Book Title: Queen of the Owls by Barbara Linn Probst

Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 307 pages

Genre: Upmarket Women’s Fiction

Publisher: She Writes Press

Release date: April 2020

Synopsis

A chance meeting with a charismatic photographer will forever change Elizabeth’s life. Until she met Richard, Elizabeth’s relationship with Georgia O’Keeffe and her little-known Hawaii paintings was purely academic. Now it’s personal. Richard tells Elizabeth that the only way she can truly understand O’Keeffe isn’t with her mind―it’s by getting into O’Keeffe’s skin and reenacting her famous nude photos. In the intimacy of Richard’s studio, Elizabeth experiences a new, intoxicating abandon and fullness. It never occurs to her that the photographs might be made public, especially without her consent. Desperate to avoid exposure―she’s a rising star in the academic world and the mother of young children―Elizabeth demands that Richard dismantle the exhibit. But he refuses. The pictures are his art. His property, not hers. As word of the photos spreads, Elizabeth unwittingly becomes a feminist heroine to her students, who misunderstand her motives in posing. To the university, however, her actions are a public scandal. To her husband, they’re a public humiliation. Yet Richard has reawakened an awareness that’s haunted Elizabeth since she was a child―the truth that cerebral knowledge will never be enough. Now she must face the question: How much is she willing to risk to be truly seen and known?

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Praise

“A stunner” — Caroline Leavitt, best-selling author

“A must-read” — Barbara Claypole White, best-selling author

“Nuanced and insightful” — Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times best-selling author

Interview with Barbara Linn Probst, author of Queen of the Owls

Queen of the Owls is the powerful story of a woman’s quest to claim her neglected sensuality and find her true self hidden behind the roles of wife, mother, sister, and colleague. Framed by the life and art of iconic American painter Georgia O’Keeffe, it dares to ask a question that every woman can relate to: what would you risk to be truly seen and known?

What’s the theme of the novel, in a few killer sentences?

Elizabeth, the protagonist of Queen of the Owls, is someone who’s always defined herself by her intellect—choosing the logical, responsible path instead of daring to abandon herself to the sensuality that lies just below the surface. During the course of the story, she comes to know and embrace a fuller self, body as well as brain; you could say that she dares to become embodied. There’s a price to pay, of course, but Elizabeth knows she can’t go back to the half-self she used to be.

So the theme of the book—the message—is that embracing the parts of yourself you’ve denied leads to wholeness.

Why O’Keeffe? Do you have a background in art history?

I don’t, but I’ve always loved O’Keeffe’s paintings! They called to me in a way that felt very connected to the question of what it means to be a woman. And then, when I began my research, I learned so much about O’Keeffe that I hadn’t known, and that ended up enhancing the story in ways I couldn’t possibly have anticipated. After a while, it became clear that there was no other way to tell this story!

O’Keeffe herself isn’t a character in the book, of course, but she’s present throughout as Elizabeth’s inspiration, the person whose blend of austerity and voluptuousness Elizabeth longs to emulate. And, of course, in seeking to understand O’Keeffe, Elizabeth comes to understand herself—though it takes her a while to realize that.

O’Keeffe has been a figure of endless fascination for over a century, you know—not only for her artistic genius but also because of how she lived. She was the quintessential feminist who rejected the feminists’ attempts to turn her into their matriarch, the austere desert recluse who created some of the most sensuous art of all time. A pioneer, full of contradictions. No wonder she fascinated and inspired Elizabeth!

At what point did you come up with that great title? Not to mention that great cover!

I struggled and struggled with the title! The book had a whole series of earlier titles, none of which were quite right, and I was getting desperate. And then I suddenly remembered an academic article I’d written, back when I was a researcher, and pop, there it was!

As for the amazing cover, the funny thing is that when the designer first proposed it, I just hated it! It wasn’t what I’d had in my mind. Of course, I was dead wrong. Some smart friends told me, “Barbara, you’re nuts!” and luckily I listened to them.

Which scene did you find the most challenging to write?

That’s an interesting question because the intense pivotal scenes were not the challenging ones! The hard ones were actually some of the early scenes where I had to show the secondary characters in ways that made them sympathetic and human, yet the reader had to see and feel how they were keeping Elizabeth from being who she needed to be.

The reason they were challenging was that I had to walk a careful line. I couldn’t rely on the “easy out” of making someone into a cliché or a predictable villain. I had to feel and show the humanity in each of these characters.

What do you love most about writing?

I really do love all of it, even the struggles, but the best part is the total immersion that happens when you’re deeply, deeply connected to the story and characters. It’s a special state when your subconscious mind and your conscious mind are fully connected. When I’m in that zone, it feels like the story is coming through me, rather than me “making it up.”

How has writing changed you as a person?

Writing fiction means writing about what it means to be human—the messiness and complexity of imperfect but struggling people, like me. To write fiction that truly speaks to others, you have to open, embrace, accept. That meant developing an emotional intelligence to balance the cerebral one I’d cultivated so well over the years as an academic.

Writing stories made me go deeper, trust something more intuitive—and take risks. It made me vulnerable in a way I wasn’t used to. Because of that, I think I’m freer, braver, and more generous than I was before.

About the Author

BARBARA LINN PROBST is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, living on a historic dirt road in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her debut novel QUEEN OF THE OWLS (April 2020) is the powerful story of a woman’s search for wholeness, framed around the art and life of iconic American painter Georgia O’Keeffe. Endorsed by best-selling authors including Christina Baker Kline and Caroline Leavitt, QUEEN OF THE OWLS was selected as one of the twenty most anticipated books of 2020 by Working Mother, a debut novel “too good to ignore” by Bustle, and “one of the best new novels to read during the quarantine” by Parade Magazine and Entertainment Weekly. It won the bronze medal for popular fiction from the Independent Publishers Association, placed first runner-up in general fiction for the Eric Hoffer Award, and was short-listed for the $2500 Grand Prize. Barbara has a Ph.D. in clinical social work and blogs for several award-winning sites for writers.

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Giveaway

Autographed copy of QUEEN OF THE OWLS and gift basket. (USA only) (ends October 2)

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