In 1968's Ransom, five teenagers are kidnapped by a school bus driver. Not feeling restricted to the themes or by the censorship of the 1950s, as with Debutante Hill, Duncan pursued more frightening scenarios for readers. In 1965, she married electrical engineer Don Arquette, having five children and soon returning to writing teenage novels. There, she eventually earned her masters degree. After divorcing her first husband, Duncan moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1962, teaching journalism at the University of New Mexico. Changing the beverage to Coke, Duncan won the contest, having Debutante Hill published as her first novel at the age of 24. Feeling disconnected from her abilities, she left school after one year to seek marriage.ĭebutante Hill (1958), Duncan's first attempt at a love story for teenagers, was first rejected by Dodd, Mead and Company's Seventeenth Summer Literary contest, due to one character drinking beer. Attending Duke University in 1952, she found it difficult to adapt to a work environment which did not offer the same level of privacy, amenities, and comfort as did her childhood environment as a writer. Her many contributions awarded her enough funds for Duncan to buy her own car at 16. Even before her teenage years, at age ten, she began writing for and contributing to magazines, selling her first stories at 13. She discovered her writing talent at a young age, encouraged by her parents though not pursuing other suggested hobbies with much enthusiasm. Lois Duncan was born in Philadelphia in 1934.She was raised in Sarasota, Florida with her younger brother, Bill, by well-known magazine photographers Joseph and Lois Steinmetz. For current information, see the Abstract for links.

Daughters of eve by lois duncan