Book excerpt: Winsome Smith loves a good story and loves sharing one even more. The author of eleven books and countless short stories and poems, she shares some of her favorites in Tales the Laundress Told. Her tales deal with the realities and fantasies of the imagination, human and otherwise. With honesty and compassion, she writes of the strange experience of growing up. She takes the reader back to ancient Athens, to tell the story of a well-to-do young girls rebellion. We meet a garrulous ironing lady who shares her domestic wisdom. An earnest (and bossy) daughter of a minister has a few ideas of her own to share. She recounts the touching tale of a son who learns that he really does have the courage he needs. In a freefall flight of fancy, she introduces her readers to a young man with ambitions to study a distant planet known as Earth. Everyone who knows her wonders what on earth could have made a very serious mother get the giggles. A young girl boasts that she is ready for anythingbut can she handle the challenge at hand? These charactersand moreawait you in Tales the Laundress Told.