The Return of Innocence
About the book
Revised 20th Anniversary Edition. Winner, Allbooks Reviewers Choice Award. The Return of Innocence blends humor and romance with exciting fantasy action. It features the resourceful teen heroine Sasha Varov, a diverse cast of supporting characters, and a few dragons. Sasha left her island home to buy seeds in Jaan. She stumbled into a series of misadventures that ended with the death of Wuhrlock and made Sasha a legend, known as “Innocence.” Never mind that the legend barely resembled the truth, or that Sasha caught Wuhrlock in an unguarded moment. When Sasha returned for more seeds, the people of Jaan expected her to defeat a much more ruthless and powerful sorcerer. Duane Simolke wrote the short story “The Return of Innocence” in 1983. With contributions by Toni Davis, he later developed it into a novel, published in 2006. This revised version first appeared in 2026 as an eBook. “This was a really fun fantasy book.” –Shawn C. Sproatt, author of The Misfit of Supernatural High “I absolutely loved The Return of Innocence. I thought it was one of the better short YA fantasy books that I had read in a while.” –Kayla’s Reads and Reviews
What to expect
Purchasing takes you to the author's retailer (smashwords.com).
Available as an ebook.
About the author
Duane Simolke wrote The Acorn Stories, Degranon, Sons of Taldra, Holding Me Together, The Return of Innocence (with Toni Davis), Selected Poems, and New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio. He also edited and co-wrote the fundraiser The Acorn Gathering: Writers Uniting Against Cancer. Three of his books received StoneWall Society Pride in the Arts Awards, one received a Readers’ Favorite Silver Award, and one received an AllBooks Reviewers Choice Award. His writing also appeared in nightFire, Mesquite, Caprock Sun, Beyond: Science Fiction & Fantasy, The International Journal on World Peace, and many other publications. Though born in New Orleans, he calls Texas home.
