Biography

D.H. (Darlene) Eaton was born in Jacksonville, Florida, July 28, 1948, and has remained a resident of her hometown. A bookworm from childhood, it was always Darlene’s desire to write novels, but she sidestepped her writing yen to work in the beauty industry for twenty-eight years – twenty of those as the owner of a hairstyling salon. In 1994 she sold the salon to seriously pursue her writing dream.

In the spring of 2004 Cumberland House Publishing released Darlene’s debut novel – The Osceola Community Club. The novel features a fictional Jacksonville (Hendersonville) alongside the colorful backwater town of Osceola, which derives its name from the historically flamboyant Seminole Indian Chief Osceola. The novel won Ms. Eaton the Florida Writers Association’s “First Place Literary Fiction 2004” honor as well as the Association’s prestigious “Book of the Year 2004” award.

The Osceola Community Club is the first book of a Florida trilogy; all three books have northeast and central Florida settings – locales familiar to the author. As a child, during the 1950’s, Darlene spent summers, weekends, holidays and vacations with relatives who populated the small off-the-beaten-track villages of central Florida. These “uniquely Florida” experiences provide the rich backdrops, the Deep South flavor, and the tales from which she draws when weaving stories she describes as “Southern fried fiction”.

The author’s affiliation with twenty-five organizations, ranging from the prestigious Southern Academy of Letters, Arts and Sciences, to the lighthearted Red Hat Society, have provided endless opportunities for her novel pursuits – book novels that is. One of Darlene’s most rewarding activities is presenting programs for various groups – presentations that focus on Florida’s unique history and the joy of both living in the sunshine state for over half a century, and of writing about her.

Perhaps Darlene’s most interesting bio bit concerns her husband of thirty-six years. Wally Eaton is the founding member of the Jacksonville-grown pop rock band The Classics IV, an internationally acclaimed band that earned gold records in the late 1960’s with such million-seller hits as Spooky, Stormy, and Traces of Love. Even though her husband is now Professor of Cyber Security at Florida Community College At Jacksonville's Advanced Technology Center, Darlene plans to tap into Wally’s musical capabilities by having him record an accompanying “mood music” CD tucked into the book jacket of the third novel in her Florida series. The melodies will complement the storyline of the novel. Darlene says – “Innovative!”