My Books

Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

The cover of the book features an older woman sitting in a wicker chair facing a window. The world beyond the window is bright, and several plants are visible on the terrace. Behind the woman’s chair is another plant, with a tall stalk and wide rounded leaves. The woman has short, white hair, glasses, a red sweater, and tan pants. The border of the picture is a taupe color and reads "Why Grandma Doesn't Know Me" above the photo and "Abbie Johnson Taylor" below it.

Copyright 2021 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Independently published with the help of DLD Books

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by Two Pentacles Publishing

 

Sixteen-year-old Natalie’s grandmother, suffering from dementia and confined to a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home and rarely recognizes Natalie. But one Halloween night, she

tells her a shocking secret that only she and Natalie’s mother know. Natalie is the product of a one-night stand between her mother, who is a college English teacher, and another professor.

After some research, Natalie learns that people with dementia often have vivid memories of past events. Still not wanting to believe what her grandmother has told her, she finds her biological father online. The resemblance between them is undeniable. Not knowing what else to do, she shows his photo and website to her parents.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

Her younger sister, Sarah, senses their parents’ marital difficulties. At Thanksgiving, when she has an opportunity to see Santa Claus, she asks him to bring them together again. Can the jolly old elf grant her request?

 

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The Red Dress

Copyright 2019 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Independently published with the help ofDLD Books

The front cover image features the profile of a woman with olive skin, red lips, dark hair, and dark eyebrows. Her hair is styled in a low bun. She is wearing a low cut red dress that is bunched in the bust. Her collarbone is prominent and her neck is long. She is holding a bouquet of dried orange Calendula flowers. Behind her are some large white rings hanging on a white wall. At the top of the image is the Author’s name and the title of the book.

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by Two Pentacles Publishing

When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.

Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.

 

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My Ideal Partner

Copyright 2016 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

The front cover is an off white color that features a photo of Abbie and her husband Bill on their wedding day. Abbie is wearing a mauve dress and holding a white calla lily with a white bow tied to the stem. Her short, brown hair is adorned with flowers, and she is smiling. Bill is standing to the left with his arm around her shoulder. He is wearing a tan suit with a matching vest and black buttons, a white dress shirt, a red tie, and black sunglasses. A pink corsage is pinned to his lapel. His hair is gray and he is smiling. The rest of the cover includes the title, subtitle, and the author’s name.

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by Two Pentacles Publishing

 

In September of 2005, Abbie Johnson married Bill Taylor. She was in her mid—forties, and he was nineteen years older. Three months later, Bill suffered the first of two strokes that paralyzed his left side and confined him to a wheelchair. Abbie Johnson Taylor, once a registered music therapist, uses prose and poetry to tell the story of how she met and married her husband, then cared for him for six years despite her visual impairment. At first, there was a glimmer of hope that Bill would walk again, but when therapists gave up on him seven months after his second stroke, Taylor resigned herself to being a permanent family caregiver.

She discusses learning to dress him and transfer him from one place to another, sitting up with him at night when he couldn’t urinate or move his bowels, and dealing with doctors and bureaucrats to obtain necessary equipment and services. There were happy times, like when she played the piano or guitar and sang his favorite songs, or when they went out to eat or to a concert. She also explains how she purchased a wheelchair accessible van and found people to drive it, so they wouldn’t always depend on the local para-transit service’s limited hours. In the end, she describes the painful decision she and Bill made to move him to a nursing home when he became too weak for her to care for him in September of 2012. He seemed to give up on life and passed away a month later.

 

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That’s Life

Copyright 2014 by Finishing Line Press

The cover is a black and white drawing of a pair of torn and ratty jeans hanging upside down by the legs from a wooden fence that has been overgrown with twigs and leaves. Above the sketch is the title and subtitle of the book and the author’s name is beneath the photo.

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by Two Pentacles Publishing

Life happens. As a teenager, you’re told you can’t go to the mall because your aunt from out of town is visiting and the family is planning a trip to see The Nutcracker. As an adult, you hear news on the radio about an airport bombing in Los Angeles. Your husband suffers a debilitating stroke, and you spend the last six years of his life caring for him at home.

Not all the poems in this book are about tragedies. Some are humorous, others serious. Topics range from school to love to death and everything in between.

 

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How to Build a Better Mousetrap

Copyright 2011 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Independently published with the help of iUniverse

The cover image is a photo of Abbie and her husband Bill. Bill is sitting in a wheelchair wearing a gray hoodie and black sweatpants. He has short gray hair and wears a silver watch with a white face. His eyes are closed, and he is smiling. Standing beside him to the left is Abbie in a cerulean blue sweater with a white neckline and white cat sitting on a stack of white books. The cat has scratched the wall of blue. Abbie is also wearing blue jeans and white Crocs. She has short brown hair with bangs and is smiling, and her arm is around Bill’s shoulder. The rest of the cover includes the title and subtitle written in black letters inside a white banner, and the author’s name at the bottom.

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by Two Pentacles Publishing

In January of 2006, Abbie Johnson Taylor’s husband suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on his left side. After months of therapy in a nursing facility, he returned home in September of that year. Although he still had little use of his left arm and leg, it was hoped that through outpatient therapy, he would eventually walk again. In January of 2007, he suffered a second stroke that wasn’t as severe, but it was enough to impact his recovery. In August of that year, his therapy was discontinued because he showed no progress. He has never walked since.

The first five poems tell the story of how Taylor found her husband when he suffered his first stroke, detail events in the first few months afterward, and describe Taylor and her husband’s reactions. The rest of the poems in the first part were inspired by Taylor’s experiences while caring for her husband. Covering such topics as dressing, feeding, toileting, their relationship, and his computer, they often provide a humorous outlook. Some poems are from the husband’s point of view. Poems in the next two parts cover childhood memories and other topics. The last section of poems was inspired by Taylor’s fifteen years of experience as a registered music therapist in a nursing home before marrying her husband.

 

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We Shall Overcome

Copyright 2007 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Independently published with the help of iUniverse

Lisa Taylor is visually impaired and manages her father’s coin-operated machine business. She is terrified of policemen and of being arrested because of an incident that happened when her younger brother was apprehended on suspicion of arson years ago.

On the first day of the conflict with Iraq, as she is hurrying away from an anti-war demonstration after being threatened with arrest for civil disobedience, she is confronted by a newspaper reporter who asks her why she is running away. She tells him she is afraid she will lose her job if she is arrested.

The day after the protest march, Lisa meets John Macintosh, a bicycle patrol officer. After a short time, she falls in love with him. But Lisa must realize that police officers are human beings. She must learn to trust John after a close friend becomes a victim of acquaintance rape. Her future father-in-law must overcome his own stereotypes of people with disabilities. Will this couple marry and live happily ever after?

 

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Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

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by Two Pentacles Publishing

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