“I really enjoyed the well-developed characters in Whistling Up the Southwind who spoke to me about the things that were going on in their lives and how it influenced them. The plot seemed so real-life that I felt like the author was telling me her life history. I enjoyed the unusualness of travel in a motorhome—I have never experienced that and found it captivating! I would rank this book up there with others that have had a life-long impact on me.”

—June Sadowsky, Geriatric DDS, Avid Reader

Whistling up the Southwind, Book 1 in the “Women with Wisdom” series, was originally published in 2007 and republished in 2023 with additions, edits, and resources.

Women who whistled were feared by sailors, as whistling was thought to bring storms across the seas. Anna Marie Golding, widowed for three years, whistled as a child but was stopped because her mother warned her that girls who whistle “come to a bad end.”

Anna Marie, a retired Special Education Teacher’s Assistant, is tired of grieving for her beloved late husband Ted, so she spontaneously buys a 1998 1/2 Southwind Motor Home to actively start building the next stage of her life.

Despite her family’s deep concern for her large purchase and fear for her safety while traveling alone, Anna Marie leaves solo for a many-month journey across the United States in her new-to-her RV.

She brings her pug dog, Little Bear and at her first campsite, adopts Maya, a Maine Coon Cat. She then picks up Christa, a runaway pregnant teenager left stranded by James, her missionary leader and rapist. And finally, Granny Rose joins them—an elderly woman with dementia who stows uninvited aboard The Southwind.

The three women represent the three stages of women's lives, based on ancient traditions reflecting the moon cycles. The pets become close companions, supporting each woman throughout the journey.

Whistling up the Southwind begins seven years after this journey of a lifetime when Anna Marie receives a phone call reporting the death of Granny Roses along with a request for Anna Marie to take on a bank-held security box.

Allow yourself to embark on the ride of your life with these wonderful characters and their adventures in the Southwind.