Jill wallace

About Jill wallace

Jill Wallace was born and bred (her mother would prefer ‘brought up’) in South Africa, and has lived the second half of her life in America. She feels like the African baobab - with roots that look like branches. Like the confused “Upside Down Tree,” she no longer knows where the South African ends and the American begins. She hopes it affords her some degree of complexity. A girl can always hope :o)

In South Africa, Jill was a contemporary dancer and a PRO for a shopping center conglomerate. She flew as an “international air hostess” for South African Airways, enjoyed 6 continents and hundreds of adventures. She married her dream man, Athol, a rugby player who makes her laugh (and whose name is horribly mispronounced in their new country :o) They moved to America with the promise of a career that never happened, and Jill inherited her 2 heart-children full time in a strange, new, country where they didn’t know another soul. Together they found compromise, laughter and love.

In the U.S. Jill’s been a bad waitress and an excellent (but inconspicuous) movie extra for “Pretty Woman” director Garry Marshall. She’s practiced real estate for 28 years in 3 states.

"War Serenade" (A WWII romance inspired by a true story), was originally a screenplay optioned twice by movie producers. Both times the movies didn't happen and Wallace was devastated. An author friend said “To hell with them all. Write a book.”

She did. It took her 3 years.

“War Serenade” garnered multiple literary awards and a Rone and Reader’s Choice for the audio book version.

Her second novel "Zebra," is inspired by Athol's life.

A #1 Amazon New Release, “Zebra” is a searing, soaring, heart-breaking, heart-warming coming-of-age story about an unusual friendship between a Zulu teen and a white boy in South Africa during apartheid.

As immigrants, the Wallace’s have been humbled by poverty and blessed by kindness. They've been rich for a minute and have learned to navigate life on the balls of their feet. Proud to be an American, Jill’s heart will always be South African and her books will undoubtedly reflect her plight as a baobab tree. She strives to make her prose worthy of whisking her readers off to faraway places.

Jill loves every kind of chocolate, all dogs, true friends and old rock and roll. She and Athol live on the east coast of Florida with two very spoiled and rambunctious Aussie Shepherds who they willingly serve.