February 17, 2016
I, Robert, have watched Beryl work hard at writing for some years. She has written beautiful poetry, many short articles and produced countless [it seems to me] newsletters for various groups. But the novel is the big challenge she has worked to accomplish.
Set in 15th Century Spain, her first novel Far From a Pleasant Land was first published in May 2014. It had been in the works, however, for perhaps a decade. A first version was printed at Staples with a ring binding and read by a ladies’ book club. Good feedback was received including that it was too short, about 30,000 words short if memory serves. Beryl worked very hard on it in 2012 and 2013 but we learned that four more months of editing was not too much.
I don’t know how she had envisioned the trilogy so early on but as the second book, Toward a Dark Horizon, took form during 2014 and 2015 I witnessed a regularity in writing almost daily that was new. Clearly writing is a skill that is developed. So as of this writing the last of the editing and problems with the publisher are done and we are waiting for the first shipment of books and two book launches on March 5th.
The third book, When Doves Laughed, is in her head now. Not sure exactly how it will all resolve, or maybe it won’t. The title comes from a line in a Moorish poem from the time of Islamic Spain. The place and time of it’s writing may play an important part in the saga. Can’t wait to find out.
Hold the Press! Revision Sept 25, 2017! The manuscript and another wonderful cover by our dear daughter-in-law have been sent to the publisher. Look for it about December 1.
Check out her website with tabs for both books and her Blog at http://berylcarpenter.com/
Both All three covers were designed and illustrated by Kate Garchinsky http://penguinart.com/