This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Charlotte Whitney will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Give us some background on your role in the novel THREADS.
Even though I’m only seven-years-old, I’m a major character in this historical novel for adults. The reader hears the story through my voice and the voices of my sisters, Irene (11) and Flora (17). The story is set on our family farm in 1934, the height of the Great Depression. Wonderful and horrible things happened to our family that year.
Give us some examples of those wonderful and horrible events.
When I was digging for pirate treasure I uncovered a dead baby so my sisters and I formed a club to find its parents. It takes the whole book to get the answer. But there are lots of other high and low points: a food thief who gets into our cellar, a barn fire, my friend Pa Bear dies, and at the climax of our book, a child molester traps my sister and me and we are scared for our lives.
But you haven’t told me any of the wonderful things that happened to you.
On the 4th of July we went to a church picnic and as it was sunset, and the sky opens up with rainbows dancing and I could see dancers up there. I’d been seeing this all summer, but it was the first time other people saw it. Also, my sister’s wedding and Christmas were high points that year. Ma wouldn’t want me telling you this, but my sister got her comeuppance when she snuck off one night to go to a religious revival meeting. Our parents were furious; I got a bit gleeful about that.
Tell us about your life on the farm?
I have lots of imaginary friends: a boy from outer space name ZeeZee; two Pottawatomi Indian boys who used to live on our farm, and the sky dancers. Life on the farm can be boring, so I talk to the animals. I can speak Cow, Gopher, Dog, Cat, and Chicken. My favorite places are at the back of the second meadow and the crick. I try to catch pollywogs there, but you have to be careful because a rattlesnake might show up.
Why do you like the back of the second meadow?
There are oh, so many special things there. First, a wooden style that goes over the fence so you can take the trail through the woods to the crick. Then there’s an old bus that my uncle gave us. Also, there’s a foundation to an old log house; I think they used it to hide slaves during the Underground Railroad times. My family were all Quakers. I usually lie down in the foundation to that old house and talk to my imaginary friends. ZeeZee comes and sometimes we fly together to the top of the nearby old oak tree.
What is your favorite book?
Definitely PETER PAN. Ma and Pa gave it to me for Christmas that year. Mr. Goldberg, the peddler, had come around with his horse and cart filled with all kinds of stuff for sale. He’s one of my favorite people, Mr. Goldberg. Anyway, Ma bought it from him and I read it cover to cover many times. I especially like that Peter flies, just like ZeeZee and me.
What happens to you after the book is finished?
You’ll have to read the epilogue, set forty years later. There’ll be some surprises there.
When I got home from high school today, Jeepers, I knew immediately that something wasn’t right. Aunt Hazel and Ma were sitting out by the milk house on a couple of turned-over pails, and Irene and Nellie were sitting on the ground close by. All of them were looking towards the lane that goes down to the two meadows and onto the woods and crick. The county sheriff’s car sat empty near the silo. No one was talking.
Worried, I raced across the yard. Could Pa have gotten hurt? As I ran toward Ma I looked over at the west field and saw Ace and King hitched up to the wagon piled with brush. Rover was sleeping near the wagon.
It looked like Pa had finished about half of the field, but he was nowhere in sight. Pa never leaves the horses hitched up when he isn’t working. When he comes up for noontime dinner he al- ways puts them in the barnyard so they can rest, too. Naturally, I panicked.
When Ma saw me running over she jumped up and walked over to me, a strange look on her face.
“Is Pa all right?” I blurted out.
“Yes, yes,” Ma answered. “He and Elmer are down in the woods with Sheriff Devlon.” Nellie pushed me aside and threw her arms around Ma’s legs.
“Nellie thinks there’s a dead baby in the woods,” Irene piped up, all knowingly. “The Sheriff’s gone with them to look at it. Who in their right mind would bury a baby in that woods? Nellie musta gotten it all mixed up.”
BUY LINK:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/THREADS-Depression-Tale-Charlotte-Whitney-ebook/dp/B07ZBN35JF/ref
Author’s Website: http://www.charlottewhitney.com
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a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteGreat post - thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteVistoria,
DeleteThanks. I hope you enjoy THREADS.
Thank you for hosting my book, THREADS, today.
ReplyDeleteI love your website.
Good morning and thank you for the book description and giveaway.
ReplyDeleteHi James,
DeleteFingers crossed. I recently won a great book in a giveaway.
All the best,
Charlotte
Sounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteI really like the cover!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very good book.
ReplyDelete