All posts tagged: Paris

NOW IN PAPERBACK! Robin Oliveira talks about her love for Albany NY, bike riding, researching books to be accurate yet emotional, & more in WINTER SISTERS

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By Leslie Lindsay  A haunting tale of a horrific New York blizzard that leads to missing girls, a court case, and dead parents.  NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK! It’s March 1879, fourteen years after the Civil War. The day begins like any other. A light snow is falling as the O’Donnell family leave their simple home for work and school. But an epic blizzard has obliterated the city, separating children from parents and families from homes. Both of the O’Donnell parents area dead and the girls, Emma and Claire (ages 10 and 7) are nowhere to be found. Close family friends, Dr. Mary Stipp (nee, Sutter)–whom we met in Oliveira’s earlier book, MY NAME IS MARY SUTTER, and her husband, Dr. William Stipp, begin a tireless search for the girls, turning over every orphanage, church, home, school…the girls are nowhere to be found. The police feel they must have died in the river. Yet, scandal is brewing. Meanwhile, Mary’s mother, Amelia and niece (Elizabeth) return from their stay in Paris where Elizabeth had been in the Paris Conservatory studying …

Shimming tale set in Chicago and Paris in the 1980s and 1920s about art, AIDS, loss, memory & so much more Rebecca Makkai on THE GREAT BELIEVERS

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By Leslie Lindsay  Rebecca Makkai talks about her thrumming new literary fiction that will enrapture you and transport you to 1985 Chicago at the height of the AIDS epidemic, then toss you back to Paris in the 1920s. Plus, memory, loss, character development, healthcare and more. Please join us.  Every now and then there is a book that makes my heart sing. I mean, really, really sing. And when THE GREAT BELIEVERS (June 19, 2018 Viking/Penguin RandomHouse) came along, I knew I needed to get my hands on it. And oh my gosh, I am so glad I did.  Seriously, this book is going to be big. I’ve been seeing it on all kinds of lists since this spring–best summer reading, best for book groups, and books set in Chicago, to name a few. But it’s also a bit controversial. AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. LGBQTA+ issues. Art in France in the 1920s. But the writing! Oh, the writing! I can’t say enough about that.  It’s achingly gorgeous. You’ll read and be a bit blown …

Write On, Wednesday: Meg Waite Clayton on Her NEW Historical Fiction–THE RACE FOR PARIS

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By Leslie Lindsay  A crisp September evening. Preschoolers tucked in bed. New friends. Wine and books…this was my first introduction to Meg Waite Clayton, author of THE WEDNESDAY SISTERS. After our introductions (some of us didn’t know each other yet), a sweet, quiet and assuming member thrust a book my way, “You need to read this,” she encouraged with a smile. I did. Later, flipping the pages, and nodding in agreement, in reliability, I knew this was my life. A writer is first a reader. That’s what I think Meg Waite Clayton’s book taught me. Today, I am honored to have Meg chat with us about her newest book–perhaps her most ambitious title to date, THE RACE FOR PARIS. For me, it’s the perfect combination of history, women’s rights and independence, my appreciation for photography, and of course–books. Welcome, Meg!  Leslie Lindsay: Can you tell us in a few words what The Race for Paris is about? Meg Waite Clayton: The novel was inspired by the actual “Race for Paris” and the journalists who first reported the …

Write on, Wednesday: Imagine a Better Writer

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By Leslie Lindsay (image retrieved from http://katacomb.blogspot.com/2012/05/revising-book-2.html on 7.25.12)    Last week on “The Teacher is Talking” (Tuesday), I shared with you the wonderful new book Imagine:  How Creativity Works (Jonah Lehrer, 2012).  Well, if you read this book like a writer, you may actually gain a few insights into your own creativity.  At least I did–specifically as I work through the tedious task of editing and revising my novel-in-progress.  And here’s why, as explained by the author: You need to become an outsider.  Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer (Mar 19, 2012) (image retrieved from Amazon.com on 7.25.12) But I wrote this!  This is part of me!”  you claim.  And if you remember the good Tennessee Williams, “if the writing is good, you cannot seperate it from the author.”  Yeah, I feel your pain.  Trust me, I do.  When one goes back to edit/revise he really needs to know nothing.  This is the whole idea of reading the work as though you know nothing about it.  This is what your agent/editor will do.  They …