TO RESCUE A WITCH

 

by

 

Lisa A. Traugott

 

 

Historical Fiction / Action & Adventure / Witch Trials

Page Count: 398 pages

Publication Date: March 1, 2024

 

 

 

 

It’s 1739. An abused girl accused of witchcraft must be defended by a man married to an actual witch.

William MacLeod, a fierce Scottish lawyer with a kind heart, takes on a daunting task—rescue young Annaliese from the clutches of her tormentors in the untamed wilds of Virginia colony and deliver her safely to her aristocratic father in London. But lurking in the shadows are enemies eager to expose MacLeod’s own wife, Fiona, as a witch with a dark secret.

Their perilous journey takes an unexpected turn when their ship wrecks, and Annaliese’s haunting nightmares and unexplained “Devil marks” trigger suspicion among the crew. Tension peaks when MacLeod must become Annaliese’s unwavering protector in a witch trial, where Fiona’s clairvoyance and a murder are unveiled.

To Rescue a Witch navigates themes of betrayal and redemption, in a spellbinding narrative that blends history, magic and the unyielding resilience of the human spirit.

 

 

 

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Historical novels teach us so much about how people acted, the places they lived, and what the landscape looked like at that time. In this novel, we experience 1730s London, Scotland, and the American Colonies. We also see this time through the eyes of several characters – Annaliese, MacLeod, Fiona, and Margaret.

This story is filled with lies, deceit, remorse, redemption, and love. While most characters experience some of these emotions, they don’t necessarily experience them all. It is quite intriguing to watch the scheming of some characters end in disaster while others become victorious.

While we see this story through several different eyes, Annaliese is the main character that the story surrounds, and she has quite the tale to tell. She may only be nine but has endured much in those few years. It takes a lot for her to learn to trust others, but watching her grow is beautiful. I’m not saying she is perfect by the end of the book, but she comes quite a long way from the beginning. My heart hurt for the abuse she endured at the hands of her stepfather. He is not a nice man, but then, many men in this century took women for granted and expected little or nothing from them. I appreciated the strength of these women and seeking something better for themselves and their families.

William MacLeod seems to have lost his way in prioritizing what is really important to him. There are a few incidents that lead up to this moment, but reflection and conversations help him to realize where he needs to be in this world. I liked that he was able to reflect on his past and change the trajectory of his future.

There are quite a few different threads in this book, but all are woven together to create a story with many facets that create a world we can feel a part of by the end of the book. Anyone who reads this book might root for different characters and will be satisfied with the conclusion. Although, I would have liked it to go on just a little longer.

We enjoyed this story, the setting, the characters, and the various outcomes and give the book 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa A. Traugott is an award-winning author and World Championship public speaker semifinalist — who also spoke five lines on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She lives in Austin with her husband, two kids, and English bulldog, Bruno.

 

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Synopsis

 

In this heartfelt story about how the places we run from hold the answers to our deepest challenges, the death of her grandmother brings a young woman home, where she must face the past in order to become the heir of not just the family restaurant, but her own destiny.

Violeta Sanoguera had always done what she was told. She left the man she loved in Colombia in pursuit of a better life for herself and because her mother and grandmother didn’t approve of him. Chasing dreams of education and art in New York City, and with a new love, twenty-eight-year-old Violeta establishes a new life for herself, on her terms. But when her grandmother suddenly dies, everything changes.

After years of being on her own in NYC, Violeta finds herself on a plane back to Colombia, accompanied at all times by the ghost of her grandmother who is sending her messages and signs, to find she is the heir of the failing family restaurant, the very one Abuela told her to run from in the first place. The journey leads her to rediscover her home, her grandmother, and even the flame of an old love.

 

 

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Praise

 

“From the moment Vi stepped off the plane in Barranquilla, I felt as if I had come along for the journey. The wonderful descriptions of the town, its people, and Caminito’s traditional Colombian dishes made me wish I was visiting for real. I especially enjoyed the supernatural element to this emotional story about going back home to discover who you were always meant to be.” ―Annette Chavez Macias, bestselling author of Big Chicas Don’t Cry

“The Waves Take You Home is a tender, generous novel that sings with the rhythms of family, food, and love. A warm and wise meditation on the ghosts of lives unlived that challenges familiar immigrant narratives and resounds with the voices of three unforgettable women. María Alejandra Barrios Vélez conjured a world I didn’t want to leave.” ―Katie Gutierrez, national bestselling author of More Than You’ll Ever Know

“It’s hard to put down an international love triangle, especially one featuring ghosts and a quest to save a family’s legacy set along the Caribbean coast! Every page in The Waves Take You Home sizzles with life and lush descriptions. I grew nostalgic as I read for the sights and smells of Colombian street food and culture. It’s a love story, deeply invested in all the ways love defines us―love for family, childhood crushes, tradition, and especially a well-cooked meal.” ―Adriana E. Ramírez, author of Dead Boys, winner of the PEN Fusion Award, and author of the forthcoming novel The Violence

 

 

Interview with Maria

 

 

What inspired you to write THE WAVES TAKE YOU HOME?

 

In 2020, my Abuela’s health declined, as she started to lose her battle with cancer. Due to the pandemic, I couldn’t visit Colombia and say goodbye. My worst fear had happened, and I was left with immense grief. My Abuela, and her stories, were central to my life and shaped my vision of the world. For me, she represented home and although I had left Colombia, it remained in my heart.

The idea for a novel started to take shape during that year as I reflected on how my relationship to my Abuela and her memory would live on. After she died, I was left with the idea of her as a ghost. Not in the classic sense, but she remained someone with whom I constantly spoke. I would wonder what she would do or how she would react to a situation, and sometimes I could sense her by my side. I wanted this book to embody that idea, that you always carry your ancestors with you, and even if you can’t see them, they’re still rooting for you.

I also knew in my bones I wanted this book to be inspired by the stories of the women in my family, and I wanted it to be centered around my interests and what I knew. Like Toni Morrison said, I wanted to write the book I wanted to read. So, I started writing about a family of women, food, cooking, Barranquilla and New York. This is what I knew. I also wanted to write about what scared me, and the feeling that my two lives were growing farther away from each other and the repercussions of this pull. There’s an immense amount of sacrifice with the decision of choosing one life instead of the other.

 

Doña Emilia, Vi’s Abuela, is central to the plot of the story. What do you think is the role of the matriarch in the book?

 

The matriarch in many Latin American cultures is everything. She is the center of the family, the decision maker, the voice of reason and warnings, and a representation of the past; how a particular family unit has lived until now. I think Doña Emilia is the key in acknowledging what has come before for these characters (a past of heartbreak, fear, and struggle), but she is also the one who ultimately leads Vi to examine her life and her choices, and to encourage Vi not repeat the mistakes she made.

 

Generational trauma is another theme discussed in THE WAVES TAKE YOU HOME. Why is this theme important to address?

 

It’s interesting because as I get ready for the book launch, I’ve been reflecting on my writing path. I didn’t grow up writing consistently like many other writers do, and I wasn’t a good reader until I was fourteen or so. But I was always a good listener.

My Abuela would tell me stories about her life, and the life of women in our family. And these stories were always so complete in my head, like the classic tragedies: they were stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end and with one single message: that’s what you get for trusting, for being a pendeja. There are stories about us and our families that we are always listening to, and that lead us to believe things about who we are, and who we could become. It makes it seem like we’re trapped in these ideas and concepts that sometimes aren’t the right fit.

I wanted to show the stories in the Sanoguera family that they tell each other, and I wanted Vi to confront them in order to finally ask a question that we sometimes never ask: What do I think? And what do I believe to be true? And now that I know that, how will I respond?

 

How did you approach the magical realism in the story? What was it like creating a ghost as a character?

 

I grew up surrounded by ghost stories. My Abuela was my best friend, and my caretaker during the day when I was a child. She would tell me all kinds of stories, but my favorite kind would involve ghosts. She had a very matter-of-fact way of talking about ghosts, as if they existed and were just another fact of life.

The greats of magical realism Allende, Marquez, Esquivel, always approach the magical elements in the story as they are, not as something to explain or dissect. Staying true to my Abuela, and my own family history, I also didn’t want to explain it. I was more interested in the readers feeling alongside Vi. I should add that this is the way of my culture. We tell ghost stories with interest and curiosity, without worrying about convincing the audience if they are real or not.

 

There are so many delicious dishes featured in the book! Are these family recipes? What made you decide to include them in your debut novel?

 

Yes! My Abuela’s side of the family is from Spain, and one of the things that was passed down from that heritage was the food. I grew up at my Bisabuela and Abuela’s side watching them cook sopa de bolli (a velvety broth with tender rib and a side of potatoes and green beans you bathe in olive oil), coca bread (a delicious thick pizza with onions, bell peppers, paprika and plenty of spices that give it a great kick!), the classic tortilla española with french bread, and more. We also had the succulent Colombian dishes at home, and since my Bisabuela had a very prominent sweet-tooth and was an incredible baker, she also made sure we had plenty of sweet treats: poundcake, pineapple-rum upside-down cake, black cake, hot flaky dough sprinkled with sugar, a homemade flan bathed in caramel!

The love language of the women in my family was food. I wanted to incorporate that rich and proud heritage of food in the novel because I think you can tell a lot about someone’s culture and background in the spices they eat, how they approach food and cooking (do they do it in a relaxed manner? Is there pressure around it?), and the legacy that this food carries. I wanted Vi to explore the complicated relationship she had with her family through food and cooking—I also wanted to feature the delicious food I grew up eating!

 

A lot of the novel takes place in Barranquilla, Colombia. What is something you wish readers will take away from visiting this place?

 

This book is centered in a real neighborhood, “Barrio Prado,” which is an epicenter of culture and art deco architecture in Barranquilla. Walking there, you can see the beautiful big roble trees and the flowers that the florón trees spread in the streets, that smell like vanilla. Every house in that neighborhood is different and unique. I wanted to share the magic of this neighborhood, both in how it looks and through the wonderful community of people who live there.  Everyone is in everyone’s business, but at the same time, everyone cares so deeply about Caminito and the Sanoguera Family. I wanted to show that side of us, while also showing the beautiful beaches and delicious food.

And the heat! I want people to feel the scorching heat that we get all year round.

 

 

About the Author

 

María Alejandra Barrios Vélez is a writer born in Barranquilla, Colombia. She has an MA in creative writing from the University of Manchester and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and scruffy dog, Gus.

She was the 2020 SmokeLong Flash Fiction Fellow, and her stories have been published in Shenandoah Literary, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, El Malpensante, Fractured Lit, SmokeLong Quarterly, The Offing, and more. Her work has been supported by organizations such as Vermont Studio Center, Caldera Arts, and the New Orleans Writers’ Residency.

 

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Synopsis

 

When janitor Truman Pierce isn’t listening to his classical jazz records, he stays under the radar and keeps to himself. Nothing much happens in his world until popular college instructor Danielle Hutchins asks him out. The day after their first date, Pierce finds Danielle murdered in her classroom. With only a little information to go off of, and a pair of detectives that he doesn’t trust, Pierce sets off to find Danielle’s killer. What first starts as murder, quickly becomes more for Pierce as he begins to pull off the layers of his quiet town by going up against drug dealers, thugs, Danielle’s vengeful brother, and an array of people who don’t want him to find out the truth. Every corner he turns, he’ll find another challenge for him to overcome.

With the help of two college students, David and Goliath, and another college instructor, Pierce will do what it takes to find out the truth about Danielle. He’ll be tested to his limits as he seeks to track down the devious killer responsible for ending Danielle’s life.

But will the search for the truth be the end for Pierce?

 

 

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Praise

 

“Fast-paced and suspenseful, Pierce should be a welcome fix for anyone addicted to crime fiction.” — Donald Ray Pollock, author of The Devil All the Time and The Heavenly

“A fine debut mystery from a promising new author.” — Brandon Barrows, author of The Last Request
 

 

About the Author

Born and raised in Maryland, Patrick B. Simpson received his M.A. in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. He currently lives in Montgomery County, MD, and is a member of the Maryland Writers Association. Pierce is his first novel.

 

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Synopsis

 

Recent college graduate Holly Schlivnik dreams of being a writer, but fate has other plans. A family crisis throws her into an improbable situation, and her life will never be the same. Determined to make her own luck when things don’t happen the way she plans, the irrepressible young woman takes a sledgehammer to the glass ceiling and shatters it to smithereens. The wise-cracking, irreverent transplanted Californian takes you on a raucous, rollicking rollercoaster ride of her hysterical adventures as a ladies’ apparel sales rep traveling in the deep South as she ends up finding herself along the way.

 

 

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Review

 

There is a cozy series featuring Holly Schlivnik (Swimsuit), and this book is a great introduction to her, including how she came to work for Ditzy Swimsuits, her background, etc. This book is the prequel and is not a cozy, so don’t expect murders she has to solve.

This is based on the author’s experiences in the garment industry, and I found it fascinating how reps for different clothing lines would travel across the country to meet with buyers to sell those lines for the stores. There is a diverse character list, scenes that might make you cringe, and friendships and love found on the road.

This story is also a great reminder that your path in life might divert from what you expect after college. However, there are so many stories for Holly to tell about her travels with her job, the people she meets, the lessons she learns, and even family life.

I appreciated that Holly was not a person who would roll over just because she was a woman. There are still chauvinistic men in this world, in all industries, and she is not afraid to stand her ground and let them know she is not going to be taken advantage of or be told how to do her job.

This can be read as a standalone or before you start the Holly Swimsuit cozy series.

We give this book 4 paws up and encourage all women to take note of Holly’s endeavors and stand their own ground!

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, award-winning cozy mystery author Susie Black was born in the Big Apple but now calls sunny Southern California home. Like the protagonist in her Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Susie is a successful apparel sales executive. Susie began telling stories as soon as she learned to talk. Now, she’s telling all the stories from her garment industry experiences in humorous mysteries.

She reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and has one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect.

 

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Synopsis

 

A troubled marriage and love story set against the background of the AIDS pandemic and the American wars in Vietnam and Iraq lie at the heart of After Camus. Saul Davidoff and Tolle Riordan, who meet during a protest against the Vietnam War, marry, live through the Plague Years of the AIDS epidemic, raise a family … and burn out. Camus is a hero to both of them: Tolle, a young dancer and choreographer, has a liaison with him in Paris shortly before his death; Saul, inspired by Camus’s The Plague, becomes an infectious disease (and AIDS) doctor … and Camus becomes a ghostly presence central to our story.

Hoping to repair their marriage, Tolle and Saul return to a village in the South of France where they lived when they were first in love and where Camus lived when recovering from a siege of tuberculosis. The novel draws a vivid portrait of a marriage that spans a series of historical events: from the Vietnam War through the AIDs epidemic and Gulf War to the Iraq War and the advent of the right-wing Le Pen movement in France. After Camus is both a fictional meditation on recent history and a compelling tale of how various forms of love and friendship do and do not survive in times of social and political upheaval. In this novel of enchantments, internationally acclaimed author Jay Neugeboren is at the peak of his powers as a master storyteller.

 

 

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Excerpt

 

Often, when he doubted his love for her—or, more exactly, his capacity for love—or wondered why and how they had stayed with each other for more than forty years in a time when most people they knew—friends, relatives, colleagues—had divorced and moved on to new couplings and marriages—he would go back to the beginning.  This is how we met, he’d say to himself, and by telling himself the story again, no matter how many times he did, and no matter his knowledge that the effect of doing so was transient, he would for a brief while be reassured.  But reassured about what?  That they had been truly, deeply in love once upon a time?  That they had not erred in marrying, or in having children, or in remaining married?  That she did still love him and was devoted to him no matter the ways, they had, through the years, distanced themselves from one another?

More likely, he mused—they were driving south along a country road in France on a clear, unseasonably warm early February morning—Tolle had insisted they not take autoroutes, that they wind their way down from Paris at a leisurely pace—by conjuring up the first time they met, he was able to feel again what he rarely did of late: some genuine affection for Tolle, for the young man he had once been, and for the man he had become.

He saw himself standing across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Veteran’s Day, 1965.  The air was crisp, the sky blue and cloudless, the crowd of anti-war protestors, among whom he stood, animated and happy.  How, on such a day, standing side by side with people of like mind and heart, could one believe anything was amiss with the world, or that whatever was amiss could not, with good will and hard work, be set right?  Across the street, crowds that lined the sidewalk behind police barricades with their banners, posters, and flags—in support of the war in Vietnam—seemed equally happy, so that the chants each side launched into the air seemed little  more than friendly cheers for rival football teams.

Tolle, in the front row of protestors, wore a pale V-neck lavender sweater, a purple paisely scarf knotted loosely around her neck.  Her wheat-colored hair,  shoulder-length, was, in the autumn sunlight, laced with threads of gold, and she appeared to him to have stepped straight out of a Saks Fifth Avenue advertisement so as to take her place—out of place—among those whose fashions seemed, for the most part, to have been purchased from clothing racks in Salvation Army thrift stores.

She seemed the kind of woman—beautiful, cool, poised—who had always had the power to intimidate him: a woman who, he assumed, went to debutante balls with self-assured men who were destined to become diplomats, to run Fortune 500 companies, to own yachts, and—always, always—to sweat less than he did.  He imagined she read Jane Austen, vacationed in Monaco, had lunch at the Plaza.  What, then, was she doing in the front line of anti-war protestors?  And what could a young woman like her ever want with an intense, curly-headed Jewish boy from Brooklyn?

Still, when she turned and looked his way, and when she smiled at him—a quizzical glance, as in: We’ve met before, yes?—he gained the courage he needed, pushed through the crowd, and made his way to her side.

He began talking at once—about the rally, about the weather, about the war, about the organization she was with (she held a placard that identified her as a member of the Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy)—about whatever came to mind, and she responded easily.  Encouraged, and eager to impress, he alluded to the fact that he had rearranged his schedule at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, where he was doing a residency in infectious disease, in order to be at the rally, and also that he was a member of The Resistance and, although above draft age, was intending soon, in a public ceremony, to burn his draft card with those of draft age.  When chants from both sides of the street grew louder, she tugged on her right ear with thumb and forefinger to indicate that it was difficult to hear him.  Her pale hazel-green eyes, above ruddy high-colored cheeks, seemed almost translucent, and—what he had not expected—warm and inviting.

He looked to the right—uptown, to where she pointed—and saw that a military band was approaching, its music—Sousa’s familiar “Stars and Stripes Forever”—blasting away.  Behind the band, a phalanx of soldiers in camouflage khakis, rifles to their shoulders, marched in lock-step, policemen on motorcyles cruising slowly at their sides.

Closer to him, she asked his name.

“Saul,” he said.  “Saul Davidoff.”

She shook his hand.  “I’m glad to meet you, Saul Davidoff,” she said, then held to his arm briefly.  “But would you excuse me, please?” she said, and turned away, slipped under the wooden barricade, walked out onto Fifth Avenue and, along with about twenty others, sat down in the middle of the street, directly in the path of the oncoming parade.

 

Excerpt from AFTER CAMUS. Copyright © 2024 by Jay Neugeboren. Published by Madville Publishing. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

 

 

About the Author

 

JAY NEUGEBOREN is the author of 22 books, including five prize-winning novels, four collections of award-winning stories, and two prize-winning books of non-fiction about mental illness: Imagining Robert: My Brother, Madness, and Survival and Transforming Madness: New Lives for People Living with Mental Illness.

His stories and essays have appeared widely in The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic Monthly, The American Scholar, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychiatric Services, Ploughshares, Black Clock, Tablet, Commonweal,  among others, and have been reprinted in more than 50 anthologies, including Best American Short Stories, Penguin Modern Stories, and The O. Henry Prize Stories.

He is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Massachusetts Council on the Arts, and is the only author to have won six consecutive Syndicated Fiction Prizes.  His archive is housed at the Harry Ransom Humanities Center in Austin, Texas.

Nuegeboren was a Professor and Writer-in-Residence at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, as well as the Director of the Graduate MFA Writing Program there. He has taught at other universities, including Stanford, Indiana, S.U.N.Y. at Old Westbury, and Freiburg (Germany).  He now lives and writes in New York City, where he is on the faculty of the Writing Program of the Graduate School of the Arts at Columbia University.

 

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Synopsis

 

Jimmy Hamilton overcame childhood tragedy to become a hero in Vietnam, only to die there in 1967. All but forgotten, Jimmy leaves behind a young wife, an infant son, and a man wracked by guilt.

Circumstances allow Becca, his young widow, to be manipulated into an abusive, loveless union with Jimmy’s brother and into raising her son ignorant of his father’s true identity—a wrong she knows must be set right…but how? When?

Like Jimmy before him, James, Jr. is an intellectually gifted, albeit troubled man. Hamstrung by the false narrative of his life and then tormented by an unspeakable loss, his days are spent treading the knife’s edge between present day reality and a past he’s incapable of forgetting.

With his final act of bravery, Jimmy unknowingly saved the scion of a powerful Washington family. In so doing, he set in place circumstances that just might draw his son back from the abyss…but only if he can somehow make it home from Vietnam.

Roses in December concludes the Hamilton Place series, an epic family saga extending from the Great Depression to present day. Through war and peace, love and loss, triumph and tragedy, follow the Hamilton family on their journey from a run-down farm in South Carolina, through the jungles of Vietnam, to the top of the world in New York City, and through the gardens of stone at Arlington.

 

 

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Review

 

This is the conclusion to A Song That Never Ends, and it continues the story of the Hamilton family. While I enjoyed the first book, this one really sucked me in and had me on an emotional rollercoaster ride. I felt for many of the characters and what they were enduring at various times in their life. There is tragedy but also hope. Sadness, yet happiness too. No one character had the perfect life, but that is what made it feel real because their experiences might be what we experience in our own lives, too.

The author really honed these characters and the storyline. While the first book was good, this one was even better. I don’t know if it is because it pulled current events into the timeline or just the satisfying conclusion to the story. There were some twists for the characters, nothing that you won’t see coming, but it was their surprise at the turn of events that kept me engaged in the story.

Since many of the characters are the same, if you didn’t like them in the first book, you won’t like them here either. That is ok because you need that tension to move the story forward. Some of the characters receive their just rewards. Others live a good life despite their past.

This is a series, and you really need to read A Song That Never Ends first before you pick up this book. Otherwise, some of it won’t make a lot of sense.

We give this book 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Mark A. Gibson is a physician who practices Cardiology in the mountains of rural North Georgia. He was raised on a small farm in upstate South Carolina—the last postage-stamp sized sliver of a much larger parcel granted to the family by a land grant from King Charles II in 1665—and may or may not have once gotten in trouble for digging up his mom’s calla lily bed in search of the family’s long-lost charter.

Dr. Gibson graduated from the Citadel in Charleston, SC, with a BS in Biology. Afterward, he received his medical degree from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, SC. He received his Internal Medicine training through the University of Tennessee Medical System and Cardiology training through the Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center. He served for eight years on active duty with the US Air Force before leaving the military for private practice.

Although a cardiologist by profession, Dr. Gibson is a dreamer by nature. He is a self-styled oenophile who enjoys travel and fine food. In his spare time, he builds sandcastles and dreams of distant shores.

Roses in December represents Dr. Gibson’s second offering to the world of literature and the conclusion of his Hamilton Place Series. All previous publications have been of the professional, peer-reviewed, medical variety and make for lovely sleep aids.

 

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Giveaway

 

Win author-signed copies of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS and ROSES IN DECEMBER (Hamilton Place)

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A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS (Hamilton Place) by Mark Gibson Book Tour Giveaway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

Home.
For over three hundred years, that’s what the Hamilton family has called a shrinking swath of farmland in the Appalachian foothills of South Carolina.

Home.
That’s the failing tobacco farm where Walter and Maggie Hamilton choose to raise their three children. Walter has big plans to make the farm more profitable, but his plans are interrupted by World War II and family heartbreak. Walter returns from the war a changed man, and finds Maggie, too, has changed; neither of them for the better. But at least their family is together at…

Home.
More than anything, that’s where their eight-year-old son, Jimmy Hamilton, wants to be. However, after an unspeakable tragedy, he’s sent away from the only life he’s ever known—to live with a kindly uncle in North Carolina, far from…

Home.
That’s where Jimmy is finally going to be, unless fate has plans of its own…

A Song that Never Ends is the first installment of the Hamilton Place series, an epic family saga extending from the Great Depression to present day. Through war and peace, love and loss, triumph and tragedy; follow the Hamilton family on their journey from a run-down farm in South Carolina, through the jungles of Vietnam, to the top of the world in New York City, and beyond the gardens of stone at Arlington.

 

 

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Review

 

This is the first of two books in a series that primarily depicts life during WWII and Vietnam. It follows the Hamilton family and how they survive life after tragedy. The family is dysfunctional and handles things differently. It was an interesting look into this family, discovering their personalities and how they handled certain situations.

While the story focuses on Maggie and Walter, the parents, the son Jimmy/James, has a large role in this book. He is whip-smart, and they send him to live with his Uncle Howard after a death in the family. It is here that he begins to flourish. I loved watching him learn more about himself and the world around him. It was lacking at home with his family, primarily due to his older brother and the affection their mother gave to him. It was obvious that Maggie had her favorites.

While there is tragedy for several characters, it is a study of family life during this turbulent time, how they handled the war, family, and more.

I did feel a little disconnected from the book and the characters until I was further into the story. I think it really picked up for me when Jimmy went to live with his Uncle and observed how he changed during this time. My heart broke for Jimmy because each week, he would write a letter to his parents, and his mother would send it back “addressee unknown.” These letters will play a huge part in the second book, so they aren’t lost.

The book does have a little bit of a cliffhanger that left me wanting so much more. I am glad I had the next book ready to read because I needed to know how the story ended.

We give this book 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Mark A. Gibson is a physician who practices Cardiology in the mountains of rural North Georgia. He was raised on a small farm in upstate South Carolina—the last postage-stamp sized sliver of a much larger parcel granted to the family by a land grant from King Charles II in 1665—and may or may not have once gotten in trouble for digging up his mom’s calla lily bed in search of the family’s long-lost charter.

Dr. Gibson graduated from the Citadel in Charleston, SC, with a BS in Biology. Afterward, he received his medical degree from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, SC. He received his Internal Medicine training through the University of Tennessee Medical System and Cardiology training through the Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center. He served for eight years on active duty with the US Air Force before leaving the military for private practice.

Although a cardiologist by profession, Dr. Gibson is a dreamer by nature. He is a self-styled oenophile who enjoys travel and fine food. In his spare time, he builds sandcastles and dreams of distant shores.

Roses in December represents Dr. Gibson’s second offering to the world of literature and the conclusion of his Hamilton Place Series. All previous publications have been of the professional, peer-reviewed, medical variety and make for lovely sleep aids.

 

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Giveaway

 

Win author-signed copies of A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS and ROSES IN DECEMBER (Hamilton Place)

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A SONG THAT NEVER ENDS (Hamilton Place) by Mark Gibson Book Tour Giveaway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

“If you want to find me, search within these pages.”

Bestselling author Richard Debden is missing. The only clue: a copy of his unpublished final novel delivered to his ex-girlfriend, Amy. When those closest to Richard reunite for his memorial, Amy turns to Chris, his former best friend, to help unravel the mystery. Could Richard still be alive and in need of their help?

Richard’s manuscript tells of two abandoned children in wartime Britain, instructed by a shadowy Postmaster to deliver letters to ghosts and release them from their torment. As Chris and Amy delve into the text, they identify parallels between fiction and reality; clues to a trail that leads across the country and – they hope – to Richard.

But they are not the only interested party. A mysterious society is following them, their motives unclear. Can Chris and Amy unlock the secrets of Dead Letters, or will more sinister forces get there first?

Dead Letters is the captivating second novel by P.J. Murphy, author of Troubleshot.

 

 

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Guest Post

 

In defense of audiobooks

 

Imagine being able to read a book while walking the dog, doing the housework, or completing any number of chores that occupy our hands but leave our minds free. Well, now we have the technology! (Actually, we’ve had it for a very long time, but I have only recently dipped my toes into the world of audiobooks).

I’ve read that if you don’t publish your novel as an audiobook, you’re missing out on a vast swathe of potential audience. I can absolutely see how that could be true. But it takes work to record a novel.  At the time of writing, I am in the final stages of preparing an audiobook version of my second novel, Dead Letters. It has been a huge learning experience. Here are some of the key considerations:

Who’s going to read it? Many top books are narrated by celebrities. I knew I was unlikely to get George Clooney to narrate my book. Another option often chosen is for the author to narrate. I could see the attraction of this, but recording a ten-hour book requires time and the right technology. Most importantly, it would have required me to listen to and edit recordings of my own voice. I can’t stand hearing myself speak. Decision made.

How do you choose a professional narrator? ACX is an audiobook exchange for indie writers. It includes a marketplace where you can upload an extract of your book and invite auditions. I received 26 auditions, and it was tricky to sift through them and make a final selection. I was aided by Dead Letters being written in the first-person, so my narrator’s voice had to match the character.

How do you deal with character voices? Honestly, this had not occurred to me beforehand. When you read from the page, the paragraph breaks make it clear who is talking. You don’t have those cues when listening. So, we had to consider how to differentiate the characters. The narrator I’m working with does this by picturing them as different well-known actors. This helps him to adapt the way he talks. We also played around with accents. One of the key characters in Dead Letters is a girl called Imogen, a Welsh name, so we tried giving her a Welsh accent. It was awful. And it made me realise that I pictured her like Hermione from the Happy Potter series, so that’s the direction we took in the end.

It has been interesting to see how different narrators approach voicing characters of another gender. I sought a male narrator, but they needed to voice female characters. Some of the auditions I received saw men increasing the pitch of their voices. It didn’t sound great. The narrator I chose just softened his voice a little. That was enough to differentiate the characters; that was all he needed to do. The magic happens inside the listener’s head.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the audiobook of Dead Letters is received, and I’m sure I’ll blog about it. Until then, you can read more about my audiobook journey at www.pjmurphywriter.com. Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

P.J. Murphy writes novels that introduce unusual and humorous twists to classic genres. If you pick up one of his books, you’re in for an interesting read that never loses its sense of fun. As a writer, P.J. tries to stick to the adage ‘write what you know,’ although with the addition, ‘just make sure you exaggerate and distort it beyond all recognition.’ He is planning to write a novel about taking a road trip with a parrot. He has never owned a parrot.

 

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Giveaway

 

$15 Starbuck Gift Card, courtesy of the author of DEAD LETTERS

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(ends Feb 16)

 

 

Dead Letters by P.J. Murphy Spotlight Book Tour Giveaway

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

Perestroika overthrows communist regimes in Europe.

In the People’s Republic of Slavia, the former leaders are trying to survive the new times while their victims seek revenge.

Former President Alfred Ionescu is placed in an asylum he himself built. Zut Zdanov, the head of culture, is confronted with his child abuse. Helena Yava, responsible for education, wants to avenge her lover’s death. Igor Olin, responsible for the economy, fights for his disabled son to have a dignified life. Art historian Silvia Lenka wants to know who her parents are. Lia Kirchner, the daughter of a painter who died in a re-education camp, wants to know the truth.

Having as a binding element Pilate’s question to Jesus, “What is truth?” Perestroika is a novel of revenge, redemption, and catharsis inspired by recent European history.

 

Winner of the 2023 Historical Fiction Company Book of the Year
Bronze Medal in the 2023 Latino Book Awards
Finalist in the 2021 Eyland Awards
Finalist in the 2021 Fiction Factory
Excerpt nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2023

 

 

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Excerpt

 

Introduction

 

Slavia is a country with an area of 40,000 square kilometres, situated between Poland, the German Democratic Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. Its capital is Tiers. It has four million inhabitants, and its main resources are natural gas, copper, and timber. Founded in the thirteenth century, it was ruled by a succession of monarchs until 1940, when the Nazis invaded it. After its liberation in 1945, Slavia became part of the Eastern Bloc dominated by the Soviet Union.

Since 1950, on the death of the former president, Alfred Ionescu has governed Slavia. His most important cabinet ministers are Pietr Schwartz, the Chief of the Secret Police, Igor Olin, the People’s Commissar for the Economy, Zut Zdanhov, the People’s Commissar for Culture and Propaganda, and Helena Yava, the People’s Commissar for Education.

The regime controls the economy, the courts, and the forces of law and order. It uses social media, cinema, theatre, art, and sport as propaganda tools for its citizens’ indoctrination. The regime banned religion and closed the churches. Elections are not free, and neither freedom of expression nor any individual initiative is permitted, nor even the publication of books and newspapers unless a committee of censors has approved them. Citizens receive ration cards with which they can purchase goods in the shops, and they need a visa for permission to leave the country. Dissidents are persecuted and sent to labour camps for re-education, turning them into enslaved people.

 

 

About the Author

 

João Cerqueira holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Porto.

He is the author of nine books, which have been published in eight countries: Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, England, the United States, Brazil, and Argentina.

He won the 2020 Indie Reader Awards, the 2014 Global ebook Awards, and the 2013 USA Best Book Awards.

 

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TO RESCUE A WITCH

 

By LISA A. TRAUGOTT

 

 

 

Historical Fiction / Action & Adventure / Fantasy

Coming March 1, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s 1739. An abused girl accused of witchcraft must be defended by a man married to an actual witch.

William MacLeod, a fierce Scottish lawyer with a kind heart, takes on a daunting task—rescue young Annaliese from the clutches of her tormentors in the untamed wilds of Virginia colony and deliver her safely to her aristocratic father in London. But lurking in the shadows are enemies eager to expose MacLeod’s own wife, Fiona, as a witch with a dark secret.

Their perilous journey takes an unexpected turn when their ship wrecks, and Annaliese’s haunting nightmares and unexplained “Devil marks” trigger suspicion among the crew. Tension peaks when MacLeod must become Annaliese’s unwavering protector in a witch trial, where Fiona’s clairvoyance and a murder are unveiled.

To Rescue a Witch navigates themes of betrayal and redemption, in a spellbinding narrative that blends history, magic and the unyielding resilience of the human spirit.

 

 

 

 

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Lisa A. Traugott is an award-winning author and World Championship public speaker semifinalist — who also spoke five lines on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She lives in Austin with her husband, two kids, and English bulldog, Bruno.

 

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