All posts tagged: Rene Denfeld

Leslie’s 2019 Reading Round-Up: From memoir to speculative fiction, you’ll find all of my favorite reads right here

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By Leslie Lindsay It’s that time of year again–I start reflecting on my favorite reads. For the last several years, I’ve set pretty ambitious reading goals for myself. Fifty books? Sure. Seventy-five? Bring it! Eighty? Okay. Eighty-five? Yep. Once I thought I could eek out ninety books in one year, and no. That cannot be done. Not with a busy writing and reviewing schedule. I’m so very grateful for all of the wonderful books I’ve had the opportunity–the privilege–to read, review, and often, host their authors right here on my Wednesdays with Writers Author Interview Series. I could list every book I read this year here–because they ALL have merit. But a few absolutely stand out, for various reasons. Here are those reasons:  It makes me want to talk about it with someone who is not reading it. My husband knows it’s an ‘it’ book when I say, “Babe, I gotta tell you about this book I’m reading.” It makes me *want* to write. It makes me fly through the pages at lightening speed. Because, …

Childhood Homelessness in America is on the rise–why–and how you can help, plus, resilience, writing, and imagination in this gorgeous and evocative novel from Rene Denfeld, THE BUTTERFLY GIRL

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By Leslie Lindsay Gorgeous companion to THE CHILD FINDER, this book stands on its own and is as stunning as harrowing. I loved Rene Denfeld’s previous book, THE CHILD FINDER (2017), but THE BUTTERFLY GIRL (October 1 2019) absolutely glimmers. It’s a gripping account of underprivileged, disadvantaged children and their circumstances . Naomi is an exceptional young woman who has a knack for finding missing or displaced children. Now, we continue with her story as she is wracked with the guilt and compulsion of finding her own sister, who disappeared years ago when both girls were in captivity. Naomi escaped, but her sister didn’t. Naomi has no picture, no idea even what her sister’s name is. She can’t remember; it was that traumatic. And she was just a kid when it all happened. All Naomi has is a vague sense of a strawberry field at night, black dirt rimming her nails, and bare feet. She ran for her life. Now, nearly twenty years later, Naomi is in Portland Oregon, amidst skid row, where scores of homeless children wander in and out of shelters, abandoned paint factories, and …

Wednesdays with Writers: Poetic and lyrical Rene Denfeld on our fascination with lost children, memory, imagination, the Oregon wilderness, and so much more in THE CHILD FINDER

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By Leslie Lindsay  An exquisitely written tale of s little girl lost, her striking imagination and how we often have to be lost in order to be found.  I found THE CHILD FINDER to be disturbing and haunting and I was absolutely spell-bound, not wanting to sit the book down. In fact, I didn’t; I read THE CHILD FINDER in one day. While the story is ultimately bleak (there’s hope, though), it’s dazzlingly written. It’s lush, melodic, while at the same time, stark. A bit about the plot: Maddie Culver goes missing in the Oregon wilderness while her family is cutting down their Christmas tree. It’s been three years. Her parents are beside themselves and insist she’s still alive. But three years is a long time. The Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny ability to find lost children. Diving into the icy, remote Skookum Forest, Naomi attempts to uncover all possibilities, unearthing old mines, digging up old homesteads, and stalking out the corner grocery.  And then another–unrelated case–presents itself. Naomi doesn’t like taking …