Jericho resident Ellen Meister's debut novel, George Clooney and Other Secret Longings of the Applewood PTA, has recently been purchased by Morrow/Avon, an imprint of HarperCollins, for publication in early 2006.

The book is about three women who come together when Hollywood announces plans to shoot a movie in their children's schoolyard. Maddie Schein is an emotionally needy ex-lawyer whose marriage is on the rocks. Brash Ruth Moss has it all except for one thing: her husband was left brain-damaged and sexually uninhibited from a stroke. Timid Lisa Slotnick wants nothing more than to fade into the scenery, but is thrust before the spotlight by her alcoholic mother - a singer whose career has failed.

"The idea for the book came shortly after I made the decision that I was going to get back to writing, no matter what," said Meister. "I had walked into a PTA meeting, smiling and nodding at all the other moms, feeling like I had this big secret. No one there knew I wanted to write. No one even knew I had an inner life. All they saw was this PTA face. Then I got to wondering if all the women in the room were thinking more or less the same thing. That's when I knew I needed to write about these women, and to explore the depth of their lives."

Ellen Meister grew up in the PTA-enriched heartland of suburban Long Island. She graduated magna cum laude from SUNY Buffalo with a degree in English and spent her early career in publishing and advertising. She later used her copywriting and marketing skills to open her own boutique agency. Upon the birth of her first child, however, she left it all behind to raise her family and chase her fiction writing dreams.