Today I’m happy to welcome Saundra Mitchell to my blog, to tell answer a few questions about her recently released debut novel Shadowed Summer.
I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy of this book a few months ago. Here’s what I said over on Goodreads:
There are books that I love for the intricate plots and books that I love for the beautiful prose. And then there are the books that have both. Shadowed Summer is one of these. I wanted to race through the book to find out why the ghost of a boy named Elijah is haunting 14-year-old Iris, and to find out the truth about what happened to him. But I also wanted to linger over the little vivid details, beautiful and funny and precise and real.
This is a ghost story that will be haunting me for a while yet.
Q: Tell us about a scene or character from your novel that was especially easy (or especially difficult) to write.
A: The scene where my main character Iris realizes if her friendship with Collette is going to survive that they have to become more than the childhood games they played together- that scene was hard.
It’s something I still have trouble wrapping my head around sometimes- that there are moments when you alone have to be enough. Scary, scary stuff.
Q: What is your favorite (or one of your favorite) myths or fairy-tales, and why?
A: Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite fairy tale, and I think it lines up nicely with my favorite myth- the kidnapping of Persephone. I don’t know, I just find it really fascinating to ponder how far love should go- and how far it shouldn’t.
Q: What has been the most exciting part of selling your book(s) and getting published so far?
A: I have so enjoyed getting to meet other authors. I’m a pretty solitary creature, so stumbling into this incredible, vibrant community has been wicked exciting for me!
About Shadowed Summer
Nothing ever happened in Ondine, Louisiana, not even the summer Elijah Landry disappeared. His mother knew he ascended to heaven, the police believed he ran away, and his girlfriend thought he was murdered.
Decades later, certain she saw his ghost in the town cemetery, fourteen-year-old Iris Rhame is determined to find out the truth behind “The Incident With the Landry Boy.”
Enlisting the help of her best friend Collette, and forced to endure the company of Collette’s latest crush, Ben, Iris spends a summer digging into the past and stirring old ghosts, in search of a boy she never knew.
What she doesn’t realize is that in a town as small as Ondine, every secret is a family secret.
You can visit Saundra at her website or at the Shadowed Summer website.
Shadowed Summer is available now! I encourage you to shop at your local independant bookseller.
Tags: debs blog tour
