Casper Mother and Daughter Write and Publish their First Book Together

Sandy Preisler has lived in Casper all her life. In fact, her father was born in the Oil City in 1925 and lived there till he died at 92-years-old.

Sandy raised two daughters in Casper, one of which—Taylor Priesler—is a co-author to her first book; The Ties that Divide was published on April 24, 2024.

When Taylor was growing up, the family lived "out in the country" near Bessemer Bend, and every Tuesday when they went into town they were sure to stop at the library and stock up on a week's worth of books.

Sandy said "pretty soon they were reading chapter books, and Riley claims they put a limit on how many books could be checked out. Any down time, Taylor especially, could be found reading. I think the reading part of our family turned into the writing part of our family, and I credit the Natrona County Library for that. Libraries are amazing things. That was a great resource for us."

Taylor has been a writer her whole life and has wanted to write a book for a long time. She says she started many, but never finished them until this year.

Sandy and Taylor began writing the book one year ago. It's a 238-page murder mystery set in 1809.

"In the heart of Regency London, where the gulf between the opulent upper class and the squalid streets is as wide as the Thames, Zoe Demas, a young French woman entangled in two worlds, finds herself at the center of a chilling mystery.

When her lady's maid, Lucy, is found dead in the notorious district of Whitechapel, Zoe refuses to accept the verdict of a tragic accident. Determined to uncover the truth, she enlists the help of Quinton Huxley, a man whose espertise lies in navigating the murky waters between legality and the underworld..."

They did get stuck on the ending, Taylor reveals, because they both wrote different endings.

K2 Radio sat down with the authors for a recent Report to Wyoming podcast episode and they shared that they both wanted a strong female lead.

"We both love character driven books, so that was really important" said Sandy. "When I read a book I'm like my mom—that's who we dedicated the book to. When she read a book she was lost. Mom would get into a book and nothing else mattered. When I read a book sometimes it's like those characters are real and I would be frozen in time until the book was over. That's what we wanted."

As they were reading the first draft they noticed how much the theme of mothers and daughters. There's a mother-child theme that is core to the story.

Taylor revealed that they locked horns on the ending but were able to find a compromise that makes them both happy.

They wrote the book with a sequel in mind, planting Easter eggs along the way, and hope to publish that by next year.

Listen to the full podast episode here.