Crossing Blades is Ames High School Junior's First Book

The story of a teenage girl's escape from a suffocating life on a Caribbean plantation in 1722 resembles nothing in Crossing Blades author Madison Hunke's life.

The heroine of the story, Sofia Patton leaves her cold abusive home life by assuming another person's identity and hopes to find her birth father who turns out to be a pirate.

It's about how society chains you in to a set of expectations and having the courage to control your own life, Hunke said of the story.

“I've always found that admirable,” Hunke said about taking control of one's destiny.

Hunke seems to be a happy well adjusted Ames High School junior, looking forward to a European vacation and earning multiple degrees in higher education, but as the girl in the story, Hunke decided to take control of her future.

She chose to publish her own book rather than wait to see if book publishers would accept it.

“I thought this would be a good opportunity to start putting my name out there,” Hunke said.

She published Crossing Blades through Fideli Publishing in March and has sold all but a few copies of its first edition. The book is available on Fideli Publishing's website and Amazon for now.

Reviews on Amazon are good and a majority of the book's purchasers have been Hunke's family, friends and acquaintances.

They tell her it's a page turner and had trouble putting it down, she said.

“It's a coming of age story and an adventure. It's about embracing yourself and finding happiness,” Hunke said.

Hunke said the story's plot came from her imagination and history. While writing the story she had to do a lot of research about the 1700s and the Caribbean where the story takes place.

Jane Vallier, a former ISU professor and communication consultant, gave Hunke some advice but said she only changed about six words in the text.

“She is very talented, she could have pulled it off beautifully without my help,” Vallier said.

Vallier learned of Hunke's novel through Hunke's mother.

“The voice of a young woman Madison's age is just to me fascinating, because our culture does less than zero to help a young woman develop a sense of voice and here is this girl who just had it,” Vallier said of Hunke.

Hunke finished the novel at the age of 14 and spent the last summer editing the book before sending it to Fideli. Her biggest hope is that the published works could earn her some scholarships.

“It's a trial run, I don't expect it to be a big deal. I'm still writing and I'm going to keep writing,” Hunke said.