In this episode of Bookable Space, we’re joined by Lacy Fewer. Lacy readds to us from Yankeeland and talks about writing heartache, family history, living out dreams on the page, and connecting with the past.

About Yankeeland:

Brigid feels hindered by the strict society of her small Irish town in the early 1900’s and dreams of a new life in the land of opportunity they call Yankeeland—America. Brigid’s quest to have a child see’s her mental stability questioned. Caught up in a patriarchal medical establishment she has little power to fight. The new life in America Brigid dreamed about takes a drastic turn. Decades later Brigid’s grandniece discovers a sack full of letters which unravels the story and vows to tell the tale of what really happened to Brigid in Yankeeland.

About the author:

Lacy Fewer is a native of Dublin, Ireland. A graduate of University College Dublin, she has enjoyed a career in banking and finance. Following her passion for storytelling she has shifted her focus to writing. Yankeeland is her debut novel and was inspired by the discovery of her grandaunt's letter, which haunted her. She lives in Meath with her husband and children.

For information about Yvonne's books, events, and more vist https://www.yvonnebattlefelton.com/ or sign up to Yvonne's Substack https://yvonnebattlefelton.substack.com/

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In this episode of Bookable Space we’re joined by Joyce Yarrow. Joyce reads to us from Zahara and the Lost Books of Light. We talk about writing the past, inspiration, and bringing places to life through research and imagination.

About the book

Journalist Alienor Crespo discovers a trove of irreplaceable books rescued from the flames of the Spanish Inquisition. Using her gift of second sight, Alienor exploits her knowledge of the past to confront extremists, who are bent on destroying all evidence of harmony between Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval Spain. The future of the underground library of Zahara is at stake as well as the lives of its protectors. Selected as Best Book in Historical Fiction by the PenCraft Award for Literary Excellence, Zahara and the Lost Books of Light will hold you spellbound until the end.

For information about Yvonne's books, events, and more vist https://www.yvonnebattlefelton.com/ or sign up to Yvonne's Substack https://yvonnebattlefelton.substack.com/

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In this episode of Bookable Space, we’re joined by Eric Grandy. Eric reads to us from Accidental Paradise and talks about writing books where good people make good decisions.

About the author

Eric Grandy was born and raised in Baltimore. After graduating from City College and from Essex Community College, he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and played six years for them. He went on to be a photographer, lab manager, driver for DHL and warehouse manager. Today he writes full time.

About the book

In Accidental Paradise, natural talent, hard work, and a childhood friend help LaVern Whitaker find her calling as an actress. When her life becomes overwhelming, they discover a small, North Carolina town where her true identity can remain unknown and she can stay out of the spotlight. The more she visits her secret getaway, the more deeply she feels connected to the history, the lifestyle, and the people. Could this place be her home away from home, or become the home she has dreamed of? Or will sinister forces rip it all away?

For information about Yvonne's books, events, and more vist https://www.yvonnebattlefelton.com/ or sign up to Yvonne's Substack https://yvonnebattlefelton.substack.com/

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In this episode of Bookable Space, we’re joined by Ilana Debare. Ilana reads to us from Shaken Loose and Shaken Free. It’s an interesting discussion about writing Hell, researching and developing characters, and more.

About the author

Ilana DeBare is a former newspaper reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and Sacramento Bee. She’s author of a nonfiction book, Where Girls Come First: The Rise, Fall, and Surprising Revival of Girls’ Schools, as well as two fantasy novels, Shaken Loose and Shaken Free. She lives in Oakland, California.

About the book

Annie Maple, a 29-year-old college dropout, dies and goes to Hell. Trying to escape, she learns Hell is a profoundly unjust place filled both with truly evil people and billions of decent souls who simply didn’t happen to be Christian. Seeking the courage to transcend her past failures, Annie must choose between returning to life and challenging this system of divine injustice.

Readers can find Shaken Loose and Shaken Free either online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Bookshop.org, or by ordering from their local independent bookstore. Links to order online are also on my website at ilanadebare.com

For information about Yvonne's books, events, and more vist https://www.yvonnebattlefelton.com/ or sign up to Yvonne's Substack https://yvonnebattlefelton.substack.com/

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In this episode of Bookable Space, Lucie Andre reads to us from Never Ready and talks about writing about the Aids crisis, what writing NYC and memory make possible, writing as a time capsule and more.

About the Author: Lucie André moved to New York with a BA from UVa and few skills beyond waitressing and reading. Her love of art, people, and art-people led her to fundraising for some of the city’s best organizations.

In Atlanta she and her husband renovated a house and raised a daughter, as shebuilt a consulting business and dreamed of being a writer.

Now in Baltimore, she is.

About the book:

Never Ready is a New York coming of age

Precocious Henrietta Drake knows it’s weird if your mother is your best friend. When her mom decamps for a Swiss psychiatric hospital, things really unravel.

Henri isn’t thrilled about a senior year with only her architecturally obsessed dad and is shocked when he suggests she drop out and head for the West Village.

The only catch is she has to live with a half sister she barely knows and work for a dance company she’s never heard of.

As the orbit of design and dance around American Genius Mark Carpenter collides with an epidemic, it reveals the tough, tender secrets of dysfunctional art families. Now Henri must confront their contradictions and fragility, not to mention her own.

Never Ready features an anxious heroine curating her own life. Art helps her hang on, but is she ready for more goodbyes?

For information about Yvonne's books, events, and more vist https://www.yvonnebattlefelton.com/ or sign up to Yvonne's Substack https://yvonnebattlefelton.substack.com/

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In this episode of Bookable Space, we’re joined by Carolyn Korsmeyer reading from Riddle of Spirit and Bone. Carolyn talks to us about influences for the book, writing and researching places you know well, what location makes possible, and more.

About Riddle of Spirit and Bone

The discovery of a skeleton buried beneath a city sidewalk leads a group of student archaeologists to the nineteenth century spiritualist movement and the journey of three women seeking answers from beyond the grave. As the past collides with the present, layers of time peel back to reveal long-buried secrets of loss, love, and murder.

Author bio:

Carolyn Korsmeyer’s previous two novels include a narrative set in Jane Austen’s England and a mystery set in Krakow at the turn of the millennium. She lives in Buffalo, New York, where half of the dual timeline of Riddle of Spirit and Bone takes place.

For information about Yvonne's books, events, and more vist https://www.yvonnebattlefelton.com/ or sign up to Yvonne's Substack https://yvonnebattlefelton.substack.com/

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For information about Yvonne's books, events, and more vist https://www.yvonnebattlefelton.com/ or sign up to Yvonne's Substack https://yvonnebattlefelton.substack.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Bookable Space, we're joined by Wendy Pratt. Wendy reads from The Ghost Lake and talks about what she learned about herself and the world around us while writing this moving memoir about grief, place, and the natural world.

About the author:

Wendy Pratt is a poet, author, editor and workshop facilitator living and working on the North Yorkshire coast, where she grew up. She is the author of five collections of poetry. Her latest collection When I Think of My Body as a Horse (Smith|Doorstop Books) won the Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet award in 2021. She is the founder and editor in chief of Spelt Magazine, and runs courses and workshops at York Centre for Lifelong Learning.

About the book:

A memoir of grief, nature and ancestry in rural Yorkshire.

I am setting out on a pilgrimage through an ancient landscape.

I will begin at my daughter’s grave.

Paleolake Flixton is an extinct lake in North Yorkshire. Human occupation of the site dates back thousands of years to prehistoric times. Over the millennia, the vast lake disappeared, turning to wetland and peaty fields. Today all that is left of it is a watermark.

Wendy Pratt brings the reader on a pilgrimage around the ghost lake, to locations that have acted as journey markers in her own life. While traversing forests and fenland, she reflects on the process of finding belonging in nature as a woman who exists in a series of liminal spaces – as a working-class writer, an infertile woman in a fertile world and a bereaved mother in a society focused on children.

An early draft of The Ghost Lake was longlisted for the 2021 Nan Shepherd Prize.

For information about Yvonne's books, events, and more vist https://www.yvonnebattlefelton.com/ or sign up to Yvonne's Substack https://yvonnebattlefelton.substack.com/

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