Eva Rutland
Encyclopedia
Eva Rutland, was born in Atlanta, GA in 1917. She is the author of more than 20 romance novels. She is the author When We Were Colored: A Mother’s Story and, No Crystal Stair and is the winner of the 2000 Golden Pen Award for Lifetime Achievement.
in 1937. . She married Bill Rutland, a civilian with the Tuskegee Airmen. The Air Force moved Bill Rutland to Ohio, then Sacramento, Calif. He and Eva built a home, made new friends and focused on raising their four kids.
and Georgette Heyer
as favorites. A second book,When We Were Colored: A Mother’s Story, was first published in 1964 (and reprinted in 2007), chronicles the lives of an ordinary yet extraordinary "colored" family as they move from segregation to integration during the turbulent civil rights era of the 1950s and 60s.
In the 1950s, Rutland realized that she was going blind. "When you get incapacitated, and you can't see or can't move around as you should, then you're kind of at a loss," she says. "So you have to find something to do, and I think that's when I found my writing."
Rutland already sold writing to Redbook and other magazines. In 1964, she published a family memoir as a kind of antidote to the public fear about change and race — issues she was intimately familiar with as her own children attended newly integrated schools.
In the book, The Trouble With Being a Mama, she wrote, "Integration in theory is a fine, high-sounding utopia. In reality, I shivered as I watched my children unknowingly shed the warm cloak of segregation."
She has been blind from macular degeneration throughout most of her career. Her first published romance was the Inspirational
title A Report of Love in 1985. As an author for Harlequin Romance, Eva Rutland has published 11 books. Including other genres, Rutland has published more than 20 books.
No Crystal Stair, Eva Rutland's first mainstream novel, chronicles six decades of American history through the experiences of Ann Elizabeth Carter Metcalf and her family. Rutland's semiautobiographical novel takes its title from a stanza in Langston Hughes' 1922 poem "Mother to Son." Both the poem and the novel carry messages of hope and perseverance in the face of life's disappointments. The book is a departure from Rutland's earlier works. The author, who occasionally includes African-American characters in her novels, has taken a frank, head-on look at racism. In addition, her use of language may surprise many familiar with her work.
Early life
Eva Rutland is the granddaughter of a former slave who sent all of his children through college. Rutland’s mother was a school teacher; her father a pharmacist. She attended segregated schools her entire life and graduated from Spelman CollegeSpelman College
Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman was the first historically black female...
in 1937. . She married Bill Rutland, a civilian with the Tuskegee Airmen. The Air Force moved Bill Rutland to Ohio, then Sacramento, Calif. He and Eva built a home, made new friends and focused on raising their four kids.
Author
Eva Rutland published her first novel in 1964 (The Trouble With Being Mama: A Negro Mother on the Anxieties and Joys of Bringing Up a Family) and has since been published in many genres and styles, though she notes a decided preference for the Regency era and cites Jane AustenJane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
and Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer was a British historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer...
as favorites. A second book,When We Were Colored: A Mother’s Story, was first published in 1964 (and reprinted in 2007), chronicles the lives of an ordinary yet extraordinary "colored" family as they move from segregation to integration during the turbulent civil rights era of the 1950s and 60s.
In the 1950s, Rutland realized that she was going blind. "When you get incapacitated, and you can't see or can't move around as you should, then you're kind of at a loss," she says. "So you have to find something to do, and I think that's when I found my writing."
Rutland already sold writing to Redbook and other magazines. In 1964, she published a family memoir as a kind of antidote to the public fear about change and race — issues she was intimately familiar with as her own children attended newly integrated schools.
In the book, The Trouble With Being a Mama, she wrote, "Integration in theory is a fine, high-sounding utopia. In reality, I shivered as I watched my children unknowingly shed the warm cloak of segregation."
She has been blind from macular degeneration throughout most of her career. Her first published romance was the Inspirational
Inspirational fiction
Inspirational fiction is a term that refers to a sub-category within "inspirational literature," or "inspirational writing," used in various ways in the United States and other nations...
title A Report of Love in 1985. As an author for Harlequin Romance, Eva Rutland has published 11 books. Including other genres, Rutland has published more than 20 books.
No Crystal Stair, Eva Rutland's first mainstream novel, chronicles six decades of American history through the experiences of Ann Elizabeth Carter Metcalf and her family. Rutland's semiautobiographical novel takes its title from a stanza in Langston Hughes' 1922 poem "Mother to Son." Both the poem and the novel carry messages of hope and perseverance in the face of life's disappointments. The book is a departure from Rutland's earlier works. The author, who occasionally includes African-American characters in her novels, has taken a frank, head-on look at racism. In addition, her use of language may surprise many familiar with her work.
Romance Novels
- Almost A Wife - September 2000, Harlequin Romance #3621
- Always Christmas - December 1992, Harlequin Romance #3240
- At First Sight - November 1988, Harlequin Romance #2944
- Child's Christmas, A - December 1997, Harlequin Superromance #769
- Enterprising Lady - June 1990, Harlequin Regency Romance #28
- Foreign AffairForeign Affair-B-sides:-Personnel:* Tina Turner - lead vocals* Tony Joe White - guitar, harmonica, synthesizers* Dan Hartman - guitar, keyboards* Eddie Martinez - guitar* Neil Taylor - guitar* James Ralston - guitar* Gene Black - guitar* Pat Thrall - guitar...
- October 1993, Harlequin Romance #3283 - Gretna Bride - January 1993, Harlequin Regency Romance #89
- Heart And Soul - February 2005, Harlequin Superromance #1255
- Her Own Prince Charming - April 1999, Harlequin Romance #3550
- Marriage Bait - January 1997, Harlequin Romance #3439
- Matched Pair - May 1989, Harlequin Regency Romance #1
- Million-Dollar Marriage, The - August 1998, Harlequin Romance #3518
- No Accounting For Love - July 1990, Harlequin Romance #3064
- Private DancerPrivate DancerPrivate Dancer is the fifth solo album by Tina Turner, released on Capitol Records in 1984, which became her breakthrough solo album. Turner's success with the album came after several challenging years of going solo after a public divorce from husband and performing partner Ike Turner. It is her...
- June 1996, Harlequin Romance #3412 - To Love Them All - March 1988, Harlequin Romance #2897
- Vicar's Daughter, The - February 1990, Harlequin Regency Romance #20
- Wedding Trap, The - January 1998, Harlequin Romance #3490
- Wilful Lady, The - June 2001, Mills and Boon Historical RomanceHistorical romanceHistorical romance is a subgenre of two literary genres, the romance novel and the historical novel.-Definition:Historical romance is set before World War II...
, and March 2001, Harlequin Regency Romance #45