My debut novel is now released! Release! Ahhh what a great word. Excitement abounds as I announce that my new novel is now available. It was released on October, 19. This date is special to me because it is the birth date of my maternal grandmother. She was a reader and the one grandparent who I would talk to about reading.
It took forever to come up with a blurb. I told my friends that it was easier to write the entire novel than to try and write the small blurb that would get another interested in reading the book.
In Robin’s debut novel, the characters search for meaning in life and a place where all belong. A story that is a reminiscent mixture of Fried Green Tomatoes and At Home in Mitford, this novel portrays a loving sense of community and home. The rural North Carolina town of Pleasant Quarry becomes a place where all belong.
Readers of the book need to know that I am a country loving person. I grew up in the country around some of the best folk you can ever imagine. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t hard things going on in the South then, because I grew up during the Civil Rights Movement. The only thing I knew growing up was that I wanted to be a hippie because they focused on peace and love.
We grew up around people who told the truth and loved music. It was only later that I began to see and understand the greater struggles around me.
The community where I grew up focused on loving each other and protecting their children.
I’m sure this is one of the reasons I love rural settings so much. When you live in a rural setting, there is no need to be fake or put on airs. If someone did that growing up, it was always because they were “gettin’ too big for their britches.”
There were gays and lesbians in our community although I didn’t know them personally. I did not know of anyone being mean or unkind to those people. As a result, it was only natural that I wanted to grow up and live in a rural place. Later, I learned that the KKK was still active and that people in the area could hate many kinds of different people, I moved to the city for a time.
Still, my heart belongs to a more rural place. My love of nature and quiet is central to my well-being. For those of you who live in a city, I hope you will catch a glimpse of a place (maybe a time) that gives you pause from the busy-ness. For those who live in the countryside, I hope you recognize your neighbors and way of living. Most of all, my hope in writing this is to tell a good story.
