By: Rene Denfeld,
on 2/27/2014
Describe your latest book. The Enchanted is a story narrated by a man on death row. The novel was inspired by my work as a death penalty investigator and some of the questions I face. Why do people do such terrible things to each other? What is the meaning of redemption? While the setting is [...]
By: Beth Kephart ,
on 10/11/2012
There was a certain uncanniness Angelene felt opening her closet in the morning, her oatmeal-colored dress hanging in the space on its hanger, her workboots leaning against each other on the porch. (You turned them over and shook them, knocked them on the post, for mice.) The narrow bed with its purple, red, and green quilt, the bedside table with its jar of rocks, piled books. The porcelain basin near the window where she washed her face, the pitcher with the brown rose painted on it, the large crack like a vein in the bottom of the basin. The apricot orchard, the buzzing bees like a haze in spring. The barn–the smell of hay and manure, grease, old leather. The sun streaming through the slats. The mule's nose in her palm.
All of these things she kept inside herself, constantly rearranged them, to create her happiness. Being alone, she was able to see each thing more clearly. Although there was fear in solitude, somehow this only made things sharper.
By: Amanda Coplin,
on 8/23/2012
A lot of people have asked if and how my own life experience relates to The Orchardist, and this is something I want to address because it leads to another, broader exploration about life experience and fiction, which I've been thinking about a lot lately. I was born in Wenatchee, Washington, in 1981. I spent [...]
Say no more. This is the next novel I must read. Thank you, Beth.
Just read the first couple of paragraphs and I am hooked. Thanks, Beth.