"This work's thoughtful, delicate prose paves a promising way for future installments." - Kirkus Reviews Beth Lawrence was a preppy tomboy who would never be a debutante. A sensitive outsider in search of love and belonging she was raised by stoic older parents; abusive older siblings; and unspoken intergenerational trauma with a family history of alcoholism. She found solace in books; her friends; and the holidays and summers when she got to see Hope and Little Will, and compete in sailboat races on Narraganset Bay with Kim. Always compared to her perfect older brother George, she studied hard, got good grades and finally learned how to stand up to bullies. In July of 1979, her parents suddenly sold everything, and moved to a small isolated town in rural New Hampshire. Like a piece of furniture, they lifted her out of the only life and home she had ever known without explanation. At 14, alone and insecure at home and in the world, Beth continued to search for identity, love and belonging. In the face of grief and loss and sudden death, she struggled to cope and find ways to orient herself in this big unfurling pattern of the unfamiliar. In her encounters with different people, she made new friends; fell for Toby; and learned that everyone, even the people she idolized all have challenges and demons they must face. "An affecting Proustian realist novel about childhood emotional development, Mary Taylor's Dorian's Quarterback is an accomplished rumination on the impact of sense memories and the nature of time. Following a young girl named Beth growing up in a privileged New England family in the 1970s, the novel tackles subjects like mental illness, teen suicide, and homophobia with genuine nuance and confident, intimate prose. The cover doesn't nearly reflect the artistry inside, as author Taylor paints an arresting portrait of a girl coming of age in the midst of family crisis." - Self-Publishing Review , ★★★★ "In Taylor's historical series starter, a sensitive girl comes of age in New England. In the 1970s, Beth Lawrence is an astute and inquisitive child who feels distant from the other members of her family; she's much younger than her three siblings, and at one point, she notices that there are no photos of herself hanging up on the walls of their home. She's also alienated from her peers as she is, as she describes it "the poorest kid in a rich school" in Providence, Rhode Island.By 14, Beth had made some connections with friends and with her beloved sister-in-law, Hope, but then her parents sell their house and abruptly transplant Beth to a hectic public school in New Hampshire, where the locals dismiss her as a "flatlander." ... Once again an outsider as a high school freshman, Beth tries to assimilate, but sadness and loneliness seem to lurk behind every corner. Death also creeps into her life in several ways, including a destabilizing encounter with someone in her orbit contracting a mysterious disease. At 16, she finds hope, and longing, in her passionate feelings for a warmhearted boy named Toby Pemberton,but there are persistent hints at a grim future with shocking, unrevealed truths. Taylor ends this first novel rather abruptly, which leaves something to be desired, but she certainly sets up an intriguing and rich stage for her Emotional Imprints series. Her prose is particularly effective at showing how Beth tries to navigate the abrupt mood shifts of the complicated adults around her, and how this had lasting effects on her. Taylor also expertly mimics the sensation of delving into deep memories by subtly playing with tense and time; early on, for instance, Beth's narration moves effortlessly from a contemporary, forlorn adult perspective to a third grader's present-tense view. This adds to the novel's overall moody atmosphere and hints that the protagonist's best dramatic arcs are yet to come. This work's thoughtful, delicate prose paves a promising way for future installments ." - Kirkus Reviews Artist Heart. Tech Brain. Author.  Writing about the mystery of life and adventures of human experience in all its complexity is a passion for me. The adventures of Hope Elizabeth (Beth) Lawrence are based on my life, fictionalized (of course) because as Tom Spanbauer often said, "Fiction is the lie that tells the truth truer." "She came to me a skillful writer, able to write a smart sentence, but now she has embodied Dangerous Writing and has developed a particular voice of her own." ~ Tom Spanbauer, Author, Teacher of Dangerous Writing, February 22, 2007