Sherilyn Decter writes historical fiction about women who refused to be small — bootleggers and dreamers, rule-breakers and trailblazers, mothers and daughters forging their own paths through the raw, rapidly changing world of early 20th-century America. Grounded in deep research and told with heart.
East Harlem, 1919. Before Lucie Santoro’s story begins, three women carry secrets the novels couldn’t hold. Before the Promise — three short stories from the world of The Promise Trilogy, free for newsletter readers.
"There is so much to rave about in this fantastic novel; I hardly know where to start. The setting, time period, and characters are all wonderful... Decter has clearly done her research, not only on historical aspects, but on moonshining, Montana, and human nature. The novel is lush with sensory and historical detail that keeps the world textured."
"Sherilyn Decter delivers an intriguing, unique and enthralling story here that was so irresistibly written. I absolutely loved Edith's voice and thought she was such a fantastic character. The author's writing is vividly descriptive, bringing this iconic era in our history stunning to life in atmospheric imagery."
East Harlem, 1919. Crowded tenements and cobblestone streets. Church bells and pushcart markets. A young Italian-American woman graduates high school — and breaks open the life her family planned for her. This is the world of The Promise Trilogy.
Montana, 1927. Gold fields and untamed wilderness. An outlaw moonshiner solves murders, outwits lawmen, and survives on grit and moonshine — with a little help from Charlie Chaplin and a wolf who’s smarter than he should be. This is the world of the Moonshiner Mysteries.
The Florida coast, 1932. Hurricane season and rum running, smugglers and federal agents. A woman navigates a dangerous world where the law and the lawless are hard to tell apart. This is the world of the Rum Runners’ Chronicles.
Philadelphia, 1924: Speakeasies and back alleys, bootleggers and gangsters. A single mother takes on the criminal underworld with a ghost detective at her side. This is the world of the Bootleggers’ Chronicles.
Because some eras change everything — and the women who lived through them deserve to be remembered.
The years following the First World War were a crossroads for women. They were just losing the corsets — literally learning to move freely — while fighting for the vote, entering classrooms and boardrooms, owning property, and rewriting family law. A decade of change so compressed and frantic it mirrors the arc of a woman’s own growth.
That’s the story Sherilyn keeps telling, in different settings and through different women, because it never stops being true.
Explore the real history behind the fiction → The Cost of Becoming