About DoriWelcome
“Reminiscent of Mona Simpson and Elizabeth Strout in the way Ostermiller expertly explores family dynamics and mother-daughter bonds, (Outside the Ordinary World) gives a shattering portrait of ordinary people breaking asunder and helplessly trying to glue back together... There is absolutely nothing ordinary about this astonishingly moving and complex novel.”
--Caroline Leavitt, The Boston Globe
Outside the Ordinary World
debuted in the United Kingdom
on August 19, 2011, to glowing reviews!
Dori's Blog
owning our stories
May 8, 2012
Last Saturday, Writers in Progress hosted an open house and reading to celebrate the work of the 2010-2011 Manuscript Intensive Series... All five writers are at different stages of writing their books, but the overwhelming sense I had, listening to them read, was that over the course of the year...
Writers in Progress Workshops
Dori is the founder and director of Writers in Progress, a literary arts center in Florence, MA. Writers in Progress offers a live reading series, as well as ongoing weekly writing workshops and retreats with several area writers, including Jacqueline Sheehan, Suzanne Strempek-Shea, David Lovelace and Dori herself.
Latest News
Applications are being accepted for the Writers in Progress Manuscript Intensive Series, which starts in Sept.
We celebrated the work of the 2011 Manuscript Intensive Series at our spring Open House/Reading on Saturday, May 5th, at the WIP studio in Florence.
Summer Writers in Progress Schedule is availble here!
The London Times chose Outside the Ordinary World as a Recommended Read!
Outside the Ordinary World was favorably reviewed by Jonathan Barnes in the August, 2011 issue of the Literary Review.
A lovely blogger review by Debs Carr on Novelicious.com
A great review of OTOW on Reallyrelative.com
Outside the Ordinary World was long-listed for the Richard and Judy Bookclub in the UK!
Outside the Ordinary World was nominated to the “Must Read Books of 2010” list, by the American Library Association!
"Outside the Ordinary World" is an Indie Next List Notable Book by the American Bookseller's Association.
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Sylvia Sandon always swore she wouldn’t become her mother. But one August morning she finds herself walking the same path as the fervently religious yet faithless Elaine…into an affair she feels powerless to resist.
Against the backdrop of California brush fires in the ’70s, twelve year-old Sylvia had agreed to hold a secret that would devour her family’s dream of happiness. Now struggling to create a better life in small-town New England, Sylvia nonetheless feels caught in the coils of history: she confronts the embers of her dying marriage, the all-consuming needs of her two daughters and her faltering artistic career. Then Tai Rosen—the father of a student— ignites an unexpected passion and a familiar betrayal that could illuminate the past, even as it jeopardizes everything dear.
Outside the Ordinary World reveals what lies beneath the surface of infidelity. But at its heart, it is the story of the powerful, sometimes disturbing bond between mothers and daughters, and the shimmering line between self-revelation and self-destruction.
