly adapts to the unique culture and dialect of Newfoundland embracing diverse friends and east coast delicacies. In a psychological roller coaster of events, she finally reconciles with her estranged family when a brutal assault shatters her spirit and plunges her back into depression. Unorthodox coping mechanisms aid her recovery, but it will take more than out-of-body experiences and superstitious tattoos to heal the damage.

Although Phyllis's passion for writing began with longer works, her short stories — often scheming, twisted, or spooky — have appeared in anthologies and journals in Canada, the U.S.A, and the U.K. She is a past second—place winner in the Your McMurray Magazine (YMM) national competition, and a recipient of the Bony Pete Award for Best Short Story at the Crime Writers' Conference in Toronto. In 2013, Phyllis' humorous story Delusional Dates won her a place as a Fringe Reader at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival, located near Guelph Ontario. Her first novel, Hazards of the Trade, was released in April 2020.
Phyllis has built a loyal following through her writing blog and Facebook page, in addition to reading her monthly column, "Up Close and Personal" in First Monday magazine. Phyllis lives in Lambton Shores near London, Ontario.
Visit her on Twitter @PLHumbyAuthor as well as her author and book pages on Facebook.

Phyllis L. Humby's profile page

The idea for Old Broad Road germinated during my first visit to Newfoundland and Labrador. My husband is a Newfoundlander so I didn’t see the island through a tourist’s eyes; it was logging roads, cabins in the woods, and kitchen parties. I’ve never known a warmer welcome. It was a challenge to decipher the rapid dialect, but soon their sense of humour and colourful idioms had me rocking with laughter. What if…an older woman from the mainland came to settle in Newfoundland? It would be interesting to see how she would adapt to the challenges and unique lifestyle of living in a remote coastal area on The Rock. But first I had to come up with a valid reason for her to leave her grown children, grandchildren, friends, and elite social circle behind. And I had to determine what contributed to her decision to never return ‘home’. It was a journey in every respect.