Desjarlais, Mary: - Mary DesJarlais accomplished it all in the Midwest. Born, educated, twice married, twice widowed, she raised two lively daughters, survived a breast cancer siege, and launched a career as a fiction writer with her first novel Dorie LaValle in 2011. Calumet Editions of Minneapolis re-released Dorie LaValle in 2017 and her second novel, The Cutter's Widow, in 2018. Set in Saint Paul in 1916, this second novel is a story of survival, grief and an adoption business gone awry. Mary DesJarlais currently lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.