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Today we’re featuring authors NANCY HAYES KILGORE, KATHIE GIORGIO, & FRAN HAWTHORNE.
BOOK: Bitter Magic
AUTHOR: Nancy Hayes Kilgore
GENRE: Historical Fiction
BLURB: Bitter Magic, inspired by the true story of Isobel Gowdie and her witchcraft confession, reveals a little-known corner of history—the lives of both pagan and Protestant women in the Scottish Reformation of the 1600s as witch trials and executions threatened their lives, values, and beliefs.
The story is told by Isobel herself and also by Margaret Hay, a fictionalized seventeen-year-old noble woman. When Margaret stumbles across Isobel one day, it seems as though Isobel is commanding the dolphins in the ocean to dance. Margaret is enchanted. She becomes interested in Isobel’s magic, in fairies, and in herbal remedies; Isobel freely shares her knowledge. While Margaret worries that being around Isobel could be dangerous, she also respects Isobel’s medical successes and comes to believe that acknowledging the efficacy of herbal remedies or believing in fairies does not challenge her Christianity.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nancy Hayes Kilgore, BITTER MAGIC (Sunbury Press, 2021,) is the author of two other novels, WILD MOUNTAIN (Green Writers Press, 2017) and SEA LEVEL (RCWMS, 2011). Her writing has won the Vermont Writers Prize and a ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Award. Nancy is a graduate of the Radcliffe Writing Seminars and holds a Master of Divinity degree and a Doctorate in Pastoral Counseling. She is a writing coach, psychotherapist, and former parish pastor, and leads workshops on creative writing and spirituality.
BOOK: Hope Always Rises
AUTHOR: Kathie Giorgio
GENRE: Literary Magical Realism
BLURB: In Heaven, there is a gated community for those who end their lives. This is a surprise to Hope, who ends her life on the banks of the Fox River in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Hope never knew what caused her sadness. God reassures her he does, but he won’t reveal it. Yet.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kathie Giorgio is the critically acclaimed author of seven novels, two story collections, an essay collection, and four poetry books. Awards include Pushcart Prizes in fiction and poetry, the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association, the Pencraft Award for Literary Excellence, and the Eric Hoffer Award In Fiction.
BOOK: I Meant to Tell You
AUTHOR: Fran Hawthorne
GENRE: Contemporary Upmarket Fiction
BLURB: When Miranda Isaac’s fiancé, Russ Steinmann, is being vetted for his once-in-a-lifetime dream job in the U.S. attorney’s office, the couple worries that Miranda’s parents’ history as political activists in the Sixties could jeopardize Russ’ security clearance. But the real threat emerges when Russ’s future boss discovers that Miranda was arrested for felony kidnapping nearly a decade earlier—an arrest she’d never revealed to Russ.
Miranda tries to convince Russ she was only helping her best friend, Ronit—caught up in a nasty custody battle—take her daughter to visit her parents in Israel. As Miranda struggles to prove that she’s not a criminal, she either makes matters worse or stumbles into more secrets. With everything she thought she knew upended, Miranda must face the truth about her family, herself, and her future marriage.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Fran Hawthorne has been writing novels since she was four years old, although she was sidetracked for several decades by journalism. During that award-winning career, she wrote eight nonfiction books and was an editor or regular contributor for The New York Times, Business Week, Fortune, and many other publications. But Fran never abandoned her true love: Her debut novel, “The Heirs,” was published in 2018, and now I MEANT TO TELL YOU (published last November by Stephen F. Austin State University Press) has already won or is a finalist for seven awards. Fran is at work on two new novels and also writes reviews for the New York Journal of Books.
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