University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 30, May 8

              'Crosswind' author schedules area signings
     
     ...the altimeter read 10,000 feet. I heard Andy say,
with excitement in her voice, "What do you think of that?"
     I had never experienced anything like this. To be so
high and so still, soaring like an eagle seeing the morning
light from nearly two miles up.
     "It's what I've been looking for."
                         -from Crosswind by Patricia Valdata
                                                            
     Ellen Horvath, the central character in Patricia
Valdata's first novel, Crosswind, published by Wind Canyon,
resurrects her shattered life in a sailplane soaring 13,000
feet at 700 feet a minute. Valdata is an assistant professor
of English in the University Parallel Program.
     The novel opens with the death of Ellen's father and
mother in freak accidents in their home. Her parents' deaths
begin a spiral of events that leave Ellen in debt and out of
work, unable to continue her education and psychologically
and emotionally drained. She turns to the people in her
community for solace and guidance, but she continues to feel
that she has lost her identity until she discovers soaring.
Her experiences piloting a glider bring her back to herself.
     One unusual aspect of Valdata's novel is that Ellen's
only love interest is Trevor, her parakeet:
     "I can't do it Trev. No matter how I try to work it
out, there's no way I can afford to fly." Trevor looked up
at me with his dark little eyes and said, "Gimme kiss."
     Valdata said she didn't want Ellen to resort to a
clich like a male/ female relationship for solutions to her
problems.
     "I didn't want her to be involved in a romance. That's
too conventional. I think we all have to find our own way
and learn what makes us tick. Ellen doesn't do it through a
conventional romance."
     Valdata admits there is some of herself in Ellen. Both
she and her fictional character were deeply affected by the
loss of their fathers while they were very young and their
love for flying helped them get over the trauma and discover
hidden strengths. Valdata also patterned Ellen's Hungarian-
American roots and community after her own.
     Valdata is a commercial soaring pilot and instructor
for the Atlantic Soaring Club in Harford County, Md.
     She also pilots private single-engine planes. She is a
cofounder of the Women's Soaring Pilots Association and owns
her own Pilatus B-4 sailplane.
     She will be signing copies of her book at 7:30 p.m.,
Monday, May 12, at Border's Books and Music, Geoffrey Drive,
Newark, and from 12:30-1:30 p.m., Thursday, May 22, at the
University Bookstore in the Perkins Student Center.
                                           -Barbara Garrison