A Story of Triumph by Judge Clarence Jones: RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison on Thursday, September 3rd,

A Story of Triumph: "Judge Clarence Jones sat on the bench of Connecticut’s Superior Court for more than two decades. Now retired, he has added a new title after his name: Author. Drawing from his experiences in the court system, he wrote “Triumph” over the course of 7 years, creating a fictional account of the often guarded and seldom exposed world of the state court’s juvenile division. Set largely in New Haven, “Triumph” shines a spotlight on the juvenile court, following the life of a once neglected infant as she grows into adulthood, and learns firsthand about the legal system and political connections."

By writing “Triumph,” he intended to give citizens a prism through which to view the juvenile court system from the inside. It is the only division of Superior Court that is not open to the public. With criminal, divorce, and small claims court for example, anyone can walk in and sit down and watch the proceedings. But not so with the juvenile court. It is locked to protect the minors. Jones is not aware of any work of fiction that could give a similar perspective, regarding the state's juvenile system.

His story and characters are loosely based on cases he tried. Jones created a family in crisis, highlighting their challenges and set it among a theme of government corruption. While he was writing, and the plot developed, he kept notes, charting the characters and their interconnections. Jones worked on the multi-layered story for years, before finally self-publishing it this year.

Annually, a quarter of a million children enter the foster care system in the United States because of abuse and neglect. The novel Triumph opens with a young mother suffocating her infant daughter, Katie, to gain attention due to Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Katie's journey, through her rescue and placement into foster care, opens the door into the cloistered world of juvenile court justice-a system where juveniles are locked away in jail cells, sent to foster homes, and placed in therapeutic residential centers-all from public view. The writer, a superior court judge, now retired, provides the reader with the portal through his experience in the system. Through this portal, a kaleidoscopic array of trials and tribulations involving protagonist Katie and other juveniles inside and outside the courthouse clamor for the reader's attention as our heroine barely escapes another active plot to kill her. Extrapolated from actual court records; spiced with a subtext of love, sex, and murder; uncovering government corruption, as well as adventure in the heart-wrenching stories of children; Triumph emerges from its journey well-traveled through turmoil and eventual victory.

He will appear at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison on Thursday, September 3rd, to talk about the juvenile court system and to read an excerpt from “Triumph.”