Hello again, my friends.
I cannot believe this is my 6th
newsletter. Welcome back to all the book, music, art and suspense lovers out there. It’s almost the 4th of July, and for so many of us this weekend will kick off a summer of fireworks, BBQs, sand between our toes—and all those special times outdoors with family and friends. I am spending my days in Cape May NJ with my sweetheart of 54 years—our heart place—and working on my next book. My wish for all of you, as well, is some quiet time to read, think, and dream.
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Today, I have VERY SPECIAL BOOK NEWS to share. I just finished the newest book in my Maggie O’Shea Classical Music Suspense Series! Yes, # 4 is in its final editing stage and I can now reveal the title which, like all my titles, hints at the story to come: ECHOES ON THE WIND.
ECHOES ON THE WIND opens in 1943, on the night train to Paris, where an accidental meeting will change the course of many lives, including those of generations to come. In the present day, pianist Maggie O’Shea is looking forward to beginning a new life when a decades-old locket draws her to a remote cottage in France in search of her past. Thus begins this Dual Timeline story of two women connected by sacrifice, courage, survival, love—and music.
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Because ECHOES ON THE WIND is a Dual Timeline story—and because
there is always a “Story Behind the Story”—the theme of today’s
newsletter is WRITING the DUAL TIMELINE, with all its challenges, rewards, and surprises.
The Story Behind the Story
will explore the moments that compelled me to write a Dual Timeline story for Maggie.
In the Spotlight shines a light on award-winning author John Dobbyn and his history-driven new thriller, DEADLY DEPTHS.
I’ve also included six ‘New for You’ recommendations. And yes, there is a book Giveaway.
So come in, sit down, and discover how just the right inspiration,
characters, authentic settings and research can make history come alive.
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Today, my very personal ‘Story Behind the Story’ is Writing the Dual Timeline in fiction.
The last line of Shadow Music, the 3rd book in my Maggie O’Shea Classical Music Suspense Series, is one of my favorite last lines ever written. It did just what I wanted it to do—end Maggie’s story on a hopeful note for her future - if the series had to end—but… leave enough room for one more book, just in case. Either way, I hoped Maggie’s fans would be happy. (and if you are wondering about that last line… see the Giveaway. :) )
I took some months of quiet time to really think about what would be next for Maggie—if there was another story for her, still untold. And then two things happened.
First, I read an inspiring article in the Washington Post, written by journalist David Ignatius, that told the true story of Jeannie Rousseau, a young Frenchwoman who became one of the most effective, if unheralded, spies of World War II. I could not get her story out of my mind, especially after I’d read the opening line: “Like so many things that happen, it began with an accident.” I felt that fate was knocking on my door. But how could I weave the story of someone like Jeannie Rousseau into Maggie’s present-day world?
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And then I found myself drawn to a beautiful painting in our condo
foyer, one we have loved for years. The oil, by the French artist
Vezinet, depicts a small white cottage set on the edge of a wind-swept
sea. Its title is “L’Automne en Bretagne”—Autumn in Brittany.
What if?
Suddenly I found myself knowing, deep in my bones, that the cottage
belonged to Maggie’s French grandmother Clair, whom she has never met.
And what if, like Jeannie Rousseau, this grandmother was only a teenager
when the winds of war swept through France? What if Clair was faced
with some of the same choices Jeannie Rousseau had to face? What would
she have done? It’s one of the questions I always want my readers to
ask.
Sometime during that night, Jeannie Rousseau’s story and the painting
of the cottage melted together in my head. When I awakened, I knew the
story I wanted to tell.
But weaving a story connecting Maggie’s life to her French
grandmother’s life decades earlier clearly would require a Dual
Timeline. A Dual Timeline is defined as ‘one cohesive story told
through several time periods and perspectives.’ This was quite a
terrifying challenge for me, although I’ve slipped into the past more
and more with each of my three prior books.
The Lost Concerto, Dark Rhapsody and Shadow Music,
the first three books in my Classical Music Suspense Series, all have
been included in Amazon’s International Historical categories because
they included significant Flashbacks and Heavy Backstory to World War
II. But in the new book I would be telling two very different,
non-linear stories of two women, one set in the 1940s and one set in the
present.
This would demand two very different and distinct voices, two
separate and unique stories and sets of characters. I would need
careful plotting to connect the two main characters emotionally,
meticulous and authentic research, clear timeline shifts—and mindful
pacing to keep readers involved and caring about each story and character. Then, of course, the stories and timelines would have to be woven together at the end.
Daunting. Could I do it? I had no idea, but surely wanted to try.
After all, Maggie deserved to know her grandmother—and her past.
I wrote the prologue to Echoes on the Wind immediately,
introducing Maggie’s grandmother Clair in 1943 France and setting up a
favorite, intriguing theme—how the choices of the past ripple over time
and generations, like a pebble thrown into water.
But when it came to writing Maggie’s first chapter, I came to a Hard
Stop. I had no idea how to link the generations—until I realized that
the answer was in the books I’d already written. In each book,
classical music mirrors my pianist Maggie’s choices and journey.
Rachmaninoff, Grieg, Beethoven… Their gorgeous concertos and rhapsodies
have the power to heal—and transform—Maggie’s life. I always have said
that “Music tells our stories.” The answer to writing a Dual Timeline
story was right in front of me, hidden in plain sight. I would use
Music to connect Maggie and her Grand-mère.
I knew Maggie’s favorite composer was Chopin. Researching Chopin’s
music, I discovered his 24 Preludes—brief, beautiful and very emotional
pieces that convey ‘moments,’ moods, vignettes. Some very dark, others
full of light. Like my story was going to be. It was the last piece of
the Dual Timeline writing puzzle I needed. Chopin’s preludes would
mirror the moments and choices of the past. They would tell Maggie’s
Grandmother’s story.
Shakespeare said, ‘The past is prologue…’ For me, it seems, the past is prelude.
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NEW TO YOU? AUTHORS YOU MIGHT ENJOY– |
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Like so many of you, I love falling into a Historical novel—it’s like falling into the past. But Historical genres come in many forms: Stories set 100% in the past; Dual Timelines; Flashbacks; Heavy Backstory. My gift to you today is 6 writers of different historical genres whom I hope you will enjoy.
Historical/Dual Timeline: The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
Intelligent and beautifully written, this dual-timeline story moves effortlessly from a French village during World War I to present day London. The two main female characters have strong, complex voices, while a third Goth character provides moments of great originality and humor. (Do Not Miss Moyes’ Historical The Giver of Stars, set in Kentucky’s Depression era.)
Historical: Three Hours in Paris by Cara Black
Impossible to put this perfectly named thriller down. Rich in historical detail and gripping suspense, Cara Black’s wartime story of Occupied France introduces us to a remarkable and complex new woman character—Kate Rees, an innocent American sharpshooter drawn into a terrifying plan to assassinate Hitler during his brief, three hour visit to Paris. (Black’s recent sequel is Night Flight to Paris.)
Historical/Dual Timeline: The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
This is another book I wish I had written. For me, Kate Quinn is the quintessential story-teller. Her historical research and wartime settings in England and France—shifting back and forth from 1915 to 1947—feel spot on; her suspense keeps your heart racing; her writing seems natural and effortless and is, at times, brilliant; her two main female characters are complex and ORIGINAL, and, oh, do you care about what happens to them.
Past & Present Timelines: The Last Flight by Julie Clark
Two women, each needing to disappear from dangerous lives, switch identities. The terrific writing shifts back and forth between their points of view, and between their past/backstories and the present. You cannot put this one down.
Past & Present Timelines: The Jeweler of Stolen Dreams by M.J. Rose
Told through first person accounts and diaries, this beautiful, compelling Historical by NYTimes bestselling M.J. Rose takes us from Paris 1942 to New York 1986, painting a vivid story of “two passionate women separated by decades but united by (precious jewels and) a shared vision.”
Historical/Dual Timeline: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner (this is a repeat from an earlier newsletter, but I didn’t want you to miss it…)
In 18th
century London, the owner of a hidden Apothecary Shop sells poisons to women abused by the men in their lives—until a fatal mistake echoes across the centuries, drawing a present-day London historian into a centuries-old, long-lost web of secrets and murder.
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Today my Spotlight is on best-selling author John Dobbyn. DEADLY DEPTHS, his new Thriller/Mystery novel releasing August 1, 2023, takes five archeologists on a lethal quest for an artifact of priceless historical value that has impacted the peoples of three separate centuries—the Aztecs, the Jamaican Maroons, and Pirates of the Golden Age in the Caribbean. As death strikes, they fulfill their title, The Monkey’s Paws.
Dobbyn presents his Aztec and Maroon history via dialogue, while the history of Captain Morgan’s pirates is presented as backstory in a discovered journal. Please welcome John and his thoughts on the impact of historical research in his new book.
The Role of Historical Research in DEADLY DEPTHS, by John Dobbyn.
In researching the historic legacy of two nations, two hundred years and six hundred miles apart, but both impacting the story line of the thriller novel, Deadly Depths, I was struck by one feature crucial to the development of both. The nation we know as the Aztecs and the tribal community of the Jamaican Maroons were each remarkable for a startling rise in power attributable at its core to the confluence of two equally essential features—Fact and Myth.
FACT: In the early thirteenth century, the Aztec tribe that was driven by neighboring tribes from their homeland in northern Mexico and began a two hundred year wandering south were weak and unfocused.
MYTH: at some point in their journey, their god of war and the sun, Huitzilopochtli, instructed their chief priest to build their city where they would see an eagle, standing on a cactus, and holding a snake in its mouth. They found that omen and built their city where it is now submerged beneath the current Mexico City.
FACT: A prolonged drought caused death by starvation to many thousands of the Aztecs. In desperation, the tribe turned to their priest for an answer.
MYTH: The priest proclaimed that their neglect of nourishing their sun god led him to visit starvation on their tribe. He declared that the absolute obligation on the Aztecs was to provide the sun god with adequate daily sustenance in the form of human blood poured into the earth.
(One follow-up FACT: To meet this obligation by human sacrifice of their own tribal members would be undesirable and unsustainable. Thus began the “Flower Wars” by the Aztecs on neighboring city-states to provide living captives for human sacrifice.)
At its peak, the Aztec nation had conquered over 500 city-states and dominated over 600 million people. The growth in power and wealth also led to development of one of the highest levels of cultural advancement in the world of its day. None of this would have come about without the combined influence of both Myth and Fact.
Similarly, members of the Ashanti tribe in Northwestern Africa were brought on slave ships to the sugar plantations of Jamaica. They were so fiercely rebellious as to earn the Spanish name Cimarrons (untamable)—in English, Maroons.
FACT: Many Maroons escaped Jamaican slavery and fled to their own mountaintop village. Their leader, a woman known as Grandy Nanny, led them in guerilla warfare against constant attack from the British army from 1728 to 1734. At one point, they were on the brink of starvation.
MYTH: Grandy Nanny was instructed in a dream to find in her pocket three pumpkin seeds and plant them. In the morning, giant pumpkins had grown that saved the Maroons from starvation and revived their ability and will to fight on. Today it is the firm belief that Grandy Nanny lives on and unites and preserves the Maroon nation.
The combined effect of the factual
leadership of Grandy Nanny and the mythical belief in her superhuman powers enabled the Maroon tribe to repel continual attacks by the strongest army in the world for over eight decades.
This blend of mythical and factual elements, common to both Aztecs and Maroons, made them perfect selections for my novel, Deadly Depths, as it draws on the cultures of both to impact the story’s quest.
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Book Giveaway and More Good News! |
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More Good News for my first classical music suspense book, THE LOST CONCERTO. I am honored and so grateful to share that, after its first publication in 2015, The Lost Concerto recently was ranked the # 1 Amazon Best Seller in International Mystery and Crime, and #4 in Historical Thrillers! Needless to say, knowing that readers still care about Maggie 8 years after she was introduced has me over the moon.
To celebrate, I am offering a signed hardcover copy of SHADOW MUSIC, the most recent book in my series and winner of 3 Gold Medals in Mystery and Suspense: Indie Excellence, Foreword Indie and IPPY. (And aren’t you curious about that great last line in Shadow Music that I mentioned earlier? It leads right into Echoes on the Wind…)
Sandra Brown’s review included “Spine-Tingling.” Hank Phillippi Ryan describes it as “Gripping, intense, lyrical, heart-breaking.” A reader I never met wrote, “This is by far the best book I have read this year! It has everything I need from romance to adventure, danger and family. I had to listen to Rachmaninoff again just because of the descriptive emotion of the musician.” Another reader simply said, “450 pages of Magic.”
As Shadow Music
begins, pianist Maggie O’Shea is moving on with her life after the tragic loss of her husband and her music. But just as she is beginning to resolve her past and find love again, she is drawn to Cornwall in a harrowing search for a long-lost Van Gogh, and the truth about her husband’s death. Set against the backdrop of the international music world, past and present collide as decades-old secrets from World War II Paris. Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is at the heart of this story that strikes the chords of every human emotion.
FYI, The Lost Concerto (#1 in my series) and Dark Rhapsody (#2) are frequently available on E-book sale, and always through your library. I hope you will learn Maggie’s story from the beginning.
All my Royalties go to charities for children’s reading, music, art, education & nutrition programs, so it’s a win-win!
To enter the Giveaway, just send a comment to contests@helainemario.com.
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Thank you for joining me today. Please connect with me at helaine@helainemario.com. I’d love to hear your thoughts and learn what Historical & Dual Timeline books you have enjoyed.
If you missed any of my first 5 newsletters, (themes have included “That Manuscript Locked in the Drawer;” Music in Books; Writing a Series; Character; Inspiration; and Evocative Settings) just email me and I will be happy to send them to you. Coming in future newsletters: Plot, The Importance of Supporting Characters, and Romance.
Today I will leave you with TWO favorite quotes, below.
‘Til we meet again, Happy Summer, Happy Reading, and take care of each other.
Helaine
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A FAVORITE QUOTE
“Writing… is an intimacy between strangers.” —Henry Green, Author
Also—I am repeating this quote from a prior newsletter, because these words have been at the heart of all of my books, and are just as meaningful in my new book, Echoes on the Wind:
“There are four things in this life that will change you: Love, Music, Art, and Loss. The first three will keep you wild and full of passion. May you allow the last to make you brave.”
—Erin van Vuren, Poet
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