Indie Spotlight: General Fiction and Poetry Part 1

In this monthly roundup of BookLife titles, we feature general fiction and poetry. Want to see your book featured? Check out the Indie Spotlight calendar at booklife.com/indiespotlight.

 

Eleanor's Song

Susan K. Field

ASIN B0CJ43XZCS

 

Author statement: "Eleanor’s Song is a coming-of-age thriller and, above all, a story of redemption and hope. Inspired by true events and set amid the backdrop of the Great Depression and World War II, Eleanor Owens learns lessons about the ties that make a family strong, how to endure, and about her own resolve. Writing this novel proved to be a balancing act as I decided what true incidents to include and how to maintain the integrity of real life people while creating fictitious events and plot. My primary sources included interviews with women, personal letters, and photographs. Secondary sources comprised published articles, books, print archives, maps, and websites."

 

Chrysteen Braun

ASIN B0CJ43XZCS

 

Author statement: "Unwed and pregnant, Ruth Ann Landry finds solace in the mountain town of Lake Arrowhead where she stays in one of the cabins owned by a man who becomes part of her future. The Maidservant in Cabin Number One is the beginning of the story of the cabins that, years later, Annie Parker eventually owns, when she too comes up to the mountains to start over. I got the idea for the series, which started out as a trilogy, when we owned a second home in Lake Arrowhead, California. I wanted to write about the peacefulness of the mountains, and I began the story with Annie, who just turned 80 and reflects on a time when she buys and restores 1920s era cabins."

 

Make the Dark Night Shine

Alan Lessik

ASIN B0CGYZF33J

 

Author statement: "Make the Dark Night Shine is a love letter from a father to the daughter he never met. In 1919, Kenzo Uchida and his partner Mitsu arrive in Constantinople to open the new Japanese Consulate. Kenzo meets Elisa, a feisty Ukrainian cigarette girl in a nightclub and she becomes his consort to hide his gay relationship while in Europe. The unlikely trio begin an adventure in the decadence of post-war Paris until disaster strikes. On the eve of WWII, he discovers that he has a daughter living with Elisa in New York. Inspired by the family story of my aunt Nina Uchida Friedberg, who discovered at age 91 that her father may have tried to find her 75 years earlier and believed for the first time in her life that her father really loved her, I wanted to create a tale that told his side of the long-lost love story of a father's unceasing love." 

 

Darla Nagel

ASIN  B0D81Z39XF

 

Author statement: "As Bethany, the baby sister of the family, steps up to support her sister-in-law and brother through their infertility and cancer diagnosis, she steps into the role of a gestational surrogate. Determined to push herself beyond her comfort zone, Bethany faces a year of medical and legal challenges. She thinks she's prepared for the emotional, physical, and family changes that come with her decision but is soon surprised by shifting family dynamics and even questions her own motivations for surrogacy. Is she building up her family, or is she building up herself? I wanted to show that surrogacy is a solution for infertility but not the perfect solution for every family or for every family problem. I have been curious about pregnancy and the first stages of life from a young age, and 'giving birth to' a book rather than a baby is within my abilities and comfort zone." 

 

 

 Leah Lindeman

ASIN B0D81Z39XF

 

Author statement: "World War II, 1943. The United States with Canada’s cooperation begins a secret construction of a highway and an oil pipeline in the northern territories that will fuel defense against a possible Japanese invasion. Men and women answer the call of the wild, More so, the stronger call of abundant money. Eleanor Mackenzie arrives in the north ready to stake her independence. One choice delivers a disastrous consequence that gravely alters the future she had envisioned for herself. Then comes a man who offers her a solution to keep her job, to keep her independence…but she must walk the road she would never have chosen. Will she keep her guard up and fight for her independence and freedom or lay down her arms for unconditional love?"

 

Jude Berman

ISBN ‎978-1-64742-788-7

 

Author statement: "Accused of dressing as a boy to study in the prestigious galleries of 18th-century Italy, child prodigy Angelica Kauffman is determined to become a history painter, a career off-limits to women. To ensure her success, she has vowed never to marry. Will she break free from the traditional male/female binary and the many oppressive social dictates of her time and learn to 'paint with her soul'...or is a vow of a different sort necessary if she is to answer the deepest call of her heart? I wrote The Vow to elevate a strong, accomplished woman artist who was largely lost to history. Young women today need more such role models."

 

Teresa H. Janssen   

ISBN 978-1-64742-583-8

 

Author statement: “As Josie Belle Gore, daughter of a Louisiana train engineer and Texas seamstress, journeys with her itinerant family through the deserts of the boom-and-bust American West and revolutionary Mexico, she learns that some things in life are constant: the preciousness of water and that her role in her family is to save it. A tale of loss, hope, and forgiveness, The Ways of Water is a heart-warming story of a resilient young woman charting her course in a dramatically new world.  This story is inspired by the young life of my spirited grandmother and of a tumultuous time in the early west."

 

 

Whispers in a Phone Booth:  A Depression-Era Tale of Danger and Deception

J. Daniel Reed

ASIN B0CQD5FQHT

 

Author statement: "Whispers in a Phone Booth takes place in the same Chicago northside neighborhood that was the first American home to my grandparents upon their emigration out of eastern Europe. They all met and married in Chicago. I use the historical fiction genre because it allows me to share a story my father told me of a harrowing event he witnessed in Chicago as a 17-year-old. Part of the description of the incident is based on my father’s exact words."

 

 

Depths Untrodden

Fizza Younis

ASIN B0C6C6YDHL

 

Author statement: "Depths Untrodden is a journey toward healing. I wrote and designed the illustrated book via Canva. It's a book I'm most proud of because I explored new ideas while writing it. In this collection of poems, I have explored the themes of freedom, equality, and acceptance in a world that often denies them. I have used vivid imagery, powerful metaphors, and illustrations to express personal and social struggles. From the depths of oppression to the heights of liberation, these poems invite the reader to join me on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment."

 

Older, Wiser, Shorter

Jane Seskin

ASIN B0C6C6YDHL

 

Author statement: "I’ve been poeming for more than 40 years. I hope readers will identify with the stories I tell and know they’re not alone in this process of growing older. That all of us age differently. And to some degree we still have the choice to create a full, rich life."

 

The Ones

 Amber Campbell 

 B0CB3LDQXS

 

Author statement: "Divided into three parts, The Ones is a heart-wrenching collection of modern poetry focusing on family, grief, friendship, and loss. This collection began after the passing of my father, which occurred a year after my miscarriage. I finally allowed myself the opportunity to feel the grief and anger without shame, and I spent a year putting these pieces together to form a semblance of the rocky journey we traverse during the most human of our emotions."