Amy and George, a wise new novel by Ann McLaughlin

Amy & George is the latest novel by my dear friend Ann McLaughlin, who I admire more than I can say. If you're anywhere near Washington DC this Sunday September 22, 2013, don't miss her reading at Politics & Prose at 1 pm.

Here's what I said about it qua blurb:

Once again, with charm and heart, McLaughlin brings to life a tumultuous period of U.S. history as she probes and delves into a father-daughter relationship that is sometimes a seesaw, sometimes a dance. This is a wise novel.

Oh, and isn't this a ka-pow of a cover? Covers are so crucial! (Ask me about the cover for the Spanish edition of my short stories and you'll know I don't use Botox.) Seriously, this is one of the best covers I've seen, perfectly elegant and perfect for the narrative itself.

More anon.

UPDATE: Read the interview / profile of Ann McLaughlin in the Gazette.

COMMENTS always welcome

Ruth Levy Guyer's "A Life Interrupted: The Long Night of Marjorie Day"

>> READ THIS POST ON THE NEW PLATFORM WWW.MADAM-MAYO.COM 

A few weeks ago I happened to be wandering around Politics & Prose Bookstore, Washington DC's venerable go-to place for the latest chewy policy tomes, when, in the second room, I came upon Opus, the book-making contraption. It struck me rather as a beached whale. Not breathing. But there was a little stack of books that had come out of its maw... I picked up the one on top, A Life Interrupted by Ruth Levy Guyer, and began reading. By the time I got to page 10 or so, I realized, ah, time to buy it and go finish it over a cup of coffee. Or three. Or four.

Wow.

First of all it's beautifully written, very deeply researched, and strange. It's the true story of Marjorie Day, "Daysey," a bright Wellesley graduate studying in England in the 1920s who came down with sleeping sickness which left her zombie-like and beset by delusions. And then... seventeen years later, after a horrifying odyssey of hospitals and mental institutions, she woke up. Permanently. She then proceeded to have a very nice and very long life as a teacher and then retiree in Georgetown, DC. Even more bizarrely, she never knew that what she'd been suffering from all those years was encephalitis lethargica-- neither her doctor nor her family told her.

The author wrote to Oliver Sacks, whose book and the movie based on his book, tell the story of the victims of sleeping sickness who were woken up, decades later, but only temporarily, by L-dopa.

I asked Sacks if he had ever seen a patient like Daysey, who had recovered completely and permanently.

"I have never seen anything like this in my own practice," he wrote back.

(What in blazes is the state of U.S. publishing that a book of this quality is self-published?)

More anon.

Comments

Leaving Bayberry House by Ann McLaughlin

My amiga Washington DC novelist Ann L. McLaughlin has a beautiful new novel just out: Leaving Bayberry House (John Daniel & Co.) about two sisters, Liz and Angie, who meet at their parents house to prepare it for sale. From the publisher's synopsis:

Liz, the older sister, is a Farsi translator who travels often to the Middle East, while Angie is a potter married to a professor and has two teenaged children. They are besieged by memories in the house, where their father, a charismatic Unitarian minister, committed suicide. Angie, who was in the house at the time, has not returned in the twenty-eight years since it happened. She suffered a breakdown and Liz worries that her illness could return.

The novel spans the week the sisters are in the house together. Both women evade revealing their current problems: Angie is worried about her daughter, who lives in a commune, and Liz is worried about her marriage, since her husband has threatened divorce. As the week goes on the sisters talk openly and begin to build trust. The crisis comes when the daughter, two hippie friends, and an elderly, judgmental aunt shelter in the house during a storm.

The parallel story concerns the father’s decline during World War ll and its affect on the sisters. As a pacifist, he anguishes over the horrors of the war, has an affair, and is voted out of his church. Deeply depressed by the death of his son, who is killed in action, by his wife’s death from cancer, and by the news of Hiroshima, he takes his life. The sisters confront this event together finally in the place where it happened, and although their own problems remain unsolved, they feel a new love and support for each other.

Ann McLaughlin grew up in Cambridge., MA and graduated from Radcliffe College in 1952. She received her Ph.D. in Literature and Philosophy from American University in 1978. She has taught for twenty-five years at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD, where she is on the board.

If you're anywhere near the Washington DC area, be sure to catch one of her readings:

Sunday, May 16, 2 pm The Writer's Center, Bethesda
Sunday, May 23, 1 pm Politics and Prose Bookstore
Tuesday, June 15, 7 pm American University Library

More information at www.annmclaughlinwriting.com

More anon.

Gravity Dancers: Even More Fiction by Washington Area Women, edited by Richard Peabody

Viva Richard! Richard Peabody's latest anthology of Washington DC women writers, Gravity Dancers, has just been published and was launched with a standing-room only reading / celebration at Politics & Prose last Sunday. Check out the fiction by Maud Casey, Dylan Landis, Katharine Davis, Helen Hooper, Elisavietta Ritchie, Lynn Stearns, Paula Whyman, Laura Zam, and many more. And is this not a bulls-eye of a cover? The painting is by Sheep Jones; book design by Nita Congress.

The other Peabody anthologies of Washington women writers are:
Grace and Gravity
Enhanced Gravity
Electric Grace

P.S. You can read "Manta Ray," my short story from Grace and Gravity, in its entirety here.

More anon.

Mexican Cultural Institute of Washington DC: The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire

Herewith a few photos of the launch event for my new novel the other day in the beautiful music room at the Mexican Cultural Institute of Washington DC (Instituto de Mexico). It was an honor indeed to be introduced by the Institute's Director, the Mexican Embassy's Cultural Attache, Alejandra De La Paz, and then by Professor John Tutino, Chair of the History Department at Georgetown University. After his very kind introduction (and some amusing thoughts about how confoundingly complicated 19th century Mexican history is--- and its essentially transnational nature), I read a few sections from The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire--- in particular, the opening, set in Rosedale; the scene with Ambassador General Almonte in the White House levee; and the "high noon" of the Mexican Empire (to quote journalist William Wells), an 1865 ball in Mexico's Imperial Palace. I also talked about how The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire is, for several reasons, a very Washingtonian story and at the same time, a story that goes into a very deep vein--- in fact, if tangentially, it is a story about what it means to be Mexican. Some excerpts from my talk:

The Second Empire was an assertion by the French, by the Catholic Church, and a large number of Mexican conservatives, that Mexicans were properly subjects of a crown. The Jaurista, Republican response--- ultimately victorious--- was that, no, Mexicans are citizens. Citizens of a Republic.

The prince as a person is not the main character; rather, it is the prince as the living symbol of an idea--- the idea that the Mexican Empire could continue into the future.

And yet, it is a very Washingtonian story on many levels, for it begins in Washington, with the prince's mother... What all of the histories of the Second Empire have missed is that she was not only a Washingtonian but she was from a very prominent Washington family. She was not an ordinary person. This explains a lot about what happened--- the arrangement she and her husband and his family made with Maximilian and later, when she wanted her little boy back, the wherewithal she had to get up what was truly an international scandal. She took the matter to General Bazaine, Supreme Commander of the French forces in Mexico, then, after her arrest and expulsion from Mexico, all the way to U.S. Secretary of State Seward, then to Paris, to U.S. Minister John Bigelow, who was in constant contact with the highest levels of the French Imperial Government! She even got the matter on the front page of the New York Times-- claiming Maximilian had "kidnapped an American child."

What an honor indeed to see the wife of Mexico's ambassador in the front row! And so many Mexican friends and Mexico buffs and Mexico experts, Barbara Tenenbaum, Andrew Selee, and also the gals from my writers group-- Kathleen Currie, Kate Blackwell (You Won't Remember This), Mary Kay Zuravleff (The Bowl is Already Broken)--- translator of Mexican poetry and amazing poet herself, Brandel France de Bravo (Provenance), travel writer L. Peat O'Neil, visionary librarian Jane Kinney Meyers, novelists Fred Reuss, Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Joyce Hackett, Mexican award-winning short story writer Luis Felipe Lomeli, DC's own Poetry Goddess, Kim Roberts, and Dan Vera--- and thanks so much Dan, for sharing these photos of the event. It was also such an honor to see my editor, Greg Michalson, and his partner at Unbridled Books, Fred Ramey--- and last, but most importantly, my husband, to whom the book is dedicated.

The venerable Politics & Prose handled the booksales, and I was very sorry to disappoint friends that they ran out of books!! I understand they have more in the bookstore. (Click here for general information about ordering.)



P.S. All photos are courtesy of Dan Vera.

And for those of you in Washington DC area who don't know the Mexican Cultural Institute, be sure to visit their website and get on their mailing list--- it's such a beautiful venue, close to the metro, and always busy with cornucopia of concerts, shows, readings, cooking demonstrations, and screenings. It is a jewel on the cultural scene here in Washington.

I'll be reading this Sunday at 2 pm at the Writers Center in Bethesda MD--- and more info and more events are listed here. More anon.

The Real Deal, War Stories & More: Peabody's Electric Grace with Rose Solari and Washington DC Women Writers, December 5th

My amigo Richard Peabody's felicitous invitation to all & sundry!

Electric Grace: Still More Fiction by Washington Area Women will launch at Politics & Prose on Wednesday December 5th at 7pm. Rose Solari (poet, essayist, teacher, whose fiction was featured in Enhanced Gravity, the 2nd volume in the trilogy) will MC a panel of contributors: Michelle Brafman, Merle Collins, T. Greenwood, Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Faye Moskowitz, Barbara Mujica, Jessica Neely, Amy Stolls, Hananah Zaheer, and Christy J. Zink. These ten will read a paragraph from their work as a warm-up and then Rose will guide the panel via her own questions and audience questions re. their writing experiences in DC area and beyond. A great opportunity to hear the real deal about the writing/publishing biz, writing with kids, spouses, et al., realistic expectations, women’s roles (now and then), and war stories. The panel is a combo of established writers and relative newcomers. If it’s anything like the past two launches this should be a blast. Everybody should have ample time to vent, rant, share, laugh, and tell choice anecdotes. It’s like a literary reunion and a gathering of the tribes. Hope you can make it.
Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave NW, WDC 20008
(202) 364-1919
www.politics-prose.comBook lists for $18.95 and features 42 women writers. 435pp. Copies will be available at the launch, from our site, and via Amazon.com and the Writer’s Center.

Yours Truly MC'ed the last of Richard Peabody's Washington Women Writers anthologies, Enhanced Gravity, and has a short story in the first one, Grace and Gravity. Read my blog post about them here. More anon.

Soundwork: Your Brain on Music

This looks like an interesting book. There is a lauch event at Washington DC's Politics & Prose bookstore on the 29th.

Young J. Edgar Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties

My amigo Kenneth D. Ackerman is about to kick-off his timely and sure-to-be-excellent new book, Young J. Edgar Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties at Washington DC's Politics and Prose Bookstore, Saturday, May 12, 6 p.m. And he's begun blogging. Check out "Coffee with Ken." His latest post: "What Does History Say About George Bush, Alberto Gonzalez and the Eight Fred Prosecutors? Just Ask Richard Nixon and Warren G. Harding."