Award-Winning
Historical Family Saga
Finalist - 20th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards!
First Place Gold Medal Winner - 2025 Readers' Favorite in the Fiction - Drama genre!
A Riveting, Heart-Wrenching Novel Based on a True Story of One Family’s Struggles
A Powerful, Award-Winning Historical Family Saga Inspired by a True Family Story of Resilience, Family Secrets, and Survival
For more than eighty years, Stella carried secrets she could never tell.
When her mother abandons the family in 1920, four-year-old Stella’s world is forever changed. Forced into a boarding house on Southwood Avenue, she endures hardships no child should ever face while struggling to understand the betrayal that shattered her family.
As fear, loss, and uncertainty shape her childhood, Stella learns that survival often depends on courage, resilience, and the kindness of unexpected people. Yet the experiences that define her childhood continue to echo throughout her life, challenging her to overcome heartbreak, confront the past, and discover the strength to move forward.
Inspired by the extraordinary life experiences of the author’s grandmother, Surviving Southwood Avenue is an award-winning historical family saga about childhood resilience, family secrets, and the enduring strength of the human spirit.
🏅 First Place Gold Medal Winner – 2025 Readers’ Favorite
🏅 Finalist – 20th Annual National Indie Excellence® Awards
Available in paperback, Audiobook, and eBook
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Praise for the Book
“The vivid descriptions create a mental movie of one family’s life during the 1920s and 1930s. Prepare for a raw emotional experience. Surviving Southwood Avenue stuns the senses with its pure honesty. The story’s intimacy amplifies themes of love, betrayal, weakness, and survival. The believable dialogue enriches the reality of each character’s experience and allows the reader to become invested in their welfare. This is a fast-paced, can’t-put-it-down book. Melissa Simonye’s labor of love is a fantastic tribute to her grandmother, Stella. Fans of memoirs, historical fiction, and drama will not want to miss Surviving Southwood Avenue.”
–Five-Star Review by P. Rosenthal, Readers’ Favorite
“Surviving Southwood Avenue by Melissa Simonye is an amazing book … This partly fictional memoir is beautifully written as the characters leap off the page, especially Stella, and we share every hardship she suffers. While this is a harrowing read, it reminds or informs us of a time when children were seen and not heard, and also how a young child believes how helpless they are. It also shows the strength of the human spirit. Today, we live in a much kinder world, and this book is a lesson that reminds us of it. Inspirational.”
–Five-Star Review by Lucinda E. Clarke, Readers’ Favorite
“Author Melissa Simonye shares the heartfelt tale of her grandmother in this riveting true story based in Columbus, Ohio … The author pulls on the heartstrings of every reader and keeps them glued from start to finish … Even with the subtle instances of torture and abuse, I would gladly recommend Surviving Southwood Avenue to young adult readers as well. This is a story of hope and love in the face of cruelty, and how one person can truly become the matriarch of a family and inspire the world.”
–Five-Star Review by Ronél Steyn, Readers’ Favorite
“Fleshing out a family story with imagination and admiration for its heroine, Surviving Southwood Avenue is an inspiring historical novel … Indeed, this story is about persistence and grit … A plucky survivor finds happiness after a childhood of trauma.”
–Foreword Reviews
“Simonye dramatizes her grandmother’s harrowing childhood in this debut historical novel. At its best, the author’s observant prose contains brilliant, psychologically revealing details … An admirable if upsetting account of childhood abuse and resilience.”
–Kirkus Reviews
“Surviving Southwood Avenue by Melissa Simonye takes one on a roller coaster of emotions as one sees the consequences of broken families, especially on children. Melissa ensured all the events were captured vividly, which made one invested in the storyline. The characters were well-developed, and the steady narration also added to the overall beauty of this amazing work. This was a great read, and I look forward to more by this wonderful author.”
–Five-Star Review by Frank Mutuma, Readers’ Favorite
“Surviving Southwood Avenue is an inspiring story of strength, perseverance, and courage as author Melissa Simonye bases her novel on her grandmother, who endured an emotionally and physically abusive childhood. The author skillfully presents a theme of family dysfunction … Simonye’s novel is intended as a tribute to the indomitable spirit of a remarkable woman.”
–BlueInk Review
“Surviving Southwood Avenue: A Story of Family Secrets and Resilience is a historical coming-of-age novel set during the Depression years. It opens with Stella Irene’s birth in 1916, following the family’s experiences and contrasting Stella’s life with that of her mother Clara. Surviving Southwood Avenue is … a powerful story of adaptation and change that allows readers to better understand the decision-making process and perceptions of a mother and daughter whose disparate backgrounds change their views of life and their place in it … Libraries seeking discussion points about family secrets, survival, and how these decisions ripple across generations of values and ideals will find much to recommend and appreciate in how Melissa Simonye spins Surviving Southwood Avenue, which explores losing trust and gaining wisdom with equally strong acuity.”
–D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“Inspired by true events, Surviving Southwood Avenue counsels parents and caretakers to pay attention to the unsaid words of their children … In Stella’s voice, the narration provides a view into the innocent world of a child. This adds another level to understanding the unbelievable impact of such atrocities on a child’s mind and heart … The well-written plot forced me to keep flipping the pages until the very end. Although Stella’s story is quite dark and gut-wrenching, it is also a testament to the strength and perseverance of human character. Surviving Southwood Avenue by Melissa Simonye urges society to do better for those who can’t protect themselves. At the same time, she inspires the survivors to rewrite their story.”
–Five-Star Review by Ankita Shukla, Readers’ Favorite
About the Author
Melissa (McEndree) Simonye is the award-winning author of Surviving Southwood Avenue, a historical family saga inspired by her grandmother’s extraordinary life experiences. Her debut novel earned a First Place Gold Medal from Readers’ Favorite and was named a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards.
A wife, mother, retired elementary school teacher, and small business owner, Melissa spent twenty-five years inspiring young readers and fostering a love of literature. Her passion for storytelling began in high school, where she expressed herself through poetry and developed a lifelong appreciation for the written word.
Born and raised in Ohio, Melissa earned a master’s degree in education before relocating to Colorado in 2003. Throughout her teaching career, she introduced students to authentic literature that celebrated individuality while encouraging empathy, courage, and resilience. She has always been drawn to stories of remarkable people, particularly strong women whose determination left a lasting mark on history.
Today, Melissa works alongside her husband managing their family-owned business while continuing to pursue her passion for writing. When she finds a quiet moment away from her busy schedule, she enjoys traveling, reading, exercising, and writing at her kitchen table, often accompanied by her two cats and two dogs.
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