KNOXVILLE — East Tennessee native, Sj Hylton LeHoven has published her first work of fiction, My Life As A Mule. The unusual title is a precursor to a troupe of refreshingly innovative characters who deliver philosophical truisms about the complexities of life and living, seeded with delightful humor and unexpected simplicity.
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Sj Hylton LeHoven
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In a five star review on Amazon, Claire Morris-Dobie posted, “It’s tough to pin down Sj’s Mule to a specific audience. I loved it and so did our 9 year old grandson. It’s entertaining and educational on so many levels and for ages eight to 80.” Its wide age-range appeal makes it an ideal Holiday gift for your family and friends.
Both the author and illustrator, Jocelyne Champagne Shiner, graduated from Bearden High School in West Knoxville in 1978. They maintained contact through the years and were thrilled to be able to collaborate on this book.
What makes LeHoven’s story so readable are the human qualities she assigns to her carefully curated family of animals as they interact, discuss, and examine different challenges.
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined,” said Henry David Thoreau. LeHoven’s main character, a Mule named Molly, epitomizes the essence of that wisdom.
My Life as a Mule is Sj’s first published work of fiction but she has been writing informally for decades starting with journals as a young girl. For more than two decades, she wrote hundreds of scripts for the video production company that she co-owned and operated throughout the Hawaiian islands. Hollywood producers also tagged that company as their first choice for filming and production of trailers and promotional footage.
Sj’s first independent step onto the public stage was a radio play she wrote, Now Who Are You? produced in 2014 by Kaua‘i’s Women in Theatre.
In a recent review of My Life As A Mule, J. Geoffrey Jones of The Rutherford Reader in Murfreesboro, TN, praised LeHoven’s work, comparing it to some of the best known and most distinguished literary masterpieces.
“I'm finding My Life as A Mule to be a remarkable group of stories,” Jones writes. “The writing concept is, by turns, reminiscent of Charlotte's Web, Aesop's Fables and Alice in Wonderland. It uses talking animals to tell human truths just as [those] classics do.”
Jones, whose column is called “Days Gone By” continues, “Through LeHoven’s human spirited characters, she tells the story of the passage from childhood to adulthood of her main character, Molly, with many seemingly simple but actually much deeper insights. Young people will enjoy this book but adults will as well. It is well illustrated with drawings by Jocelyne C. Shiner.”
LeHoven said she did not have a choice about writing or not writing the book. She describes the reason for putting words on paper as “an inexorable force.”
“I simply had to write what I was feeling. I didn’t know what it was going to be and was often surprised by what I saw my fingers typing.”
She dedicated close to a year for preparation and physical writing of the book, stepping away from her life in Hawaii (where she lived since 1986) and deciding to travel around the country, camping and sometimes staying with friends.
“Traveling solo,” she added, “helped me to stay focused and write what I now describe as a fictionalized memoir or a memoir with a twist.”
“Most writers draw on their own life experiences, so of course there are nuances of my life in Molly’s stories, but in a completely different way. I never had a Pig as a teacher, or a Toad.”
My Life As A Mule is available through Amazon
and at the book readings and signings. Please visit Sj’s website www.sjlehoven.com for more information.
