Barry Gau’s Second Nurture: A Heartbreaking Tale of Love and Loss …and Healing Readers of Barry Gau’s Second Nurture speak of it as a story of pain, healing and starting over. This alone does not do it justice. More than the story of an extraordinary boy overcoming extraordinarily painful circumstances, Second Nurture is about the power of the human spirit to overcome the most stifling, heartbreaking conditions, and to make for itself a second chance at love and happiness. Fourteen-year-old Duff Raferty, an only child from St. Paul, Minnesota, loses his parents to an accident. He flies thousands of miles to be cared for by relatives - only to be apprehended by airport security when those relatives fail to appear. And from there, things become worse for Duff. Child welfare services places Duff in a small home in a fictional community outside Washington, DC, with two women who thoroughly resent his presence. He becomes a virtual prisoner in their dark basement bedroom - a room lacking enough sunlight to sustain a potted plant, let alone the spirit of a broken and grieving teenaged boy. Without access to a telephone, email or enough money to send even a single postcard to his unknowing friends back home, Duff must “dig deep” within himself to keep breathing, living and surviving. By turns heartbreaking and inspiring, the story of Duff Raferty is one that appeals to all those who have lost a loved one, or have found themselves helpless or otherwise unable to pull themselves from the depths of despair. And who hasn’t fallen under at least one of those categories at some time? Second Nurture can be ordered at www.iUniverse.com, by clicking on bookstore, and selecting the book by title (Second Nurture) or by author (Barry Gau). Book Details: (460 pp.) ISBN: 0-595-35859-4 Published: June 2005 Adobe eBook ($6.00) iUniverse price (paperback): $24.95

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Author Barry Gau was born in Dayton, Ohio, and has lived in Des Moines most of his life. Writing this story was his own therapy during unsettling times, and he draws upon his own experiences to capture his protagonists’ - and his readers’ - feelings. Although Second Nurture is his second book, it is closest to his heart, and he considers it his first.

Barry Gau 3205 Grand Avenue, #103 Des Moines, IA 50312 Home: (515) 274-1100 Cell: (641) 485-0988 Email address: bagau1@juno.com