storytelling

Anne wanted to know where my penname came from. Well first, it had to be Italian. My father isn't living, but I don't doubt he would travel a long way to make his discontent known if I had called myself Wanda Sobrinski. Second, (and I'm not making this up) the publisher wants something in the middle of the alphabet. Jane Abraham and Jane Zimmer (if they existed) would have their books shelved at the very top and very bottom, which isn't good for sales. The publisher wants something in the L range. D isn't ideal, but it's better than A. Third, it had to be something easy to write. I have (on occasion) autographed two hundred books at a time. Fourth, it had to be pleasing to me. And fifth: that part is a secret.

Posted by at 6:23 PM | Permalink

This is one of those historical novels that puts hooks into you. Sometimes you want to put it down because the subject matter can be so painful, but you can't. The story makes demands of the reader, and you follow along.

The story revolves around a slaver called "Liverpool Merchant" setting out for Africa and from there to the sugar islands. Mathew Paris, a doctor recently released from prison in Norwich, is (at least for the first part of the novel) the main character. The novel throws a great shadow, touching on men's clubs and sugar plantations to a haven set up by escaped slaves and sailors on the Florida coast. It is that Utopia that stays with me most vividly.

Unsworth is a master storyteller; he juggles dozens of characters and a complex plot effortlessly; he has a deft touch with historical detail and beyond those blessings, he really can write a beautiful sentence.

Posted by at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

in another life, I was a university professor. I wrote books about language and discrimination issues, and my work was well received. For the most part that is all behind me now, but every once in a while my past catches up with me. I spent Thursday and Friday writing an expert opinion for a Title VII language-focused discrimination case, which felt very odd but interesting. I did it because I felt like I couldn't not do it.

Just before I started this project on Thursday, I sent off two things I had promised my agent: the first three chapters of the contemporary novel (tentatively entitled Tied to the Tracks) and a children's book I have been writing, off and on, for the last year. A short thing, really, but it was fun to do. Don't know if it will ever sell, of course. It's called Puppy Boys.

So now I have to get back to work. While I was hammering away at linguistics, the odd thought did pop into my head. Or maybe I should say the odd character: Lily showed up to tell me something obvious I had been overlooking. It was actually a great surprise and relief and quite amusing, too.

Lily is a young woman at this pointl. She is a great deal like her mother, but she doesn't know that yet. In matters of the heart, her life is looking very different so far than her mother's ever did.

Posted by at 1:02 PM | Permalink