Elan Durham @europabridge1

Writer, Editor, and Traveler in Ipswich, Massachusetts

©Borrowed Light opens in 1968 with Jean Turner and her family on the road to reclaim the oldest son from a Hollywood jail. But it’s a bumpy ride on Route 66 as Bill, the WWII Veteran proves a bombastic speed demon burning rubber every chance he gets. Jean suffers a mishap in the Grand Canyon plucked from disaster by a British hiking party, and Violet hides more than her keen blue eyes behind iconic Jackie-O sunglasses. But saddest of all is Ernie; however freed, he remains incarcerated inside.

As both a comic novel and linked short story collection, Borrowed Light reflects Women’s Fiction as a medium for storytelling. Twelve stories span nearly 50 years of contemporary history for a road trip across America and the pond, developing aspects of romantic comedy in an homage to what endures … love, family, freedom, and home.

“To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends .…”

Samuel Johnson, The Rambler (1750

Morgan Reed, Jean's brilliant Dorset-born lifelong friend occupies a key spotight in the story while the actor Teddy Fortesque, Lucien-Lucien, a photographer from Prague, and Trieste, a former Estee Lauder model, and celebrity photographer play key roles in early chapter stories. Harlan Harrison, a Southern Architect, and Sara and Spencer Partridge of Charleston's Gardening Society conjure the best of the Old-New South in later chapters, and the 19th Century British Explorer Isabella Bird stands for every Woman in her need for freedom throughout. Nicola and Trey Lanyon, Cornish hoteliers solve last minute emergencies through the force of their personalities and skills just as Sophie and Matt, posh London Columnist and Property savant demonstrate the chill perspective necessary to master life in the Big Smoke. It's a surprising, hilarious, and heady ride … Care to tag along?

“Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticize and oppose.” George Orwell

©Adventures in Paradise negotiates the treacherous landsape of London's historic #Hackgate tabloid media scandal with Aurora Blunton and Clive Reade as they revive the Screwball Comedies of Cary Grant and Kate Hepburn with a hint of Succession. Initially at odds, then full-time partners and friends, Clive and Aurora launch a cheeky battle royale against the Tabloid machine on behalf of the People.

Both works are copyrighted and registered with the Library of Congress, WGA East, and The Vault.

Thanks for stopping by!

  • Work
    • Writer-Screenwriter-Editor
  • Education
    • MFA
    • University of North Carolina
Recommendations
Borrowed Light concerns the life of Elan Durham's smart, fierce, and witty heroine Jean Turner, and it is a full-blown, wonderful ... sometimes hilarious, sometimes scathing, and gorgeous sail through a life, which includes a childhood in South, lives in Los Angeles and New York, and then a luminous if ambivalent and hard-earned redemption back in the South and beyond. Elan Durham's stories are some of the most stunning I've read in a fiction of surpassing beauty and humour.
Rebecca Lee, Professor and author of The City is a Rising Tide.
Elan has taught a variety of writing courses, literature, and Women's Studies courses, and her breadth of knowledge and abilities is impressive. She puts her students at ease and makes it clear that she understands their anxieties and frustrations about writing. Additionally, she is an innovative teacher; she works hard, loves to conference with students, and creates imaginative assignments and classroom activities that speak to her abilities as an innovative, caring instructor of writing.
Don Bushman, Professor, English UNCW
Elan's guidance and example have been noted by students as inspirational and significant in their lives. I consider this tribute to be very important, as it underscores the teaching mission of the university and the value of your work with students. She has made a notable difference in students' lives and served them and her community well.
P Nelson Reid, Ph.D. UNCW Dean of Students