So I've really enjoyed working on my YA Leprechaun book (mentioned in the Interview with Me from January 2014). But it does feel a bit like I'm being disloyal to my genre, up-market women's fiction. And it is a genre I love and where I spend most of my time reading. So I've resurrected a book that I began a few years ago that is firmly in my core wheelhouse, and one that I believe has the potential to meet the high standards of my readers because it is a complex novel that, if done right, will have tremendous heart and depth.
Currently untitled, my new novel is about Tony Ramirez, a Cuban immigrant whose family fled Cuba in 1962, soon after Castro's regime took over. After a tragedy rocks his family, he discovers that he actually fled his birth country, not with his family as he originally thought, but in the care of his oldest brother Pedro. They were evacuated as part of Operation Pedro Pan (in English, Peter Pan), a crusade by the Catholic Church to save Cuban children and orphans by helping them escape to the United States. As his journey takes him into the past and to beautiful, tortured Cuba, only the friendship of his best friend Beth can help him unlock the secrets that will change his world. But while he searches his soul, and his past, for answers, his heart becomes involved in ways he could never imagine. And maybe, in the midst of pain and complicated decisions, he just might find the love he's always hoped for.
Sound good? I think it has the potential to be wonderful! But it will take a ton of research and some good old blood, sweat and tears. Oh, if only I didn't have a day job!! :)
Currently untitled, my new novel is about Tony Ramirez, a Cuban immigrant whose family fled Cuba in 1962, soon after Castro's regime took over. After a tragedy rocks his family, he discovers that he actually fled his birth country, not with his family as he originally thought, but in the care of his oldest brother Pedro. They were evacuated as part of Operation Pedro Pan (in English, Peter Pan), a crusade by the Catholic Church to save Cuban children and orphans by helping them escape to the United States. As his journey takes him into the past and to beautiful, tortured Cuba, only the friendship of his best friend Beth can help him unlock the secrets that will change his world. But while he searches his soul, and his past, for answers, his heart becomes involved in ways he could never imagine. And maybe, in the midst of pain and complicated decisions, he just might find the love he's always hoped for.
Sound good? I think it has the potential to be wonderful! But it will take a ton of research and some good old blood, sweat and tears. Oh, if only I didn't have a day job!! :)