RED BLUFF, Calif. — Alyssa Perrone, a new author from Red Bluff, has debuted her Western novel, “Her Boots on the Frontlines: Adah’s Reckoning” which tells the story of a young woman challenging societal limits during the Mexican American War. The novel reflects Perrone’s own struggles with an autoimmune disorder.
“If I were to sum it up in one sentence, I mean Adah’s trapped in her life, and I’m, sometimes, I’m trapped in mine,” Perrone explained. “Because, I mean, having an autoimmune disease is limiting.”
Initially pursuing a career in veterinary medicine, being diagnosed with her condition put a halt to that putting her into regular hospital visits, and health issues that prevent her from returning to work.
Instead with time on her hands, Perrone was encouraged by her grandmother to write, which she shared lit a spark within her telling the story of Adah, a young woman from mid 1840s Tennessee, and her friend Roy.
“Women were to grow up and become family women,” Perrone said. “Take care of the family, take care of the house, and men would take over the farm from their fathers, and they didn’t like those societal norms. They wanted something bigger, something better.
Perrone began writing in 2023, driven by her grandmother’s encouragement. However, her grandmother passed away last year before the book’s completion.
“Something happened, something clicked in me that said I got to keep going. I got to keep doing this, and I sat down one day and kept going,” she said.
Perrone hopes her novel offers readers the same inspiration her grandmother gave her.
“Writing was an escape for me, and if I could escape from my stories, from my life, from all the stress,” she stated. “Then why don’t I give others the chance to escape too.”
Perrone said she left this one on a cliff hanger, and is already working on the sequel. However, she didn’t have a hard time yet for when that would be coming out. People can find her in person next at the Fall Bazaar in Red Bluff on September 27th, and then at Redding’s 4th Annual Local Author Fair on October 4th.
The book can also be purchased online through Amazon.
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