"As Ms. Ditzler's first book, this one is a winner. It was a delight to follow the seven-year courtship of Lolita and her husband. In THE VIEW FROM A MIDWEST FERRIS WHEEL, she details the relationship that survived military service and illness in the 1950s. The simplicity of their courtship should be an inspiration to everyone. In today's fast paced world, we all need to take the time to enjoy The View From A Midwest Ferris Wheel and learn the true meaning of love." - Sherry Derr-Wille, author of seventy books and editor
"This incandescent and elegiac memoir, a Technicolor coming-of-age story of love deferred and won, returns us to the Midwest in the 1950s and immerses us in it. Evocative, convincing, and well worth the price of admission." - Christopher Chambers, Editor, Midwest Review
"A long-time writer and member of the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) and Illinois Woman's Press Association (IWPA), Ditzler's story reminds us of what people and families in the Midwest are all about. Her writing captures small-town life, love and the true meaning of a promise with grace." -Marianne Wolf-Astrauskas, Immediate Past President National Federation of Press Women and Former President of the Illinois Woman's Press Association.
"Love is written in the details. With a precisely crafted account of the early years of her more than 50-year marriage, this writer knits together a love story sketched in charcoal images of a young girl growing up in a conventional farm community in middle America. It was the 50s and America had not yet broken from a more chaste lifestyle. It was an era in deep contrast to today. The writer, with the use of extravagant detail, does a delightful job of drawing the reader back to the 50s. Falling in love was another story those days."-Susan Dixon, retired editor
Lolita Ditzler, a longtime member of the Illinois Woman's Press Association and the National Federation of Press Women, has received numerous awards for articles that appeared in area newspapers and national magazines. The literary magazine, Midwest Review 4, published her essay, "Life With Linda," about her developmentally different daughter who died of breast cancer at age forty-eight. The story received a first in the IWPA 2017 contest and the NFPW contest. She also belongs to the Chicago Writers Association and Wisconsin Writers Association.
