It's the Nuns Who've Taught Most of Us to Be Writers!

In The New York Times, under the Sunday Review section, there's an interesting article by Mr. Kristof entitled:  "We Are All Nuns."

You can visit the site here:   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/kristof-we-are-all-nuns.html?_r=1

In a nutshell the article discusses Pope Benedict coming down on nuns and their focus on the poor and social services rather than on abortion and gay marriages.

The matter of the priests and Bishops and their recent abhorrent behaviors with regard to the rape of young children in the Church seems to have been brushed away beneath dusty pews.

Mr. Kristof's article ends with the happy note that nuns are receiving an overwhelming vote of confidence and support from parishioners and people throughout the country, and worldwide.  It seems they want the Pontiff to know that the work nuns are doing to serve children, mothers, the poor and needy all over the world means a great deal more and is more in keeping with God's purposes as expressed in the Bible.


Here's my take on things:

Let's first discuss the nun as teacher:

There have been teaching nuns children have made fun of, and young adults have cringed about when they've remembered them, for centuries. 

There are old "nun" tales that crop up when Catholic-schooled people get together sometimes, and reminisce about their growing up years.

Everyone has a "Sister So & So" story that can make even the most stoic and sour of people laugh

 'til they're red in the face and gasping for air!

Many a nun is a comedian.  Many a nun is a humorist.  And, many a nun will take your brain and shake some sense into it by the sheer terror of her presence!

Not to mention that many a nun has the reputation of holding

a vicious "ruler" in her desk that she used

on many a child in the past...and that she's not afraid to pull out

for your sake!

She was the mother away from home.

As we left early childhood education and climbed the steps to college,

those of us who were educated, mentored, and tutored by a nun, learned well our lessons...

we'd better, or we'd better have a doctor's excuse for being run over by a truck and being in the hospital through first period!

Our dear Sisters were known to call our houses, speak to our parents,  and make personal visits, even when we were in our 20's and living on our own.

We who were educated

at the feet of our own Sister Marie's have come to realize the gift we

share:  a magnificent education; excellence couched in as close to perfection as we can get it on every side, attention to detail, concentration,

reflection and research, and an ever present questioning of moral and ethical value in what we choose to do and how we encounter it in our lives. 

When you are "raised up" and educated by a nun, you are

lifted to another level of expectation.

Your life becomes one with an awareness of a greater purpose.

There's an understanding that everything you do...

even reading and writing reviews,

holds a level of importance above and beyond its

temporal comprehension.

Because we're called to excellence and serving others; and, that is a calling that will guide others to hear and to be enlightened.

We knew we were in the presence of superior beings when we were with the nuns; educators, devout and dedicated women who meant to teach us to be the best we could be, and who led by example. And we knew we wouldn't get away with less than our personal best.

Case in point: of course, Anne Rice had her nuns and she still keeps them around her in  life-sized statuary, along with the saints and holy Father images. 

Ms Rice was vividly influenced by her Catholic education.  All of her works of fiction exude her up-bringing under the nuns.  Excellence, education, women in medicine and business, and personal responsibility rings through her books...spiritual struggles haunt her vampires, her angels, her priests and her weres.

Today, she lives a life working toward spiritual

peace and consciousness, and she

continues to try to find a way to write about

the moral struggles that beset earthbound beings whether fictitious or real.

We know that it's nuns who have fed the poor, bound up the wounds and cared for the sick and injured for centuries. 

Nuns were the first welfare workers and the first nurses.  It's nuns who have helped the homeless, pregnant mothers without anyone to turn to, children abandoned and abused, the alcoholic and drugged, and those who are mentally ill or with no family and no hope in the world.

When he was most despondent, and at his lowest at heart about being mentally ill, my dad told me it was the nuns who prayed with him

that brought him the first peace he'd had in his life.

And he converted to Catholicism...the only one in many a

generation of Southern Baptists!

Nuns...we are all nuns in some form, I hope.

When it's spoken of the Church (meaning the Catholic Church as a whole) in recent years, its saddest moments are reflective of what many of the priests have managed to accomplish:

rape and abuse, and destroying the confidence and trust of young boys

and young girls

in God and the church.

The hierarchy in the Church as men...Pope, Cardinals and priests have given themselves a "pass" on this issue.  Money has changed hands.

Apologies have been handed out with strings attached.

But, the perpetrators of crimes against young people have yet

to be publicly dealt with.

The Pope and the Church leaders have still not

taken responsibility for their priests.

And, yet, there is criticism of the nuns, when for much of this past 25 years, nuns have not even been able to be a part of the Sunday mass!

The Church is so steeped in tradition, it fails to expel criminals because they are priests, but it is able to make a

conscious and on-going expulsion of nuns from even helping with mass!

Let us all be nuns, then.

Let's be educated, dedicated to excellence, serving and caring of others, giving of ourselves and our resources, reaching out when others need a helping hand, and upholding what's good and right in our world.

We're all nuns, or we can be.

Thanks for stopping by.  I know you're busy today.

Deborah/TheBookishDame

"The Immortal Rules"~ by Julie Kagawa~Is it all it's cracked up to be?

"Meet 17-year-old Allie Sekemoto, a reluctant vampire struggling to hold on to her humanity and stave off the demon that lies in wait, thinly veiled beneath the surface of her undead skin. Over a half century after a plague has decimated the human race, vampires reign, and humans are little more than "blood bags" to serve their masters. Rabids, vicious hybrid creatures born of the plague, prowl the land beyond the walled vampire cities, eager for human prey. When Allie is savagely attacked by a rabid while scavenging for food, a mysterious vampire offers her the choice of a human death or "life" as a vampire. Ultimately forced to flee both the only city she's ever known and her maker, Allie's determination to remain more human than monster is put to the test, particularly when she joins a band of humans on a desperate journey to safety on the island of Eden. Particularly when she falls in love. Kagawa has done the seemingly impossible and written a vampire book, the first in a planned series, that feels fresh in an otherwise crowded genre. She mixes paranormal and dystopian tropes to good effect, creating a world that will appeal across audiences. Allie's a smart, strong and compelling heroine, and readers will gladly join her for this adrenaline-rich ride."(Paranormal/dystopian romance) KirkusReview



The Dame's Word On It :

By now we all know Julie Kagawa for her Iron Fey series the "Iron King," the "Iron Queen," etc. which has a tremendous following, but which is a far cry from this newest series on vampires that Julie's embarking upon.  See blurb below:  

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up—On her 16th birthday, Meghan Chase's four-year-old half brother is exchanged for a changeling and she discovers that her best friend, Robbie, is actually Robin Greenfellow, aka Puck, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He is her guardian and will lead her into the faery world to rescue her brother. Once there, Meghan learns that she is a princess, daughter of Oberon, king of the Seelie Court. With a mortal mother and a faery king for a father, she is very powerful, and Oberon and Queen Mab, queen of the Unseelie Court, are both fighting to keep her. With help from Puck and a talking cat, Meghan sneaks into the Unseelie Court to rescue Ethan, only to discover that he is held captive by more powerful forces that could destroy the entire fey world. Meghan is a likable heroine and her quest is fraught with danger and adventure. The action never stops, and Meghan's romance with Ash, the handsome prince of the Unseelie Court, provides some romance that is sure to continue in the sequel. Faery books are in high demand now, and this is one of the better ones. Expect it to be popular with teens who liked Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely (HarperTeen, 2007).—Ginny Collier, Dekalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA

Show Less

"The Immortal Rules" has screams of movie rights!  YA's are just chomping at the bit to cast the movie.  See YouTube and Harlequin's official trailer below:

Read More

I just know YA's are going to be "casting" this one on YouTube within the next few weeks.  They just need time to read it.  Since it's only been released this week, we'll have to wait a few weeks to see who's going to get top billing in their minds!  LOL

Here Is A Quick Excerpt for You :

"Not our problem." I felt bad for saying it, but it was true. In the Fringe, you looked out for yourself and your immediate family, no one else. My concern didn't extend beyond myself, Stick and the rest of our small gang. This was my family, screwed up as it was. I couldn't worry about the trials of everyone in the Fringe. I had plenty of my own, thanks.

"Maybe…" Stick began, and hesitated. "Maybe she's…hap-pier now," he continued. "Maybe being Taken into the Inner City is a good thing. The vampires will take better care of her, don't you think?"

I resisted the urge to snort. Stick, they're vampires, I wanted to say. Monsters. They only see us as two things: slaves and food. Nothing good comes from a bloodsucker, you know that.

But telling Stick that would only upset him more, so I pretended not to hear. "Where are the others?" I asked as we walked down the hall, picking our way over rubble and broken glass. Stick trailed morosely, dragging his feet, kicking bits of rock and plaster with every step. I resisted the urge to smack him. Marc was a decent guy; even though he was Registered, he didn't treat us Unregistereds like vermin, and even spoke to us on occasion when he was making his rounds at the Wall. I also knew Stick had feelings for Gracie, though he would never act on them. But I was the one who shared most of my food with him, since he was usually too scared to go scavenging by himself. Ungrateful little snot. I couldn't watch out for everyone; he knew that.

"Lucas isn't back yet," Stick finally mumbled as we came to my room, one of the many empty spaces along the hall. In the years I had been here, I'd fixed it up the best I could. Plastic bags covered the shattered windows, keeping out the rain and damp. An old mattress lay in one corner with my blanket and pillow. I'd even managed to find a folding table, a couple chairs and a plastic shelf for various clutter, little things I wanted to keep. I'd built a nice little lair for myself, and the best part was my door still locked from the inside, so I could get some privacy if I wanted.

"What about Rat?" I asked, pushing on my door.

As the door squeaked open, a wiry boy with lank brown hair jerked around, beady eyes widening. He was older than me and Stick, with sharp features and a front tooth that stuck out like a fang, giving him a permanent sneer.

Rat swore when he saw me, and my blood boiled. This was my space, my territory. He had no right to be here. "Rat," I snarled, bursting through the doorway. "Why are you snooping around my room? Looking for things to steal?"

You can visit Julie's site here:  Julie Kagawa
Buy her book at these locations:
Amazon ,  Barnes & Noble ,  and  your local bookshops

Here's Julie's Bio. :

Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn�t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.

When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyper-active Papillon puppy.

Okay, now I'm off to read "The Immortal Rules" so I can review it for you!  I'll be checking back tomorrow to let you know what I thought about it...stay tuned, please!!

Deborah/YourBookishDame  :]

GIVEAWAY!! "Compulsively Mr. Darcy" by Nina Benneton

A thoroughly modern, magnificient re-rendering of a classic that would send Miss Austen into fits of laughter!  This book sets Caroline Bingley as a sort of Kardashianish bitch from NYC tabloid hell, and puts another spin entirely on the ever finicky Mr. Collins, for instance. 

Rife with social comedy and commentary in our age with all the famous Austen characters, but not all in predictable venues. There are some surprises there. Great fun!

There's sooo much to this book! 

Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are so well conceived you'll be beside yourself...perfectly set with chronic behaviors in modern times.  Loving that OCD on Darcy!  LOL

I promise you, this is THE book to read right now!

You'll be wanting to read passages of it aloud to your friends.

From all I know about her, Jane Austen would absolutely approve. 

Book groups should be making bee lines for this one...

the discussions and good laughter will make for a fabulous meeting!

Summary :

Nina Benneton has taken the best elements of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice and spun a tale with a delightful modern twist, which will more than satisfy the most fickle of Austen fans. COMPULSIVELY MR. DARCY is exquisitely romantic. This is a tenderly written novel which would make even Jane Austen swoon. The Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy who stole your heart in Jane Austen's novel are written to perfection in COMPULSIVELY MR. DARCY.

I loved that way Ms. Benneton worked in the characters from the original book and from other Jane Austen books as well. Some of the characters follow a similar path as the original version, but others go a different direction and it all works. Elizabeth and Darcy have a strong relationship that overcomes their own mistrust and outside influences. The bad people get punished and when you read the last page you think to yourself.... That was really an enjoyable read! I hope that we will see more from Ms. Benneton.

The story delivers characters with quality personalities, a conflict that has substance without being dark and a happy ever after that ends with a giggle. It's well rounded, entertaining and thoroughly lovable. I'd recommend this book as a must read, even for those like me, who've never read a Jane Austin book. Thank you, Ms. Benneton, for a story that had such wonderful heart, I read it in one sitting. It's that good.

It has love,a modern day romance,an old theme with a new idea,misconceptions,understanding,sweet sensuality,misunderstandings and of course strong characters. A must read for anyone who enjoys Pride and Prejudice but in present day.

Compulsively Mr. Darcy is the debut novel of Nina Benneton and it was a really fun read! This take on our beloved Pride & Prejudice finds Darcy and Elizabeth tackling the modern world and more than a few misunderstandings along the way. This funny and entertaining modern adventure is a great adaptation of an old and favorite classic!

There are many similarities to the original Pride and Prejudice story, the same characters are there; there are plenty of differences, even a cameo mention or two of characters from another book (FBI agents Colonel Brandon and Marianne Dashwood – sure hoping that means that will be a future story, maybe, perhaps?). This was a nice and enjoyable story for those who love Pride and Prejudice, and want to read a retelling, but are looking for something a bit different from a lot of others.

...sweet, silly and whole lot of fun. I loved the author's interpretation of these beloved characters and the ones she chooses to be the villains are fabulous. A delightful debut and a must read for any JA fan.

By just looking at the cover, the reader can tell this is going to be a fun book. From her humorous one-liners and wit, to her portrayal of her characters, Nina Benneton offers a great diversion... For readers who enjoy modern Pride and Prejudice variations, lighthearted reads, or want a vacation, this book should be on the top of their to-be-read list.

I love, love, love Jane Austen adaptations. Especially ones that take me out of my Austen comfort zone. This one was definitely very far from my comfort zone. And I absolutely loved every minute of it... Lizzy and Darcy were so squishy sweet and I found myself chuckling at their adorableness at times. 

An Interview with Nina Benneton :

Hi, Nina, I can't tell you how very much I've been looking forward to our interview.  You've become a favorite in my Jane Austen inspired author groups.  I just adored "Compulsively Mr. Darcy."  I'm a huge fan of yours!!

Thank you for agreeing to come to A Bookish Libraria for an interview.

1) Psychologists tell us that when we're ten year old girls we have a solid idea of what we want to be when we grow up, and that's usually what our avocation is. What did you want to be when you were ten? Has it manifested itself in your life?

When I was ten, I wanted to be a priest. No, not a priestess. A priest.

Why? He's a boy. I wanted to be a boy. He had power over the nuns. I wanted to have power over the nuns.

That celibate thing? Bonus. I wouldn't have to do the yucky with anyone. Ever.

How could a sweet, reverent ten-year-old angelic gal not want to be a priest, I ask you?

Has it manifested itself in my life? Many of the reviews of 'Compulsively Mr. Darcy' come with warnings of 'certain scenes intended for mature audiences,' so, ahem…I'm guessing not.

Of course, you know, I could be a respectable priest somewhere who has a tabloid addiction, who has the hots for Mr. Darcy, and who dabbles in writing romance.

Or, you could be the naughty priest who gets away with just about anything, including murder!!  LOL

2) What's the biggest challenge you've had to face in your life that caused you to "come of age" or face your own "pride and prejudices?"

You mean besides not becoming a priest?    Yes,  LOL, besides that! 

Besides that, the next challenge that comes to mind was falling in love with a man who, aghast, belonged to the other political party. I was like Darcy in 'Pride and Prejudice.' I was attracted to this hot guy who had a dry sense of humor that curled my toes, but I was ashamed of having falling in love with this…this political plebeian. I struggled over the thought of introducing him to my friends or bringing him home to my family. He wouldn't fit in. It was election year when we met, you understand.

But no other guys I'd met up until then had held my interest or made me laugh or made me so glad I never became a priest, so, what could I do but grow ane humbly admit that I suffered from an arrogant sense political pride? That from my upbringing, I was allowed, encouraged, and almost taught to be selfish and overbearing, to care for no other political concerns beyond my own, to think meanly of the rest of the other political parties, to think meanly of their sense and worth worth compared with my own.

*Italics: adapted from P & P, Volume III, Chapter 16.

I'm happy to report that he and I , after many years of marriage, now vote for the same political party. Just like dogs and owners, you know, you start to look alike and vote alike and all that…Best of all, he still makes me glad I'm not priest.   

Geez, Nina.  Phew'! I'm certainly glad that priest thing worked out for you!  But, of course we know it did from your writing, too!  LOL   Okay, here comes a tough one....

3) What's the sneakiest thing you ever did that still brings your heart delight when you think of it?

Years ago, when my career-Army brother was home on leave from being stationed overseas, I called my parents' home and left a message on the answering machine for him—in the voice of a bargirl who's looking for her big, American lover-boy…'cause he's promised to marry her and bring her to America,' you understand.

My father gave him the 'talk,' daily. My mother dragged him to her prayer group, daily. To this day, my brother can't convince the pater and mater unit that I was the one behind that phone call. Moi? Sounding like a bargirl? No way. I was the pious one who wanted to be a priest, remember?

Yes, Nina, I'm starting to see how this "priestly" pattern is manifesting itself in your life!  ;}

4) What's on your nightstand?  

(And, may I say, Nina, you got away with something here...you didn't really tell us all of what was on your nightstand, I bet.  We just got distracted by all these cool books!!)    Here's her answer:

'I Praise My Destroyer,' a book of poems by Diane Ackerman— because it's National Poetry Month.

I've heard so much about Diane Ackerman, but mostly in non-fiction circles.  I'll have to find this book of poems...or, you could send me an example, Nina!!  :]    I'm a Keats fan, myself.   And an Emily Dickinson one.  I actually don't read contemporary poetry that often, though I do appreciate it. 

'An Actor Prepares' by Constantin Stanislavski, translated by Elizabeth Reynolds Hapwoods—because being a writer is like being a method actor, and sometimes irreverent me can't feel the characters' pain.   You know, this has come up several times recently with authors I've read about.  Joyce Carol Oates has especially spoken to this in a similar way.  She considers her characters and her construction of  her novels in the same vein as writing plays.  She talks quite a bit about it.  Interesting that you're drawn to this as a means of sensing a character's pain. 

My book, 'Compulsively Mr. Darcy'— because when I read a good review, I want to know what the dickens the reviewer saw in the book that I didn't when I wrote it.     My english lit. professor, Sister Chiccase, may she always be revered and remembered, said that authors really have no idea about their subconscious intent when they write their books.  It's up to us, the readers, to discern that--to cull out what might be meant by what they wrote on a deeper level.  So, it's only right you have your book there to see for yourself!  :]

'Mr. Darcy's Bite' by Mary Lydon Simonsen—because a Darcy howling at the moon is just too delicious to resist.   Seriously!  I reviewed this one of Mary's  and  it was great.  Such the nightstand kind of book...

'The Criminal Law Handbook'— because you never know when you're supposed to be read your Miranda rights.    Actually, somebody reads YOU your Miranda rights when the time comes, Father Benneton....  or  try to stay on this side of the law if you haven't finished your monastic requirements!

'The Prize,' an old Scottish historical by Julie Garwood— because sometimes you need visions of a medieval Scottish man, with a big sword in a kilt, to put you back to sleep when you're awaken by nightmares of being read your Miranda rights by the likes of the Toughest Sheriff in America.     I know what you mean.  An occasional Scottish man helps me sleep, too, sometimes!  :]

Loved, loved that interview and getting to know Nina.  She's so cool !  And, her book is, too.  I hope you'll get a chance to pick up a copy very soon. 
You can find it here:   Amazon
Or here:    Barnes & Noble
Or here:    Sourcebooks

More About Ms Benneton :

As a child, Nina Benneton promised the Catholic nuns who taught her that she would grow up and find the cure for cancer, effect world peace, and win a Nobel Prize for something, anything. Her very own Mr. Darcy and the requisite number of beautiful children interrupted her plans. Tired of alphabetizing her spices and searching for stray Barbie shoes she turned to writing. 

Her debut novel, Compulsively Mr. Darcy, earned a Best Book review and the Reader's Poll Book of the Month February 2012 from Long and Short Review, 'Hands down…a must read for lovers and fans of classic romance.' Fresh Fiction Review called it a 'tenderly written novel.' Savvy Verse and Wit described it as ' 'More than a love story, Compulsively Mr. Darcy is about loving someone faults and all, accepting and not changing who they are, and growing together in love. Publishers Weekly wrote, 'Die-hard fans of everything Austen will enjoy this update of her classic tale.'

Find her on her website/blog:  Nina Benneton

Find her on Facebook:  Facebook

Find her on Twitter:

Find her on her groupblog: www.AustenAuthors.com

GIVEAWAY!!!! 

One Book for US only

one ebook International

ENTER:  Just join my Network followers on the sidebar

Comment leaving your "follower name"

and your email addy

and follow Nina Benneton on Facebook!

Giveaway Ends:  MOTHER'S DAY!!  MAY 13th

Please tell your friends, and

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!  :]

Btw:  5 star book

Deborah/TheBookishDame

"The Flower Reader" by Elizabeth Loupas~Historical Fiction Lovers Take Note!

With a particular eye to the beauty and mystery of flowers and also an understanding of the powers they hold, young Rinette Leslie of Granmuir, Scotland becomes the unlikely and reluctant confidant of Queen Mary of Guise. But Rinette's only wish is to marry her childhood sweetheart and to return to her beloved homeland.  Instead, she's caught up in a court intrigue that will affect her life and those she loves for many years to come.

Summary:
In the sweeping new novel from the author of The Second Duchess, dangerous secrets lead a passionate young woman into a maze of murder and conspiracy as Mary, Queen of Scots, comes home to reign in a treacherously divided Scotland….

With her dying breath, Mary of Guise entrusts a silver casket to Rinette Leslie of Granmuir, who possesses the ancient gift of floromancy. Inside the casket, and meant only for the young Mary, Queen of Scots, are papers the old queen has painstakingly collected—the darkest secrets of every Scottish lord and explosive private prophecies prepared by Nostradamus. Rinette risks her life to keep the casket safe, but she makes a fatal mistake: she shows it to her beloved young husband. On the very day the young queen comes home, Rinette’s husband is brutally assassinated.

Devastated, Rinette demands justice from the queen before she will surrender the casket. Amid glittering masques and opulent weddings, courtly intrigues and Highland rebellions, the queen’s agents and Rinette herself search for the shadowy assassin. They are surrounded by ruthless men from all over Europe who will do anything to force Rinette to give up the casket—threatening her life, stripping her of her beloved castle by the sea, forcing her to marry a man she hates, and driving her from the man she has reluctantly grown to love. In the end, the flowers are all she can trust—and only the flowers will lead her safely home to Granmuir.

Publisher: New American Library
448p

Author: Elizabeth Loupas

Author's website: http://elizabethloupas.com

A Bit About the Author:

Elizabeth Loupas lives near the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. She is presently a novelist, freelance writer and amateur historian. In other times and other places she has been a radio network vice president, a reference librarian, a business-to-business magazine editor, and a tutor in English literature.

One of her passions is the art and poetry of the Pre-Raphaelites. This led her to the Rossettis and the Brownings, and the project nearest and dearest to her heart--her novel THE SECOND DUCHESS, based on Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess."

She hates housework, cold weather, and wearing shoes. She loves animals, gardens, and popcorn. Not surprisingly she lives in a state of happy barefoot chaos with her delightful and faintly bemused husband (the Broadcasting Legend), her herb garden, her popcorn popper, and two beagles.

You can find Ms Loupas's blog at:  http://www.elizabethloupas.com/blog/

*Note:  You'll find some more very interesting things here about "The Flower Reader" and a experience the very active sense of humor of Ms Loupas!!  :]

The Dame's Review:

I enjoyed this book immensely.  From start to finish I found Rinnette one of the most engaging and feisty of heroines historical fiction has offered in a good while.  There are many strong historical women characters in recent historical fiction I've had the pleasure of reading, and I'm not meaning to take my praise from them. However, the character of Rinnette bursts forth from the start, showing her strong resolve to keep herself, her loved ones, her property and her resolve under murderous pressures!  I loved her brave spirit and her willingness to stare down death and queens despite her youth, power and lack of weapons.  Because of this beautiful, mystically talented and unabashedly strong woman this novel is one of my favorite historical novels this season.

Rinnette is a brilliant character who will endear herself to readers and keep you hungry to finish her story.

Played out on the world stage of the courts where such historic figures reigned such as Queen Mary of Guise, Mary Queen of Scots and the Scottish clans...not to mention such notables as Nostradamus,

Elizabeth Queen of England, and Catherine de Medicis, this is a tapestry of time and

intrigue that is absorbing in and of itself.  Elizabeth Loupas has then laid a set of secrets and mysteries that rival the CIA!  It's a plot that kept me reading, and that moved at a steady, rapid pace. 

I appreciated her writing style and her development of a world within the real world with adjunct characters that didn't really exist but seemed plausible!

The relationships between her characters; Rinnette with her husband and her children, for instance, was palpable, striking at my heart strings.  I felt a deep sense of loss with her at times, and a joy at other times.  Ms Loupas has a strong gift of portraying emotion and personal relationships that gives her book depth and character. 

I really loved the element of the flowers and Rinnettes "reading" of them at every bend as she encountered friend and foe.  This added a dimension to the book unlike any other historical fiction I'd read, obviously!  In her section at the back of the book, Ms Loupas is interviewed about this element and she gives the history behind flower "discernment."  I found it fascinating.  The connection with herbal healing as we know it today and our use of "diffusion" for different states of relaxation and such, show us some small connection to the practice Rinnette must have been using. 

On a deeper level, and with a immediate mystical response, Rinnette was a master "flower reader" foretelling the future constantly...it was so exciting to read this part of Elizabeth Loupas's story.

In summary, a great book of historical fiction which I absolutely adored reading.  I highly recommend it to all lovers of the genre, and to others of you who are thinking of taking a step into historical fiction.  It is a mystical, feminist, mystery and family dynamic of a book.  Great reading!

5 stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame

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"The Gilly Salt Sisters" by Tiffany Baker~Cape Cod Salt Marsh "Witches" Live?

Opening lines: "It was the season again for fire in Prospect, a time of cold and ice but also an occasion for rising heat and smoke.  A moment for salt and prophesy, when the future met the past and the old ceded to the new, for better or for worse."

Storytelling in a New England saga- -Cape Cod, salt marshes, mud-thick property, wet and slick from harsh winter storms and treacherous ice.  This is the stuff of a small town's mysterious workings; witchery, superstition, relics of old, a faceless Madonna and traces of history repeating itself. 

Summary :

The author of the New York Times bestselling The Little Giant of Aberdeen County returns with a magic-tinged tale of dreams, family secrets, and betrayals on a New England salt farm.

In the isolated Cape Cod village of Prospect, the Gilly sisters are as different as can be. Jo, a fierce and quiet loner, is devoted to the mysteries of her family's salt farm, while Claire is popular, pretty, and yearns to flee the salt at any cost. But the Gilly land hides a dark legacy that proves impossible to escape. Although the community half-suspects the Gilly sisters might be witches, it doesn't stop Whit Turner, the town's wealthiest bachelor, from forcing his way into their lives. It's Jo who first steals Whit's heart, but it is Claire—heartbroken over her high school sweetheart—who marries him.

Years later, estranged from her family, Claire finds herself thrust back onto the farm with the last person she would have chosen: her husband's pregnant mistress. Suddenly, alliances change, old loves return, and new battle lines are drawn. What the Gilly sisters learn about each other, the land around them, and the power of the salt, will not only change each of their lives forever, it will also alter Gilly history for good.

 

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Particulars of the Book:

Published by:  Grand Central/Hachette Book Group
Pages:  385
Author:  Tiffany Baker
Author's Website: http://tiffanybaker.com


Book may be purchased on AMAZON at:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Gilly-Salt-Sisters-ebook/dp/B004QX07FK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1335099023&sr=1-1

or through BARNES AND NOBLE at:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-gilly-salt-sisters-tiffany-baker/1103367217?ean=9780446194235

Something About Tiffany Baker :

              Tiffany Baker’s Recipe For A Writing Life

A handful of islands: Belvedere, Aquidneck, Balboa, Manhattan, Corsica, Maui, the UK
Three small children: Two girls and a boy, plump in the cheeks and knees. Strong-willed but sweet when kissed.
One husband
Indecent amounts of chocolate and coffee
A view of a grassy ridge and an old gum tree

Start with the islands. Move from one to another up through your twenties. Add a graduate degree in creative writing from UC Irvine and then a PhD in Victorian literature for extra flavor, plus a smattering of tragic relationships. Move to New York to teach humanities, drink expensive cocktails, and give up on men.
Go hiking on Corsica with your mother. Meet your future husband. Move to England to be with him.
Add the first child to the mix and marinate. Return to the US, to the town where you began. Wonder what you’re doing home again. Gradually, fold in one, additional child until life is thick and hard to stir.
Decide to write a novel. Get pregnant again in the meantime, but refuse to give up writing. Finish the novel and get rejected. Repeat as necessary until the mixture becomes glue-like and unappetizing.
Finally, find the world’s most perfect agent who performs a miracle and sells your novel to the world’s best editor. Revise the novel many times, until it congeals. Do a victory dance.
Begin Book 2, having forgotten how hard writing a book is. Eat obsessive amounts of chocolate and decide what you’re doing isn’t half-bad. Gain an undisclosed amount of weight and take up jogging.
Every day, take a long walk on the grassy ridge. Stop at the gum tree, breathing deeply. Stare across the hill at your house where your children and husband are. Hope your cypress tree isn’t really dying. Hope for enough rain in the coming season. Hope for world peace. Finally, really, really hope people enjoy your book. Hope they like the second one even more.
Bon Vivant!

The Dame's Look At The Gilly Salt Sisters:
The Gilly Salt Sisters takes place in a small New England town similar, if not just, Falmouth...near Woods Hole. Of course the original New England colonies were not only populated by puritans and those pious believers in the straight and narrow path, but they were seasoned by island peoples...slaves from the Caribbean, from Africa and from other exotic places where superstition and "witchcraft," magical and mystical things followed them.  These characteristics were met with the same that underpined some of those who fled England and Scotland, as well.  In Massachusettes, Salem had experienced the witch trials...the areas of Cape Cod and up as far as Gloucester were aware of these things. The people of New England don't easily forget~it's in their blood. Who wouldn't be influenced by the Gilly Salt Sisters?

In this novel (and in actuality, as a matter of fact) the salt's unique properties, historic and mystical to begin with, were given a reverence~they were fraught with healing powers, the power to keep and preserve foods and meats, originally the power to exchange like money, to season cooked foods; and, quite mysteriously to change the well-being of businesses and the over all climates of the town.  Only the Gilly family and specifically the Gilly women were capable of handling the harshness of the salt marsh, harvesting it and controlling the delivery of the salt throughout the town and region.  They were afforded a sort of begruding prominence and fearsomeness in town.  Their ability to throw their own bag of salt into the yearly, autumn bonfire to predict the future of the town in a sort of ancient festival, solidified the superstition and mysticism that surrounded them; that made them weird and outcast.

Within this confine of prejudice and their wild, muddy marsh of a farm life, Jo and Claire Gilly grew up and struggled with their fates along with their single mother.  They are marvelous characters as different as Cain and Able.  Jo the Abel of the two: dark-haired, faithful to the marsh and salt, protective of loved ones, strong and rough around the edges. And, Claire; the Cain, weak in spirit, red-haired and tempermental, selfish, working to tear down the salt and all it represents in the town and to her past. Gloriously well developed characters that stand up in realism.  So real in fact, that you believe they're actual people.

Throughout the book we find abberations in the tale, however, that changes all perceptions.  The men and women involved with the Gillys aren't always what they appear to be and the lives of the Gillys and townspeople overlap in a multitude of ways.  All this causing their histories to intersect for good and for bad.  This is a story rich in family dynamics of love and betrayal, mystery and revelation, mysticism and romance.  The sea and the marshes that hem them in play against the gothic themes an cause the book to take on a dark tone...so like Poe in some instances.

Tiffany Baker knows how and when to pull the strings that deepen our connections with her characters and the momentum surrounding the Gilly Salt Sisters.  The spector of mystery and revelation hangs before us as she builds and hints and drops us through Jo's discoveries.  But even as the other charcters are brought in and layers are developed, we still remain in the dark until the climax of the book.

I love this kind of mystery mixed with a grand and sweeping tale of a family that mysteriously winds its way through a history. A family unwittingly repeating itself until somehow it finally finds a way to break the bond that held it captive.  And through that freshly broken wound restores something of itself through a healing, a new trust, a new love and life of hope.  Even though grief and punishment remain behind. Even though some of the connections are thin and come from wild roots.

The Gilly Salt Sisters is a great book in the order of a sort of Jane Smiley's "Thousand Acres," but I think it's richer and it's dug into more detail.  I loved the book and hope you get a chance to read it very soon! 

5 stars!!

Deborah/TheBookishDame

PS:  You'll never look at salt the same again...I'm now eating only sea salt.

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