“Eva” to be published July 20!
What is Magic Realism?
Magical realism is a newish book genre, growing in popularity, that incorporates the paranormal in a very realistic way. The author builds a real world for the reader, with magical or paranormal aspects that are treated as perfectly normal. So the line between fantasy and reality becomes blurred.
What fun, right?
My new novel, Eva, incorporates elements of magical realism. Here’s a quick summary of the plot (without giving it all away!) :
Eva’s newfound ability might be a gift. Or a curse.
Never having known her father and having lost her mother when she was young, Eva believes she’s better off alone. She only connects deeply with animals. When, at age 26, she discovers that she can heal them, just through her touch, at first she’s amazed and thrilled.
But things change when she begins to heal humans as well. Soon, journalists start hounding her relentlessly. Next, her wealthy, manipulative father surfaces, with just one goal: to profit from her ability. Even the magnetic Michael, to whom she’s powerfully drawn, wants more from her than she’s willing to give.
Just as Eva’s beginning to open her heart to Michael, she’s accused online of being a “blasphemer” and “scam artist,” and hand-delivered death threats confirm someone wants to kill her. Forced into the limelight she’s avoided all of her life and facing challenges at every turn, Eva must fight to protect her newfound ability while also doing the most difficult thing of all: staying alive.
Eva offers a passionate love story, full of dark conflict and reversals, with the theme of our universal yearning for connection. Plus, it is loaded with heart. The reader will come away moved and satisfied.
Here are a few of the authors who write in the magical realism genre: Sarah Addison Allen, Menna van Praag, Emily Colin, Neil Gaiman, Toni Morrison, Alice Hoffman, Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Angela Carter, Aimee Bender, and many more.
Read more about Magical Realism
Do you remember the first book you passionately loved? I sure do. It was “101 Dalmatians” by the wonderful Dodie Smith, that I first read when I was about seven or eight. My dad was a librarian, and he brought it home for me. I fell so in love with it that I wouldn’t give it back! He kept telling me it had to be returned, that I couldn’t keep it. So I started copying it. No, not with a copy machine, but by hand!! I was determined to write out every single page of that book so that I had it forever.
And so it began. I raced home from school every day and sat scrunched over my little desk, writing out the book, word for word. I got to page forty-five, before my dad found a way to take pity on me. He told his boss at the library what his little daughter was doing, and she finally gifted me the copy.
This is a rough cover, just to inspire me as I wrote. And not even sure of the title yet. Remains to be seen.