About the Author . . . LINDA HOVESTADT CLARK Linda Hovestadt Clark grew up in the small, close-knit farming community of Greene, Maine. Her dad was the local postmaster and her mom, the postal clerk. Linda earned a Bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Maine at Orono, where she met her husband Alan, an Ohio boy. They married in college, nine years later adopted their first daughter Janelle, and then proceeded to have two "homemade" babies, Melissa and Jessica. Moving frequently to follow Alan's career as a wildlife biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the family lived in some of the most rugged, remote and beautiful locations in Maine, including Patten, Monson, Greenville, Bingham, Solon, and Jefferson. Linda wore many hats during those years: high school biology teacher, medical assistant, hospital purchasing agent, ER admissions clerk, bookkeeper for a lumbering/ trucking company, coordinator of a school program for gifted and talented students, and administrative assistant at a state hospital. Alan and Linda served the Lord in various Presbyterian churches: Linda teaching Sunday school and vacation Bible school, singing in choirs, leading women's Bible studies; Alan as an elder, Bible study leader, youth group leader, and adult Sunday school teacher. In addition, Linda was a volunteer emergency medical technician for nineteen years and volunteer firefighter for seven years. In 1996, to further Alan's career, the family made the move from Maine to Utah, where they now reside. Linda currently does radiological transcription at an imaging center, works hard to keep the roses blooming around her home, loves spoiling her four grandchildren, and still can't get used to the idea that people consider her an "author." VALLEY OF THE SHADOW--A MOTHER'S JOURNAL THROUGH HER CHILD'S BATTLE WITH CANCER is Linda's second book, written about her spiritual and emotional turmoil when their youngest, Jessica, was diagnosed with squamous cell esophageal cancer at the age of fourteen. Linda's initial denial, panic, despair, and final acceptance of God's will are juxtaposed with Jessica's own confidence and firm resolve to get well. Linda's first book, NANA'S HOUSE (October 2000), is a nostalgic look back at childhood visits with her grandparents.