BuzzingAboutBooks

ACCIDENTSOFPROVIDENCE   BridgeScalret    Gemma



AUTHORS IN THIS ISSUE

Stacia M. Brown

Kristina McMorris

Margot LIvesey


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February 15, 2011


Greetings:

We're thrilled to introduce you to three new fiction titles and their authors in this issue of Buzzing About Books:
 
-Stacia M. Brown
takes us to seventeenth-century London with her work of historical fiction, Accidents of Providence

-
Kristina McMorris shares the story of an American woman in a Japanese internment camp in her novel, Bridge of Scarlet leaves


-Margot Livesey pens an homage to and a modern variation on the enduring classic Jane Eyre with The Flight of Gemma Hardy    
 
We hope you enjoy reading about these new titles  Please let us know what you think!

Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp
[email protected]
bookclubcookbook.com
t
ableofcontentsbook.com     


 ACCIDENTSOFPROVIDENCEAccidents of Providence   FirstBlock
 by Stacia M. Brown 


 Fiction / 272 pages / Hardcover
 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt /
 February, 2012 


Dear Reader,

 

This is a story about women's friendships.  It's also a historical mystery, a courtroom drama, a love story, and a meditation on the resilience of women through the ages.  I wrote iStaciaBrownt because I wanted to find out what life was like for ordinary women and children and animals during the civil war in seventeenth-century England.  I quickly discovered a sophistication and an intelligence in my characters, some of whom are based on real people, that humbled and inspired me.  If you like historical fiction, if you like stories that take people of faith seriously, then this is your book.  You can read more about it, and about me, at accidentsofprovidence.com.  Thank you for your support of literary and historical fiction!

Kind regards,


Stacia Brown

 

STACIA M. BROWN IS GIVING AWAY 5 COPIES OF ACCIDENTS OF PROVIDENCE. ENTER TO WIN A COPY.

 

About Accidents of Providence  

 

For fans of Sarah Waters, Iain Pears, and Emma Donoghue, Stacia Brown's debut brings a captivating new voice, underscored with incredible research, to historical fiction. Brown takes us to 1649 London: King Charles has been beheaded for treason, Cromwell is in power, the Levelers are demanding rights for the people, and a new law targeting unwed mothers presumes anyone who conceals the death of her illegitimate child is guilty of murder.

 

Glovemaker Rachel Lockyer is locked in a secret affair. But while her lover is imprisoned in the Tower, a child is found buried in the woods. Rachel is arrested. So comes an investigation, a trial, an extraordinary cast of characters all brought to reckon for this one life. Spinning within is a remarkable love story and evidence of the miracles that come to even the commonest lives.

 

Reviews of Accidents of Providence  


"A romping good read that is character-driven yet intellectually provocative on issues of law, religion and morality...historical fiction at its best."

-Kirkus, starred review

"Intelligent, masterful, suspenseful...one of the best books I've read in years. An impressive debut novel from a hugely talented new writer, Accidents of Providence was a rare treat."  

-Margaret George, author of The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Mary, Called Magdalene, and Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles  

 

To learn more, visit Stacia's website, publisher page or her  Facebook page.

 

Stacia M. Brown is available to speak with your book club. Contact Stacia to arrange a discussion.





 SecondBlock
 BridgeScalretBridge of Scarlet Leaves
 by Kristina McMorris

 Fiction / 352 pages / Hardcover
 Kensington / February, 2012

 

Dear Reader,  

 

The premise of this novel began with a true account of two brothers during World War II, one who had fought for Japan and the other for America. While researching the subject, I happened across a brief mention of roughly two hundred non-Japanese spouses who voluntarily lived in an internment camp. I was stunned and fascinated by the discovery, and immediately knew it was a story I needed to tell.
McMorris
As the daughter of a Japanese immigrant father and Caucasian American mother, I grew up living between these two cultures. Through Bridge of Scarlet Leaves I hope to share with you a unique perspective of an intriguing, and often tragic, portion of our country's history, while also honoring a diverse range of quiet heroes.

With warm wishes,
Kristina

    

KRISTINA MCMORRIS IS GIVING AWAY 5 COPIES OF BRIDGE OF SCARLET LEAVES.  ENTER TO WIN A COPY.

 

About Bridge of Scarlet Leaves

D
espite their families' wishes, violinist Maddie Kern secretly elopes with her Japanese American boyfriend the night before Pearl Harbor is bombed. When her beloved Lane is evacuated to an internment camp, Maddie follows, sacrificing her Julliard ambitions. Behind barbed wire, tension simmers and the line between patriot and traitor blurs. As Maddie strives for the hard-won acceptance of her new family, Lane risks everything to prove his allegiance to America, at tremendous cost.  

Skillfully capturing one of the most controversial episodes in recent American history, Kristina McMorris delivers an authentic, moving testament to love, forgiveness, and the enduring music of the human spirit.

Reviews of Bridge of Scarlet Leaves
 
"A sweeping yet intimate novel that will please both romantics and lovers of American history."
-Kirkus Reviews

"[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

 

Visit Kristina's website or Facebook page, or follow her on Twitter. You can also watch her Behind the Book Video.

 

Kristina McMorris is available to speak with your book club. Contact Kristina to arrange a discussion.   


  ThirdBlock
Gemma The Flight of Gemma Hardy 

by Margot LIvesey 

Fiction / 447 pages / Hardcover

Harper Collins / January, 2012 

  

Dear Reader,

I fell in love with Jane Eyre the winter I was nine years old.  I was living at that time with my father and elderly stepmother in a house beside the moors in Scotland and I identified passionately with Jane.  The following year I was sent to a dreadful girls' school.  I have re-read the novliveeyel a number of times since then and each time the novel is different.

The Flight of Gemma Hardy begins in Scotland in 1958 and is, in my mind, not so much a retelling of Jane Eyre but my writing back to Charlotte Bront�.  I wanted to write a novel that could be read with pleasure by people who knew Bront's novel and people, my husband, for example, who didn't.  And like Bront� I am, of course, stealing from my own life.

Margot LIvesey     
 
MARGOT LIVESEY IS GIVING AWAY 5 COPIE
S OF THE FLIGHT OF GEMMA HARDY.  ENTER TO WIN A COPY.

  

About The Flight of Gemma Hardy     

 

A captivating tale, set in Scotland in the early 1960s, that is both an homage to and a modern variation on the enduring classic
Jane Eyre.

Fate has not been kind to Gemma Hardy. Orphaned by the age of ten, neglected by a bitter and cruel aunt, sent to a boarding school where she is both servant and student, young Gemma seems destined for a life of hardship and loneliness. Yet her bright spirit burns strong. Fiercely intelligent, singularly determined, Gemma overcomes each challenge and setback, growing stronger and more certain of her path. Now an independent young woman with dreams of the future, she accepts a position as an au pair on the remote and beautiful Orkney Islands.

But Gemma's biggest trial is about to begin...a journey of passion and betrayal, secrets and lies, redemption and discovery, that will lead her to a life she's never dreamed of.

Reviews of The Flight of Gemma Hardy 

 

"Margot Livesey has fashioned her new novel ... to deliver a brilliantly paced contemporary adventure about a headstrong orphan's struggle to claim a place for her generous heart in a secret-laden, sometimes loveless world."
-Elle

"A classic 19th-century novel reimagined for the age of feminism and rock 'n' roll."
-O Magazine

     

To learn more, visit Margot's website.

 

Margot Livesey is available to speak with your book club. Contact Margot to arrange a discussion







 
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