Hunter’s impressive debut concerns Juliana, a woman whose childhood demons rear up in the form of her Alzheimer’s-stricken father and his mysterious oil paintings. Faced with losing everything in the wake of her paranoid mother’s death, Juliana must decipher her father’s clues and face her recurrent fears.

    Painting Juliana is an emotional, engaging first novel by Austin writer, Martha Louise Hunter. Juliana Birdsong Morrissey finds her comfortable, country club lifestyle is falling apart when  her lawyer husband Oliver blindsides her with a divorce petition that gives her less than three hours to leave their home and twin 14-year-olds. Then she discovers that her estranged father, across town in Austin, has an advanced case of Alzheimer's, is deep in debt and his home -- her childhood home -- is in in shambles. And as bad as that is, it's only going to get worse before it gets better....    (Article in the four newspapers above.) More 

Austin author Martha Louise Hunter recently published her debut novel, Painting Juliana. The book has elements of magical realism, but it was inspired by actual events in Hunter's life.  Like her protagonist, Hunter went through a period in her life "where things just weren't coming together like [she] wished that they would." While going through some personal changes of her own, she was caring for a father with Alzheimer's disease and "trying to get to know him a little bit better before it was too late." Juliana faces many of the same issues, but as Hunter says, "Juliana borrowed things from my life..."   More                                 

"An incredible debut novel by first-time author, Martha Louise Hunter..."  (More)

Painting Juliana is an Official Selection of the 650+ Chapter Pulpwood Queens Book Club, the largest meeting book club in the world.  More

Austin author Martha Louise Hunter recently published her debut novel, Painting Juliana. The book has elements of magical realism, but it was inspired by actual events in Hunter’s life. Like her protagonist, Hunter went through a period in her life “where things just weren’t coming together like [she] wished that they would.” More

San Antonio Book Fest Releases List of Authors       A book lover’s dream list of 75 authors will gather in downtown San Antonio for the third annual San Antonio Book Festival (SABF) on Saturday, April 11,. The day-long festival at the San Antonio Central Library and the Southwest School of Art is expected to draw thousands. More

TOP PICKS FOR SUMMER READING 2015 Martha Louise Hunter, Painting Juliana   Just what does the series of oil paintings of Juliana Birdong’s late mother mean? A family drama—and a mystery—for anyone who’s ever cared for an aging parent or dealt with Alzheimer’s.

Martha Louise Hunter is a Featured Author at the San Antonio Book Festival in San Antonio, Texas on April 11, 2015   More

 Painting Juliana is a fresh and edgy novel like nothing else you have ever read. Martha Louise Hunter has written a deep story about a woman’s journey that is at once profound, shocking and funny.  When her comfortable existence is stripped away, Juliana is forced to move back to her childhood home with her Alzheimer’s-stricken father, and things begin to get interesting. A mysterious shipment of his secret oil paintings arrives, and when Juliana puts a brush in his hand, the paintings reveal an entirely different picture of the parents she thought she knew. Combine that with her tumultuous personal life, and what follows is a wild ride of twists, turns and revelations involving a little girl’s terrifying dream, a nude portrait and a mysterious tattoo. And, in case it sounds dull, just remember that the tornado cloud on the book jacket wasn’t put there by accident.

 Martha Louise Hunter nominated for Best Author in Austin Monthly's "Best of the City Poll."

"Martha Louise Hunter... won the 2011 Manuscript Contest in the Mainstream Fiction category....." More