This book, Grammercy Park by Paula Cohen, was published six years ago and I came across it by accident via - if you liked X, you'll like Y - and something about the cover or the title intrigued me enough to read the description and then order the book and then read the book.
And loved it. I started "hand yelling" it as I call what I do and have been astounded how few people have heard of it. I did some research on the authors and she doesn't have a website and it doesn't look like she's been published since.
I plan to write her publisher and ask them to pass on a note - but in the mean time if anyone knows Paula Cohen, please tell her she has a new fan.
As regular readers of this blog know, I am not a reviewer and don't try. I do agree completely with what PW said about this book in 2001.
"Smart, tender, witty and titillatingly libidinous, Cohen's debut fiction is a credit to the genre of the historical novel. Set in 1894 in the eponymous Manhattan enclave at a time when Mrs. Astor ruled New York society, the novel boasts vivid characters, both sublime and nasty, and a sly and absorbing plot embroidered with period details."
In the non fiction department.
This is a good example of a publisher doing a great job of matching a title to a blogger.
The Scene Book by Sandra Scofield arrived just as I was about to start the second draft of my curring WIP. I love stopping between drafts and reading a few craft books to re-energize my thinking. Often I read The Art of Fiction by John Gardner in-between drafts. This time I read Scofield. And it was just the refresher course I needed. A way of looking at writing and crafting scenes that was presented in a fresh way that I found inspirational.
It's an excellent book.
Not just for the new author, but for the novelist who keep working at the craft and trying to improve.
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