Sara walked right into a dangerous trap. And what made it even worse was the fact that her friend, Diane Tregower, had coldly, calculatingly sent her into it. Sara Fortune had needed a holiday away from London and Diane had offered her Raven's Mill, her house in a desolate part of Cornwall. Now here she was menaced by a man ruthlessly determined to seek revenge on her friend and who wouldn't believe that Sara was not Diane. Somehow she had to convince this man of her identity--this man who terrified, yet fascinated her! Views: 8
Amazon.com ReviewAmazon Exclusive: Kathryn Stockett Interviews Sarah Blake The Postmistress. Kathryn Stockett: I should start by saying that I am honored to be on the same page with you—I loved The Postmistress. The book is so complex, it gives you so much to think about and discuss. My first question to you is, how did the book come about? What made you start writing it? Sarah Blake: Thanks so much, Kathryn—and I'd like to lob those kind words right back at you; it's a tremendous thrill for me to be in conversation with the author of The Postmistress began with a picture that sprang into my head one day, of a woman sorting the mail in the back of a post office, quietly slipping a letter into her pocket instead of delivering it. Immediately, questions flooded forward: Whose letter was it? Why on earth would she choose to pocket it? What havoc would be wreaked by not delivering a letter? As I answered those questions, Emma and Will and their love story, and the workings of the small town in which Iris was the center, came to life. One hundred pages into that draft, Frankie Bard arrived on the bus, out of the blue. I had no idea who she was or why she was there, except that one character referred to her as a war correspondent without a war. That was interesting, I thought. By this time I had decided to set the novel in the late thirties, early forties. It was 2001 and I was living in Washington, D.C., after the attacks of 9/11, and I was very preoccupied with trying to make sense of what was happening around me. Were we in danger? Would we go to war? The parallels between that uncertain time and the time before the United States entered World War II resonated with me, and what was a novel about accident and fate and the overlapping of lives deepened into a novel with war as its backdrop, which asked questions about how we understand ourselves to be in a historical moment and what we do when we are called to it. Kathryn Stockett: Your book features three different women. From a logistical standpoint, did you find it hard to pull off the different points of view? I know this is something I spend a lot of time on in my work—making sure the voices are distinct and also very much true to the different characters. Sarah Blake: To be honest, with this novel, the challenge was trying to keep each of these women in line, since each one threatened at some point or another to run away with the story! It took eight years for this story to become the novel you have in your hands, and in large part that's because with the introduction of each character, I found myself going off and following an individual story, traveling further and further from a workable plot. By the time I had finished, I had written three separate novels, one for each of the three women—complete with love affairs, whole families, other towns—and the challenge came not in trying to keep them distinct, but in trying to figure out how to weave their stories together. Kathryn Stockett: Who is your favorite character, and why? Sarah Blake: I'm not sure I can answer that, since there are parts of each of these women I admire, and parts of each of them I don't like. They are all broken in an essential way—a way I find incredibly interesting. When a reporter finds she cannot tell a story and a postmaster finds herself unable to pass along a letter, the moments they have arrived at as characters are compelling. Mrs. Cripps was certainly the most fun to write—she didn’t have to carry too much weight in the telling of the story, and she was such a nosy parker it was fun to write her lines. Kathryn Stockett: Is there a character in The Postmistress with whom you identify most? (And if you have been having trysts with good-looking soldiers in dark alleyways, please share!) Sarah Blake: Oh, there are bits of me in all three women: certainly Frankie's rage and sorrow, the desire to get the story (something I despaired of often in the eight years of writing); Iris's love of order; and Emma's feeling of invisibility, her longing for the sense that someone would watch over her. Kathryn Stockett: The most haunting scenes for me—and there were many—were those of Frankie on the train with Thomas and of the mother and child on the train platform. How did these scenes come about? Were they difficult to write? Sarah Blake: Much of the drive to write the book had to do with my own attempt to write my way toward understanding the sudden, final breaks that crack into our lives, in the form of accidents, death, other irrevocable events. I have two sons, and while it is impossible for me to imagine putting them on a train by themselves, with nothing but paper to send them to safety, it was easy to conjure feelings of despair and heartbreak. The book is full of mothers and sons being torn apart by childbirth, bombs, and visas; but the last parting—the mother embracing her boy in the train car with Frankie—was probably the most difficult to write. It's the hardest to comprehend, and yet it happened all the time, saying good-bye, knowingly, possibly forever. Kathryn Stockett: What research did you do for historical accuracy? You seem to have really nailed the time period. Sarah Blake: Thank you. I'm glad it feels credible. I read many books on the history of World War II, pored through Life magazines from 1939 to 1945 for a sense of how much things cost and what they looked like, read Federal Writers Project interviews with all types of people living on Cape Cod in the 1930s, watched movies made in 1940 and 1941 (my favorite is (Photo of Kathryn Stockett © Kem Lee)From Publishers WeeklyWeaving together the stories of three very different women loosely tied to each other, debut novelist Blake takes readers back and forth between small town America and war-torn Europe in 1940. Single, 40-year-old postmistress Iris James and young newlywed Emma Trask are both new arrivals to Franklin, Mass., on Cape Cod. While Iris and Emma go about their daily lives, they follow American reporter Frankie Bard on the radio as she delivers powerful and personal accounts from the London Blitz and elsewhere in Europe. While Trask waits for the return of her husband—a volunteer doctor stationed in England—James comes across a letter with valuable information that she chooses to hide. Blake captures two different worlds—a naïve nation in denial and, across the ocean, a continent wracked with terror—with a deft sense of character and plot, and a perfect willingness to take on big, complex questions, such as the merits of truth and truth-telling in wartime. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Views: 8
Kingdom of Fire is the first book in the epic new high fantasy series which chronicles the final war between the crumbling human empire of Werstria and the savage and unrelenting horde of the orcs at their border.In the first book of the Sword of Fire saga, the epic struggle for survival is told through the eyes of a newly enlisted soldier named Markus, who experiences the crushing defeat of the western empire as the horde of Karsian orcs led by the dreaded Prince Ozturk, smash through the Werstrian defences. Only the bitter onset of winter slows their invasion. Markus, the only survivor of his regiment, battles desperately to stay alive. Driven deep into the infamous Salbein Mountains, he befriends the most unlikely of allies. With only a few months until the counter-offensive of the spring, he must seek the help of a mysterious wizard and lord who has lived in solitude for hundreds of years.With the aid of the most unlikely of friends, Markus must venture into hostile lands to save the empire from destruction, faced with the terrifying knowledge that the orcs of Karsia have unearthed and harnessed the power of the Dragons of bygone ages. Markus fights the class struggle of his people, the bitter hatred of the orcs and the dreadful wrath of Dragons in his personal quest for revenge.Kingdom of Fire is a classic work of high fantasy set in the midst of a brutal war of epic proportions. Views: 8
Turned down for her dream job, large-animal vet Bellamy Haile is determined to drown her sorrows at the bottom of a tequila bottle—and underneath the ripped bod of the gorgeous stranger she just met in the liquor store. She'll have time enough to nurse mild regret later, when she takes over her uncle's small practice in Serenity, Georgia. Settled into an old house bequeathed by her grandmother, Bellamy doesn't expect one of her first vet calls to bring her face-to-face with her one-night stand. Eli Carter happens to live nearby...and he's more than willing to pick up where they left off. As Eli and his family welcome her into their hearts and homes, Bellamy experiences a sort of love and acceptance she's never known. But even hot nights in Eli's bed may not be enough to make her choose small-town Serenity when a second chance at her dream job comes calling. A Romantica® contemporary erotic romance from Ellora's Cave Views: 8
A short story to curl up with this Christmas! This year, it's time for A Christmas Carole... Carole is a workaholic so dedicated to her job at a 24/7 rolling news TV station, that she plans to work all over Christmas and New Year too. Same as she does every other year. But then when you're long -term single and married to your job, she thinks, what else is there to do? But a midnight visit from the ghost of Christmases past, present and future soon makes her look at her life in a whole new way... Bestselling author Claudia Carroll brings her trademark sparkle to this modern re-telling of A Christmas Carol, perfect for your Christmas treat this year! Views: 8
SHOTGUN GROOMS by Susan Mallery and Maureen Child Lucas's Convenient Bride Lucas MacIntyre stands to inherit half of a saloon, gold mine, and ranch, but there's just one problem: his uncle created a clause in his will, stipulating that he and his brother must marry if they want to claim their property. So Lucas proposes that Emily Smythe, the hard-edged newcomer, become his wife so that she can manage his saloon and he can inherit. But Lucas never counted on falling for Emily... Jackson's Mail-Order Bride When loner Jackson MacIntyre wakes up from a delirious fever, it's to find that he's not only wedded Miss Molly Malone, but he's bedded her, too! Yes, he'll get his inheritance now that he's fulfilled the terms of his father's will by getting married, but how can he enjoy it when an Irish spitfire's determined to complicate his life? It certainly doesn't help that he can't resist her no matter how hard he... Views: 8
Pia Peretti's past could destroy her future. Thanks to her pre-Christian lifestyle, she can't marry a believer, and she won't marry a non-believer. Minister David Myers wants to help Pia release her guilt and trust that God has forgiven her...but the young minister is working through his own trial of faith. After a failed counseling session with a wounded soul, David's confidence is shaken. He accepts a new pastorate, and moves to Angel Falls to find a haven for his wounded heart. Is it possible these two hurting hearts are meant to mend each other's brokenness with some divine intervention? Views: 8
Adam is the embodiment of every fantasy Eden's ever had. Their whirlwind relationship is so intense and all consuming that soon she can’t imagine being with anyone else. But there’s one thing that’s keeping Adam and Eden from their happily ever after. They’ve never met. She doesn’t even know what he looks like. Is Adam too good to be true or is the truth more startling than fiction? Views: 8
