When Darlene Franklin Campbell's father was diagnosed with cancer, she began to think of all the other families she knew facing the battles and burdens that cancer brings. She wanted to find a way to help, not just her own family, but many families.

That is when she decided to donate her royalties from a newly released novel, "I Listened, Momma," published by Moon Gypsy Press, to Relay for Life.

Campbell, an Adair County native, is a former teacher at Kentucky Christian Academy in Campbellsville. She now teaches first grade at Colonel William Casey Elementary in Columbia.

Sandra Kring, author of the highly acclaimed, "Book of Bright Ideas" and "How High the Moon," says, "With characters so real they seem to be made of breath and bone, Campbell draws us into the nucleus of this Appalachian family as if we are relatives. We feel their heartaches and yearn for their healing as though our own happiness depends on theirs. This is Southern fiction at its finest."

Campbell recently told listeners on a radio talk show, "When you purchase a copy of this novel, you do more than buy a gripping story, you become a part of something bigger than yourself."

She went on to say that the story is a tale of how a family's love must endure an onslaught of heartaches and hard times.

Campbell grew up in the foothills that she writes about. The landscape, the culture, the language, all come from the core of her existence, allowing her characters to speak in voices that rise and fall like the hills along the Cumberland River of Southern Kentucky.

"I Listened, Momma" is Campbell's debut in southern fiction.

Visit her website at darcampbell.angelfire.com/chippie. The book can also be purchased through Moon Gypsy Press, Amazon.com, Barnes & Nobles and other book stores.