Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by A Daily Rhythm.
Today’s featured book is one that has been hiding on Pippa, my Kindle, since July 2014. I think it’s about time to bring it out. Flying Shoes, by Lisa Howorth, is a book about family and memory and one woman’s flight from a wounded past.
Intro: Mary Byrd Thornton knew that breaking things was not a good, adult response to getting sudden, scary news about a terrible thing in the past, a thing buried with the dead and kicked to the curb of consciousness; but that was what she’d done anyway.
She’d been unloading the dishwasher, killing time until school let out and half-listening to NPR. The IRA had broken a truce and bombed London, unwanted rape babies—“enfants mauvais souvenir,” NPR called them—from the massacres in Rwanda over the past two years were abandoned and dying, some scientist was predicting global chaos, calling it Y2K—planes would be falling from the sky and subway trains colliding in the year 2000. Basically it was the usual news; what she and her brothers called every new day’s headlines: More Dead Everywhere. It always seemed like the world was a kitchen full of leaking gas just waiting for the careless match.
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Teaser: But too much contentment made Mary Byrd discontent; too much comfort made her uncomfortable. She wasn’t much used to happiness and security. Before her children, there’d been a medical student she liked because he did little but study, fish, and shoot ducks (p. 73).
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Synopsis: Mary Byrd Thornton could understand how a reporter couldn’t resist the story: a nine-year-old boy sexually molested and killed on Mother’s Day, 1966. A suspect to whom nothing would stick. A neighborhood riddled with secrets. No one, especially the bungling or complicit authorities, had been able to solve the crime. Now, thirty years later, the reporter’s call will reel a reluctant Mary Byrd from Mississippi back to Virginia where she must confront her family-and, once again, the murder’s irremovable stain of tragedy.
Lisa Howorth’s remarkable Flying Shoes is a work of fiction, but the murder is based on the still-unsolved case of her stepbrother, a front page story in the Washington Post. And yet this is not a crime novel; it is an honest and luminous story of a particular time and place in the South, where even calamitous weather can be a character, everyone has a story, and all are inextricably entwined. With a flamboyant cast, splendid dark humor, a potent sense of history, and a shocking true story at its heart, Flying Shoes is a rich and candid novel from a fresh new voice about family and memory and one woman’s flight from a wounded past.
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What do you think? Should I resurrect this one off the dark corners of my Kindle? Would you keep reading?
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I’m intrigued from the intro you shared, Laurel-Rain. Sometimes listening to the news I feel as if there is only death—so I understand that expression she and her brothers used. I wonder though what it is she heard that day that made her break something. That is pretty drastic. The synopsis you shared has me even more curious. This sounds so interesting!
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Thanks, Wendy, I wonder what led to the breakage, too. Enjoy your book!
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Sounds like a fascinating story! I like the cover a lot too!
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Thanks, Freda, and I am glad to finally bring out the books I’ve had for a while.
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Oh Laurel, I really want to read this, love the opening and the synopsis and it’s going to have to go on the wishlist – can’t wait to read your review!
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I know that I was drawn to it a while back, or I wouldn’t have bought it…so glad I can finally plan to read it soon. Thanks for stopping by, Cleopatra.
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Yes, that sounds intriguing.
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Thanks, Suzie, I am eager to find out more, too.
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I liked this book — hope you do too. Love that you’re rediscovering the books already living on your eReader.
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Thanks, Candace, and I’m glad to hear you liked it. My plan for this year is to start reading more of the books I’ve bought, although there will still be some review books. Maybe not as many?
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Hmm, curious about what caused her to react that way. I haven’t heard of this one –enjoy
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Thanks, Diane, and I don’t remember where I first heard of this one, but now I hope to explore it…and soon.
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Ooh I’m definitely intrigued as well. I love the beginning, the way it already tells you something bad has happened but then lets the reader linger for a while. I should probably also go trawling through my Kindle to see what gems I have hidden there! Thanks for sharing 🙂 I hope you have a great week!
My Tuesday Post
Juli @ Universe in Words
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I don’t think I’ve heard of this one either. However, it is definitely one I’d like to try. Thanks for sharing it! And good for ‘finding’ hidden books on your Kindle. 🙂
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It is harder to find my books on my Paperwhite, since most of them are in the Cloud. But they’re easy to retrieve. Thankfully, I have, at the ready, a list of the books I’ve purchased in 2014, as well as 2015, so that I can work my way through them. Thanks for stopping by, Kay.
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I’m glad I’m not the only one that has books hiding on their ereader. I found several surprises over the holidays. Girl Who Reads
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I love that they can be there when we look for them, but it’s too bad that they have to “languish” for so long…LOL. Thanks for stopping by, Donna.
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This one looks really good. An unusual title, based on a true story, mystery, intrigue how can you go wrong. I’d read on. Plus you already own it, so why not?
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I know! That’s the best part, Judy…it’s already mine, and I just had to retrieve it. Thanks for stopping by.
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I’ve been trying to “declutter” my Kindle too! This sounds like a good story and one that I’d enjoy. I like the comparison of the world situation to a gas leak in the kitchen. Clever.
My Tuesday post features JEWEL.
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It’s less exhausting to declutter the Kindle than it was to purge my other bookshelves this past year…LOL.
I like that comparison, too, Sandra. Thanks for stopping by.
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“But too much contentment made Mary Byrd discontent; too much comfort made her uncomfortable.”
I cannot even begin to express you how many times I wrestle with these very emotions – I think it is because I place too much focus and thought in the events surrounding the third world countries. I’d love to know more about Mary’s character arc, she intrigues me.
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Yes, I have had those feelings, too, Claudia…thanks for stopping by and sharing.
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I feel for the family. What a way to have a painful past brought back.
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I agree, Alice Audrey…thanks for stopping by!
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Though quite a disturbing topic – it seems like one I would read!
Thanks for coming by my teaser today!
http://mydogearedpurpose.com/2016/01/05/teaser-tuesday-january-5th-2016/
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Yes, sometimes disturbing topics can help us through our own problems. Thanks for stopping by, Kaitlyn.
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too emotionally tough for me am afraid, BUT the cover is so gorgeous!
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Thanks for stopping by, Emma, and I can understand those feelings.
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This does sound like quite an intriguing story. My teaser comes from The Bitter Season by Tami Hoag. Happy reading!
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Thanks, Kathy, and I like the sound of your book, too.
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I love that this is based on a true story…I’m a sucker for fiction based on true crime!
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I like fictionalized true stories, too. Thanks for stopping by, Sarah.
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The book and author are new to me, but I am intrigued by the beginning paragraphs. I’d like the look back a couple of decades. I’d keep reading.
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New to me, too, Margot, and I hope to love it.
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Wow! I like the writing in this one, so far; thanks for sharing it and, yes, I think you should pull it from the depths – ha!
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Good idea, Tara….time to read it! Thanks for stopping by.
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I like the opening and want to know more! It looks like a really interesting novel. Thanks for stopping by my blog today!
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Thanks, Monica, and I’m eager to find out what happens.
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I’d keep reading. It sounds like an interesting read. Here’s my intro/teaser: http://wp.me/p4DMf0-16A
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Thanks, Ms. M….I am excited about it, too.
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Oh, I like both of these. That first passage is why I don’t really watch or listen to the news much anymore. It seems like everything in the world is just so awful, and there isn’t much I can do about it. It’s not a good feeling.
Happy reading!
Denise
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I have the same feeling about the news…there is a tendency to over-dramatize events, and go over the details repetitively. Not a fan of the news!
Thanks for stopping by, Denise.
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Great teaser. I’d want to read more.
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Thanks, Yvonne, I am eager to read this one, too.
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I’ve got a hard cover copy of this book languishing somewhere. It does sound good!
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Oh, how great! It is fun to hold a hard copy book in your hands, Catherine. Enjoy!
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