Review: The River Witch
“I hadn’t heard the sound since we’d left, years before when I was just a little girl. Back then I’d been terrified of it, and loved it just the same, the power of a sonorous layering of voices, the steady climb and crescendo of a miraculous human instrument. Now, somehow everything that had happened made me remember and obsess.”
Kimberly Brock, THE RIVER WITCH
THE RIVER WITCH, by Kimberly Brock, was published in April of this year and is 246 pages. I “met” Kimberly on Twitter, and since I’ve been on a southern reading kick, I bought her book. Brock swept me away to Manny’s Island, Georgia every time I picked up the novel, and left me longing to return when I had to put it down.
When a car crash ends ballerina Roslyn Byrne’s career and causes a miscarriage of her baby, she is broken in body and in spirit. At the urging of her mother, she travels to the Sea Isles of Georgia for escape and healing. It is on Manny’s Island that Roslyn learns that sometimes healing hurts, but that suffering can bring about more beauty and blessing than we can ever anticipate.
A superstitious local woman, a precocious ten-year-old girl named Damascus, and her elusive and troubled father, Urey, are just a few of the island’s inhabitants with whom Roslyn becomes entangled. While the locals speculate on why so many alligators have arrived at the same time as this out of towner, Roslyn makes her home in the swamps, watching over a motherless girl who thinks a crop of pumpkins will bring her a special kind of magic.
While the families unravel around her, Roslyn finds herself getting more and more lost in her own past, hearing the sweet sounds of her grandmother’s Sacred Harp singers on the breeze and in her heart. The music comes again and again throughout the book, acting as a refrain in a song reminding Roslyn of the depths of the healing she must seek in order to begin her life again.
THE RIVER WITCH is a delight from beginning to end. I could almost hear Brock’s southern accent reading the story in my ear, and her distinct style brought much color to the book. The elements of setting, magic, alligators, and pumpkins were unique, and the plot twists kept me turning pages.
As I told Kimberly, THE RIVER WITCH is a book you press to your heart and sigh when you finish because of its tender beauty and power. If you enjoy heartwarming southern stories of healing and renewal, you’ll love THE RIVER WITCH.
Like this:
Review: A Land More Kind Than Home
“My only memory of my mama is a wispy shadow thrown against the cabin wall by candlelight, and in my mind my daddy is a black shadow blotting out the sun in a cleared field. But she brought them back to me and made sure I understood the lives that had come before my own.”
Wiley Cash, A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME
A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME was published in April and is 320 pages. I heard about the book because Wiley and I are in a writer’s group called Book Pregnant, and I was intrigued by the premise and my love of Southern fiction. This novel was so powerful that I have no doubt it will be on my top ten list for 2012. As I told Wiley, his book broke my heart and put it back together.
Set about thirty years ago in western North Carolina, A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME is the story of two brothers, their bond, and how innocent, childhood snooping can lead to the most devastating consequences.
Told from three distinct points of view, the novel starts with the foreboding observations of the town midwife, Adelaide Lyle, about the sinister preacher, Carson Chambliss, who came to town out of nowhere, blacked out the church windows with newspapers, and started holding secret services involving faux healings, snakes, and near hysteria.
Following Adelaide is Jess Hall–a nine-year-old boy who adores his older, mute brother, Stump, and who gets himself into the usual amount of trouble for a boy his age. It is through his innocent musings and instinct for trouble that the tension begins to build.
The third narrative voice is that of Clem Barefield, the Sheriff of Madison County. He’s a man worn from a lifetime of grief and trouble, but one who exudes a better kind of empathy for it. His remembrances of Jess’s father as a young man, and his painful relationship with the entire Hall family are what ultimately force the novel to its terrible climax.
While reading A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME I felt echoes of Faulkner and Tennessee Williams, but Cash has his own style. Like other Southern novels, place looms heavy as a character, and metaphor through physical objects plays out brilliantly. The story can be read for the physical action or pulled apart for the layers. What results is a true symphony of plot, theme, and character.
Make no mistake, this novel is devastating, but Cash is able to redeem his characters in the most beautiful and fitting conclusion. A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME is well worth your time and emotion. It is one of the best novels I’ve yet read this year, and I won’t ever forget it. I give A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME my highest recommendation.
Like this:
Interview: Kristina McMorris on Launching Your Book
Kristina McMorris is one of my favorite authors and is also one of the most generous writers I know. Her novels LETTERS FROM HOME and BRIDGE OF SCARLET LEAVES have earned her much critical acclaim and thousands of loyal readers. Her advice and encouragement have helped me immeasurably through my forthcoming book launch, so I asked her to stop by and share her wisdom with others. Whether you are a new writer or a veteran, McMorris’ insights will inspire you.
Q: BRIDGE OF SCARLET LEAVES was published in February with many excellent reviews. How has this release differed from the release of your first novel, LETTERS FROM HOME?
It’s definitely been a nice advantage, knowing more of what to expect this time around. I suppose you could say it’s much like preparing your very first Thanksgiving dinner. The first time can be overwhelming as you try to multi-task and experiment with recipes you’ve tasted but never cooked yourself, yet upon completion comes an incredible sense of accomplishment; then the next Thanksgiving, though the milestone isn’t at remarkable, you understand what works and what doesn’t, and where you should place your greatest focus. (Hmm…I’m suddenly craving candied yams and creamed corn casserole!)
Q: Now that you are a seasoned publishing veteran, is there anything you would have done differently with the launch of the first book?
Ack, that description makes me feel so old. Ha! Looking back, I think I would have spread out some of my promotional efforts, rather than cramming so much into the first few weeks of the release; and what I mean by that is determining which events and activities could have waited a week or a month or more. With LETTERS FROM HOME, both my US and UK launch happened simultaneously, so I should have taken this into consideration when I agreed to do three blog visits per day, for example, or to guest speak at a teacher friend’s high school English class—a great experience, mind you, but probably not so pressing that I needed to squeeze it into that first month, when sleep hours were nearly nonexistent.
Q: What is the single most important piece of advice you’d give to debut authors as they prepare to launch their novels?
You, alone, are your book’s best and strongest advocate. Start planning early, stay organized (an advantage for both current and future releases), get creative (so much today can be done online and on a limited budget), and don’t forget that the most important promotions you do are not as much for as to your own pub house. That’s where the buzz begins. If you’re not excited about the release, displaying clear potential for your book’s success, how can you expect anyone else to be?
Q: With the ever-changing landscape of publishing, many debut and midlist authors will have to be their own best advocates. If their publishers are unable to provide large marketing budgets, where do you recommend that authors make their biggest investments of resources?
Online promo is wonderful, particularly when it’s free—blog posts, interviews, reviews, Goodreads giveaways, etc. Speaking engagements can also be very effective in spreading word, including outreach to non-literary sites and organizations that share your target audience. For example, for LETTERS FROM HOME, I partnered with websites that promoted pen pals and the art of letter writing, and together we ran giveaways of fancy stationery baskets.
For BRIDGE OF SCARLET LEAVES, I connected with museums, universities, Asian cultural groups and historical societies. I also joined forces with other WWII authors and organized a contest in which the winning book club won a Skype party with us, plus a prize box filled with copies of our books and WWII goodies. And, of course, local media can be a great source of free promotion. Just do your best to think outside of the box, brainstorm how you can tap into an applicable already-established audience, and, most of all, don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. The worst anyone can say is no.
Q: What do you enjoy most about book promotion? Least?
As a former event planner, I absolutely love organizing large launch events—from the media pitches to invitation outreach to creative itineraries. And I absolutely love the social aspect, especially befriending fellow authors and visiting book clubs.
What I enjoy the least is the travel. As a married mother of two young boys, I hate being away too long! (Granted, by the time our kids hit their teenage years, my view on that might change drastically.)
Q: I loved your two novels so much that I can’t wait to read more. What is your next project?
I’m so thrilled you enjoyed them, Erika. I can’t wait to share more stories with you!
As for my next projects… I’m happy to report that my novella, The Christmas Collector, will be published this coming November by Kensington Books in a holiday anthology headlined by New York Times bestselling author Fern Michaels. (Very exciting!) After that, I have two more two women’s fiction novels under contract with my publisher, the first of which I’m working on right now, titled Through Memory’s Gate. I’m eager to share more details soon!
* * *
Here is the trailer for BRIDGE OF SCARLET LEAVES:
“[Bridge of Scarlet Leaves] gracefully blossoms through swift prose and rich characters…this gripping story about two ‘brothers’ in arms and a young woman caught in between them hits all the right chords.”
– Publishers Weekly
“A sweeping yet intimate novel that will please both romantics and lovers of American history.”
– Kirkus Reviews
Like this:
Book Review: AT THE MERCY OF THE QUEEN
AT THE MERCY OF THE QUEEN by Anne Clinard Barnhill was published in January of this year and is 464 pages. I heard about Anne from the writers’ group, Book Pregnant, and because I love Anne Boleyn stories, I bought the novel. I am delighted that I did.
Set during the years of King Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn, AT THE MERCY OF THE QUEEN provides a fresh take on an oft told story. The protagonist of the novel is the queen’s cousin, Lady Margaret Shelton, and it is through her eyes that we watch the rise and fall of the queen and those around her. Margaret’s story of forbidden love and arranged marriage is front and center with the drama of Henry and Anne in the background, but it is when the stories become inevitably bound together that the tension renders the novel riveting.
Barnhill’s attention to period detail and her command of the language and customs of the era mark her as a true force in historical fiction. If you love novels of Tudor England, you simply must read AT THE MERCY OF THE QUEEN.
Like this:
Review: The Shell Seekers
THE SHELL SEEKERS by Rosamunde Pilcher was published1987 and is 530 pages. One of my dear writing partners, Jennifer Lyn King, recommended it to me several times, and I found it at my local library. The librarian at checkout “Ooohed” when I picked it up, and after having finished it, I’ll have to agree.
Mostly set in Cornwall and London in the 1980s and during the second World War, THE SHELL SEEKERS is the story of the loves, heartbreaks, and children of Penelope Keeling, and the canvas, painted by her famous father, that connects three generations through time and place.
When the novel begins, Penelope has suffered a small heart attack, and her three grown children respond in practical and selfish ways. Smart business woman, Olivia, handles the difficulty with the ease of a corporate transaction, while her siblings Nancy and Noel try to persuade their mother to sell her father’s famous paintings under the guise of ensuring Penelope’s well being and care.
Penelope is no fool, however, and she gracefully handles her children while making her own plans. Amidst remembrance and a stubborn will to persist, Penelope continues to live her life as she always has–on her own terms–and what results from her choices blooms as radiantly as her beautiful gardens.
From the open, Bohemian household in which Penelope was raised, to her painfully empty marriage, to the sweetness of young love and second chances, THE SHELL SEEKERS weaves together heartbreak and joy, conflict and peace, and devastation and elation so authentically that it feels as if the Keeling family truly exists.
I am so grateful to Jennifer for recommending this moving family saga to me, and I must recommend it to you. If you are a fan of novels in the style of THE THORN BIRDS, I highly suggest you read THE SHELL SEEKERS.
Like this:
Hemingway’s Girl Teaser: 7 Lines
I’ve been tagged by author, Kimberly Brock, whose novel THE RIVER WITCH comes out on April 6th. She said I had to do this:
1. Go to the 77th page of your WIP or latest book.
2. Count down 7 lines.
3. Copy the 7 sentences that follow, and post them.
4. Tag 7 other authors.
In this scene, my protagonist, Mariella (Hemingway’s maid) sits at an outdoor cafe with him, while he works in his notebook. Without further ado, here are seven lines from the 77th page of Hemingway’s Girl. (Though strangely, with WordPress formatting, it doesn’t look like seven lines.)
“You know, I’m going to write a story about you, Mariella.”
“Please don’t,” she said.
“Why?”
“I won’t be used.”
“Used?”
“When you put people on your pages, you take something away from them.”
He looked at her closely, and then at his notebook. “I don’t want to share you with anyone, anyway.” He drew a long, diagonal line over everything he’d written, and turned to a clean page.
Now, I’ll tag these 7 brilliant authors to give us a tease:
I can’t wait to read their posts!
Review: The Taker and The Devil’s Scribe
“Luke goes through the motions of examining the prisoner, but he can barely think for the strange pulsing in his head. He shines a penlight into her eyes–they are the palest blue eyes he’s ever seen, like two shards of compressed ice–to see if her pupils are dilated. Her skin is clammy to the touch, her pulse low and her breathing ragged.” (Alma Katsu, THE TAKER)
THE TAKER, by Alma Katsu, was published in 2011 and is 436 pages. I bought the book at a signing for the author at One More Page Books in Arlington, VA at the very high recommendation of the staff. I loved it, just as they thought I would.
THE TAKER is a multi-period novel. It begins in present day Maine where emergency room physician, Dr. Luke Findley, is nodding his way through another night in his sleepy town, until the police bring in a young woman, Lanny McIlvrae, for evaluation. Lanny was found wandering on the side of the road in shock in the bitter cold, and confessed to murdering a man, whose body is now stored in the hospital morgue.
As Luke examines his patient, he finds himself immediately drawn to the sweet, slight young woman, and curious about what would lead her to commit such an act. As she beings telling him her impossible history, beginning in the same town in the nineteenth century, Luke feels everything he knows to be true slipping away.
Lanny tells him of her family, the boy she loved more than herself, and how a scandal led her to Boston and an abduction by immortal creatures who had long stopped caring for their souls. Led by the charming yet diabolically evil Count Adair cel Rau, Lanny becomes a slave, doomed for all eternity at the hands of the Count. Her own loving heart leads the man she loves into danger, and she must risk everything for a chance at redemption.
THE TAKER is the kind of book that is impossible to put down. From the first chapter, I was as spellbound by Lanny’s tales of treachery and pain as Luke, and I raced through each chapter, present and past, to find out more. Katsu is a master storyteller with perfect pacing and a knack for creating fascinating characters.
I was warned by the author that there were very difficult scenes to read, and I’m glad I was alerted to that fact. Sections of the novel were so dark and frightening they took my breath away, but I’m glad I kept reading. The climax and conclusion were satisfying, but left me wanting more, which is what all great fiction should do.
I’m pleased to say that I was able to indulge a bit more in the world of the THE TAKER because Katsu just published a novella feature Lanny in the 1800s in Baltimore called THE DEVIL’S SCRIBE, where she meets Edgar Allan Poe and inspires one of his most memorable stories.
If you are a fan of Anne Rice’s vampire novels or True Blood, you will love the spellbinding, troubling, mesmerizing, and fascinating stories of THE TAKER and THE DEVIL’S SCRIBE. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series, THE RECKONING, due out in June.
For more on Alma Katsu, visit her website at http://almakatsu.com/books.php .
Like this:
Author Photo Outtakes
Earlier this week at the fabulous Debutante Ball Blog, Erika Marks ruminated on the dreaded author photo–that terrifying and stressful bit of awkwardness that has to go on the published book. In a very unscientific poll, I found out that nine out of ten authors would rather write a synopsis than take an author photo. But there are so many bad author photos out there, how bad can yours actually be? If you simply select one of the categories of author photo cliches, at least you’ll know you’re not alone. For your amusement (and because Erika Marks double-dog-dared me) I’ve dedicated this post to author photo cliches and outtakes. I hope you enjoy it.
When I self-published my first novel, I scoured book jackets and author websites to see how writers posed. I found that the overwhelming majority of them stood by trees with their arms crossed, so that’s what I did.
What you don’t see in this picture are my three boys running around the yard like savages while I swat them away between takes. This picture worked well enough for my indie endeavor, but for my new novel (HEMINGWAY’S GIRL) with a traditional publisher, I wanted a new picture. The only thing I was sure about was that I didn’t want my face on my hand, because if an author isn’t standing next to a tree with her arms crossed, it’s likely that she’ll have her face on her hand.
I considered reaching back a bit in time to when my hair didn’t need chemical assistance to lighten it, and my skin glowed without make up. I worried, however, that people would be disappointed if they showed up for a signing and I didn’t look like this anymore.
Then I considered the on location, research with Hemingway shot, but truth be told, Hemingway looked a little creepy in this picture.
Then I thought about going for something a little more edgy. After all, writers from the past often posed with cigarettes. For obvious reasons, however, I vetoed these.
I even wondered if I should go for the truly authentic author photo–the one that captures the day-to-day life of the writer in the reading chair, with the dog, in PJs.
But, no. Just no.
Ultimately, I went to my hometown of Annapolis, Maryland with my friend and photographer Catherine Pelura. We walked the streets, chatted, and snapped photos as we went. Some of my favorite shots were the intense, thinking, gazing off into the distance photos.
I also liked the super-approachable, relaxed garden shot.
I sent several pictures to my publisher and told them to choose. And after all of that, guess which one they picked–the hand on the face shot.
I’m already thinking ahead to my next novel’s author photo. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald are characters, and Zelda was known for jumping in fountains, so maybe I’ll use something like this:
Or we’ll walk the streets of Baltimore, where the book is mostly set, and snap pictures at the old Fitzgerald haunts around town. I’ve already prepared myself that of the fifty photos Catherine will take, I’ll end up picking the one of my hand holding up my head.
Now that I’ve humiliated myself with some of these pictures, I dare YOU (writer, yes you) to blog on some of your author photo ideas and outtakes.
Like this:
Review: The Sister Queens
THE SISTER QUEENS by Sophie Perinot was published earlier this month and is 528 pages. I “met” Sophie through our shared passion for history and social media, and was delighted to find out we have the same publisher. We are also in a writer support group called Book Pregnant, and share our launch stories with other authors releasing this year.
THE SISTER QUEENS is the epic story of French sisters Marguerite and Eleanor who marry kings of France and England, respectively, and the way that their lives, loves, and losses unfold over the years. When the novel begins, the girls are young, betrothed, and extremely competitive. After their marriages, they become separated by miles and cultures, but their relationship stays alive in their active correspondence. THE SISTER QUEENS spans over two decades, and chronicles the evolution of each sister’s marriage and country, their children, and how their rivalry bloomed into the most beautiful of friendships.
Perinot’s attention to historical detail and research are evident, though the facts never weigh down the fiction. From battle scenes to bedroom scenes, her detailed writing adds to the scenery of the past and provides a fascinating backdrop for her vivid characters.
Marguerite and Eleanor are strong, authentic women, and at different places in the novel I found my own allegiance shifting from sister to sister, and country to country. Both characters have fully developed arcs, and the ending moved me to tears.
If you enjoy historical novels in the style of Philippa Gregory or Diana Gabaldon, you will love THE SISTER QUEENS. The novel does have very graphic love scenes. I realize this will send some readers scurrying to the book store to buy it, and others running in the opposite direction, but whatever one’s preference, it is clear that Perinot will be a force in historical fiction for years to come.
The Beauty of Old Death
“I wouldn’t mind a bit if in a few years Zelda and I could snuggle up together under a stone in some graveyard. That is really a happy thought, and not melancholy at all.” F. Scott Fitzgerald
Today I visited the grave of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald in Rockville, Maryland. It’s a trip I’ve been longing to make for some time, as the Fitzgeralds are characters in my new novel, REMEMBERING ZELDA, and I’ve been caught up in their world through my reading and writing for the past year.
I sent my manuscript to my editor early this week, but I’ve felt immobilized and somewhat depressed ever since. I’ve had the Fitzgeralds, particularly Zelda, in my head for so long that I’m having a hard time letting them go. I hoped a visit to the grave would give me the closure I needed to move forward and begin researching my next novel.
I received more than I could have ever hoped.
To start, this week marks the anniversary of Zelda’s death and burial in March of 1948, so there is special significance in visiting the grave at this time. Also, the weather in Maryland has been unseasonably warm and springlike. Daffodils, Bradford Pears, and cherry blossoms have burst into life, and the birds are making happy, noisy work of nesting. Overall, it’s a very hospitable environment.
But all of this isn’t what gave me the most remarkable feeling today.
It was this:
This is a photograph of the radio in my car. I often listen to classical music because it soothes me when I drive, and it puts me in a literary mood. As I said before, I had the lingering effects of post-writing depression, and I was having an internal debate with myself about my novel. One of the main themes in the book is to do with the way Scott mercilessly used Zelda in his fiction–her words, letters, actions–he used it all. I had a nagging feeling of guilt that maybe I did the same thing by placing her in my novel.
Just as the thought entered my mind that my work was an attempt at redeeming her, and therefore, I was not using her as her husband had, the song The Dance of the Hours came on the radio.
The Dance of the Hours was the song playing the night Scott walked into the steamy, Alabama country club and saw young Zelda Sayre for the first time. She was dancing to the song, and the crowd had cleared the floor for her. I recollect this moment in a scene in my novel, and the song and the opera in which it is nestled, La Gioconda, recur as themes in my book. I have never heard that song on the radio before, ever. It felt as if Zelda was giving me her blessing.
I don’t believe in coincidence. To me, the significance of that moment and the release and peace following it will live in my heart for a very long time. I realize that might sound strange to some of you, but I hope that others will understand the profound beauty of the providence, nous, or even simple serendipity I experienced.
When I got to the graveyard, that peace sunk deep inside of me. I stayed for awhile, leaving flowers and a penny. I walked around the old gravestones and snapped pictures of the large religious statues. I had a hard time leaving, but when I finally did, I left with the closure I was seeking.
I’m excited now for the future, and ready to transition back into research mode. I think I know who I will write about next, and I can’t wait to share my subject with you. For now, I’ll leave you with this.
“[I]n a hundred years, I think I shall like having young people speculate whether my eyes were brown or blue–of course they are neither..Old death is beautiful–so very beautiful–we will die together–I know.” Zelda Fitzgerald, to Scott.
