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UNION — This Saturday, local residents will have an opportunity to meet an accomplished author, who happens to be a Union County native.

Dilsa Saunders Bailey will sign copies of her second book — The Sperling Chronicles: Split Images — from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at the Union County Carnegie Library.

Bailey is the daughter of Gladys and Robert Saunders, and she grew up in Lockhart in the home of her grandparents, Robin and Pearline Lucas. Bailey went to Adamsburg Elementary School and graduated from Lockhart High School in 1973. After high school, she went to Temple University and Kean University, and she has worked in the health care profession for more than 20 years.

Bailey — currently residing in the Atlanta area — began working on her first book — Dreams Thrown Away — more than 20 years ago. Bailey said the book morphed into different versions and eventually went into storage until the end of 2008, when she was digging through her stored items to find resource materials for a business idea. Instead of the materials she was seeking, she found her unfinished story, and her passion for writing was rekindled. Bailey put the business plan aside and concentrated on what she loves to do.

Dreams Thrown Away became the first in a series called The Sperling Chronicles — named after the fictional family around which the books are centered. It was eventually re-released as The Sperling Chronicles: Dreams Thrown Away. Bailey described the book as a romantic suspense novel.

“It’s about a young girl from the rural south who goes to the big city of Philadelphia,” Bailey said. “She learns how to adapt and looks for the perfect family, but when she finds her man, he turns out to be the perfect devil.”

Bailey said the book is a fun read, complete with instances of sex, lies and murder. In 2010, the book landed Bailey a nomination for the Georgia Author of the Year Award.

“It was such an honor to be nominated by the Georgia Writers Association,” she said.

Bailey said she was proud to be in good company, as past winners of the award have included names such as bestselling author Pearl Cleage.

Bailey’s newest book — The Sperling Chronicles: Split Images — is a sequel to her first.

“In the sequel, a big family secret comes out,” Bailey said. “It’s more suspenseful than the first. It’s a take on the old adage, ‘You reap what you sow.’”

Bailey said this second book in the series continues the saga of the powerful Sperling family whose new patriarch is set on a path of vengeance which could destroy the delicate balance of his once stable life. She hopes to catapult readers into a world of suspense and dark romance, with lots of twists and unexpected turns.

“The stories are about addictions, not just your typical substance or food addictions, but addictions we can all identify with personally,” she said. “The characters are addicted to love, pain, sex, power and their own circumstances.”

Both of Bailey’s books are available in eBook and print formats at Barnes & Noble and on www.amazon.com. They are also available in iBook format at iTunes.

For more information, visit Bailey’s website — www.dilsasaundersbailey.com.

Staff Writer Derik Vanderford can be reached at 864-427-1234, ext. 29, or by email at dvanderford@civitasmedia.com.