The Leopard's Changing Spots

About the Book

Rorey, daughter of a Marshall, Michigan "old family,” enters the University where she is attracted to her conservative geology professor.

Rorey, a liberal, is involved with the Youth for Civil Rights movement on campus which Charles DuMond, as NAACP campus recruiter, is directing. DuMond is determined to find a place in the white world. He falls in love with Rorey.

Rorey marries her geology professor and lives happily until DuMond appears on the scene once more to organize YFCR’s part in the March on Washington. Rorey, five months pregnant goes to the march against her husband’s wishes, and events thereafter lead to the breakup of their marriage and Rorey’s involvement with DuMond.

The lives of Rorey’s family, Scott’s family and DuMond’s intertwine to create romance, heartbreak, betrayal, and finally triumph for the principal characters.

The title, THE LEOPARD'S CHANGING SPOTS, expresses the theme of this 50,000 word novel, the setting of which encompasses the years 1958 through 1972.

About the Author

The author was born in Oxford, Michigan, where she has lived, taught, and worked as a writer all her life. She began writing her first short stories as a teenager and continued writing throughout the Depression years and the World War II era. The turmoil of the Civil Rights movement in the 60’s inspired her to write this gripping tale of love, tragedy, and triumph among people caught up in the social upheavals and changes of that era. While studying with Professors Wells and Bader at the University of Michigan, she received a coveted Hopwood award in creative writing. Ms. Stoddard has written numerous historical works on the early settlers of Oakland County, Michigan, in addition to works in fiction including essays, plays, poetry, short stories, and this, her first novel.