Triumph: A Novel

Annually, a quarter of a million children enter the foster care system in the United States because of abuse and neglect. The novel Triumph opens with a young mother suffocating her infant daughter, Katie, to gain attention due to Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Katie's journey, through her rescue and placement into foster care, opens the door into the cloistered world of juvenile court justice-a system where juveniles are locked away in jail cells, sent to foster homes, and placed in therapeutic residential centers-all from public view. The writer, a superior court judge, now retired, provides the reader with the portal through his experience in the system. Through this portal, a kaleidoscopic array of trials and tribulations involving protagonist Katie and other juveniles inside and outside the courthouse clamor for the reader's attention as our heroine barely escapes another active plot to kill her. Extrapolated from actual court records; spiced with a subtext of love, sex, and murder; uncovering government corruption, as well as adventure in the heart-wrenching stories of children; Triumph emerges from its journey well-traveled through turmoil and eventual victory.