Thank you to Lili Naghdi for posting her wonderful review of my novel, The Daughters’ Story on Amazon. Greatly appreciated and very encouraging.
Read it here: bitly.ws/3V4x
#Womens’ fiction # Historical fiction # Canadian fiction #reviews
The ebook format of my novel, The Daughters’ Story, has been released at several vendors. Hopefully, that will help with the sales, but at the end of the day, the reviews, good and bad, will be the determining factor as to whether the book will survive. Putting it through an extravaganza of promotional stunts will give it visibility and with that, maybe a handful of willing readers, but if none of them bother to comment on what they read––not something that comes natural––the book will have had its moment of fame and slowly disappear.
As writers, we put our hearts out there, hoping someone will listen, feel, rethink life, get angry or throw the book across the room. We want to touch someone’s heart or hit a nerve. An emotional reaction indicates the book has changed a reader’s life in some way, and perhaps it happens, but if the reader never gives any feedback, the author misses out on how to use their writing to maintain that vital writer-reader connection.
I’ve done what I could for the novel and now… time to roll up my sleeves and focus on my latest work.
#historical fiction #Canadian fiction #Quebec fiction #novel #new release #women’s fiction #October Crisis
Now available at:
Baraka Books: https://bit.ly/2QZcF9P
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-daughters-story
Amazon.com: http://bitly.ws/3Vrb
Amazon.ca: https://tinyurl.com/y4olrt44
Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/y6f6fra2
Indigo: https://tinyurl.com/y6f6fra2
Alibris: https://bit.ly/2VqjeUb
A review of my novel by a fellow author, Christoph Fischer–– a pillar in the writing community who has been an inspiration to me from my beginnings as a writer. How good can it get?!
Thanks, Christoph. I honour the goodness in you.
#Canadian literature #fiction #novels #historical fiction #Quebec writing #womens’ writing #family saga
Moving along… the advanced reading copies are out and heading for those who will read and hopefully review my work. They might like it… or maybe hate it.
Too much back story… characters not credible… pace too slow… weak structure… ending too abrupt… I’ll have a panic attack trying to come up with what I did wrong.
But maybe they’ll connect to the main character, Nadine––fingers crossed––and forgive all the flaws in the story. Nadine is banished to a home for unwed mothers in 1950. She’s 15. Her baby daughter, whose father is shrouded in secrecy, is put up for adoption without her permission. Vowing to reunite one day with her daughter, she cuts all ties with her dysfunctional Irish and French-Canadian Catholic family whose past is cluttered with secrets, betrayals, incest and violence.
As writers, we are dependent on the reader’s reaction to our work. Some will enjoy the book and review––or not. Others will make sure to comment if they don’t like something about the story. Both positive and negative reviews help to make the book visible to others. Without reviews, the book disappears.
It should be released May 1st, but it’s available for pre-orders which will arrive at the end of March.
https://www.barakabooks.com/catalogue/the-daughters-story
#Quebec fiction #Canadian fiction #modern historical fiction #Family saga #womens fiction #adoption #WW1 #WW2 #October Crisis #Amazon #Indigo #Barnes & Noble
Available May 1, 2019 Pre-order now
https://www.barakabooks.com/catalogue/the-daughters-story
Nadine is banished to a home for unwed mothers in 1950. She’s 15. Her baby daughter, whose father is shrouded in secrecy, is put up for adoption without her permission. Vowing to reunite one day with her daughter, she cuts all ties with her dysfunctional Irish and French-Canadian Catholic family whose past is cluttered with secrets, betrayals, incest and violence.
It’s now October 1970 in Montreal. Following two FLQ kidnappings, Ottawa proclaims the War Measures Act and sends the army into Quebec. These staggering events indirectly bring about a reunion between Nadine and her daughter Lisette, now 20 years old and embittered after being bounced from one foster home to another. Eight months pregnant, Lisette and her partner Serge, who is close to the FLQ, need money and see Nadine as a possible source.
A family saga with World Wars I and II, the Great Depression and the October crisis as backdrop, The Daughters’ Story tells the unsung, yet intensely passionate, tale of women whose unquenchable need to belong drives them to survive and thrive despite cruel conditions.
My new historical fiction novel— a family saga set in Quebec, spanning two world wars and beyond— will be released in early spring. The cover is to be revealed very soon.
#historical fiction #Canadian fiction #Quebec fiction #October crisis #women fiction
This is a heart-breaking story, both in terms of Afghanistan’s history and the people who were made to suffer because of religious dogma and political strife. The two protagonists, Marian and Laila, are forced to marry the same sadistic, woman beater, Rasheed, and live a life of terror and hardship. The domestic violence and cruelty depicted at the hands of this abusive husband were so brutal, I had to take a breather at times before continuing my reading. Luckily, not all the men in the story were painted with the same brush.
Afghanistan’s political scene is presented starting from the years of the Soviet takeover of the 1980s to the period following the bombing of the Twin Towers and the Taliban invasion. It seemed a little surreal for me to read about Afghan people watching the same horrifying footage of the plane crashing into one of the towers as I also had back then.
The terrible hardships suffered by the people of this war-ravished country, especially the women, are gut-wrenching. But overall, it’s a poignant story where love and hope triumph over evil. I left a part of my heart with these people and admire their great courage.
Intriguing, educational, and certainly nothing our history books in school ever focused on. Loved the main character, Eoin, whose hesitancies and fears brought real history to the forefront. A great blend of Irish-Canadian history and fiction which should have its rightful place in the classroom.
A well-structured and entertaining read.
Michael Crummey’s Sweetland, is the story of an older man’s struggle to retain his independence in a world that requires strict adherence to a social network for survival. Moses Sweetland, the main character, is named after Sweetland, the small fishing town he lives in. The reason why they share the same name becomes apparent at the end.
The setting is a remote island off the southern coast of Newfoundland where the residents all know each other as well as everybody’s family history dating back to their great-great-grandparents. Nobody locks their doors at night and they all look out for each other. The once abundant cod has been over-fished and commercial fishery, the foundation of their way of life since time immemorial is no longer a viable way to make a living.
The government has offered the residents an attractive compensation package if they relocate. All accept… but Moses Sweetland refuses to leave the home he’s lived in all his life. He manages to trick people into thinking he drowned and remains on the island by himself with no way of contacting the outside world.
That’s when his troubles begin. Resourceful as he might be, his resources are dwindling and he doesn’t have the same energy (at 70 years old) as he once did. He comes to realize that the people he figured he could live without are the ones he longs to be with. The memories of them become alive and he struggles with what is real and what is imagined. As much as he loves his island and his independence, he cannot live without human contact. He must come to terms with his own death as well as the inevitable destruction of his physical world. Nothing is permanent, both Sweetland the man, and Sweetland the island, will eventually disappear.
The characters are unique, loveable and witty––Moses Sweetland will stay with me for quite a long while. The past, present and ‘imagined’ are flawlessly interwoven. A wonderful, thought-provoking read!
The reading of Edith Wharton’s ‘The Age of Innocence‘ was long overdue for me. I admit I found the beginning a little tedious with the never-ending list of characters, the detailed description of New York City’s elite society at the end of the century with all its traditions, rituals and judgemental morality. The story follows Newland Archer’s, the POV character, struggle to live up to the expectations set up by his bourgeois family and marry the sweet, conventional, May Welland, while secretly longing to run off with Countess Ellen Olenska, a married woman who defies the status quo.
Family and social expectations conflict with Newland’s and Ellen’s wish for a more passionate life away from the rigidity of high society. Newland must choose, his wife or his lover. His choice will determine the path his life will take.
We meet up with him years later, widowed and father of three children. The memories of his emotional struggles are still with him. Is there regret, or the urge to start over where he left off?
The ending is both thought-provoking and poignant. This wonderful story, written over 100 years ago, is still prevalent today. Life’s demands have a tendency to erode the passions and struggles, which in our youth we were ready to die for. All that is left is the memory of a beating heart.
To end the year, a much-appreciated review of my novel in the Ottawa Review.
Thank you, Con Cú (Ian Thomas Shaw)!!
https://www.ottawareviewofbooks.com/single-post/2019/12/05/The-Daughters-Story-by-Murielle-Cyr
I’m pleased to showcase Do No Harm, a multi-author, charity box set of medical thrillers. Christoph Fischer, my writer friend and extraordinary dog lover and guardian, is among the many talented writers featured in this fantastic collection. His medical thriller, The Healer, has been a constant best-seller on Amazon since it was first launched.
A mere $0.99 will get you ‘nail-biting suspense, twisted plots and great characters who get caught up in whirlwinds of crime, deception and lies.”
Grab your copy now!!
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1131032041…
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/do-no-harm-21
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1457771385
<https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=DO+NO+Harm&i=digital-text&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Our multi-author charity “Do No Harm” box set is looking for promotional gigs. I was wondering if any of you would be willing to host us on your blog – I’m looking for one a week for the next ten weeks. Let me know if any of you would be interested. I have always space […]
Writing historical fiction deals with people that existed a long time ago, or created to be part of that world. Their day-to-day reality has no resemblance to ours. Their way of expressing themselves differs––words or expressions commonly used then are considered offensive to us now. Those people also had a unique way of looking at things–– their way of thinking would certainly raise a few eyebrows today. As writers, we want to portray a realistic world view of those times, but we also don’t want to offend anybody in the process.
Do we avoid using the ‘offensive language’ in dialogue, or do we write as it really was?
The POV character might belong to ‘the other’––a person from a completely different racial background from the author. Intensive research about the culture and the life experienced then is certainly advisable but it won’t eliminate the risk of creating a stereotypical, robot-image based on the author’s preconceptions of how people lived and felt at the time. When we write about ‘the other’, we also write about ourselves. That’s what writers do. There’s always a bit of ourselves, a bit of what we know, and a lot about what we don’t understand in our writing.
In my case, I’m a middle-class Quebecoise writing about a poor African-American slave from Louisiana sold to a bourgeois family in colonial New France. My research might have given me some knowledge of the horrors that the woman––being female is all I have in common with my character––had experienced, but I wonder if I’ll be able to present her in a respectable manner, and will it be possible––as a free woman––to be able to convey the woman’s deepest fears and anxieties. I can only rely on my limited imagination and what I read about the subject.
Will I do the woman justice?
Do I presume to know how she felt?
Do I even have the right to tell her story?
#historical fiction #creating characters #novels #’the other’ in writing #fiction
