Charm Bracelet (Shipman) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• AKA—Wade Rouse
• Birth—1956
• Where—Granby, Missouri, USA
• Education—B.A., Drury University; M.S., Northwestern University
• Currently—lives in the state of Michigan


Viola Shipman is a penname for Wade Rouse, a popular, award-winning memoirist. Rouse chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, to honor the woman whose charm bracelet and family stories inspired him to write his debut novel, which is a tribute to all of our elders.

Writing as Wade Rouse, he has penned several memoirs, including America's Boy; At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream; Confessions of A Prep School Mommy Handler; and It's All Relative.

He has written two novels as Viola Shipman, The Hope Chest (2017) and The Charm Bracelet (2016), as well as a novella, Christmas Angels (2016, e-book only).

Wade's work has been selected multiple times as a Must-Read by NBC’s Today Show, featured on Chelsea Lately on E!, and been chosen three times by the nation's independent booksellers as an Indie Next Pick.

Rouse lives in Michigan and writes regularly for People and Coastal Living, among other places, and is a contributor to All Things Considered. To date, The Charm Bracelet has been translated into nine languages. (Adapted from the publisher and the author's website.)