September 19th, 2008
BOOK TALK: Coming of age in the 80s: For The May Queen, a debut novel by Kate Evans and GIVE AWAY
Get ready for September 25, a new novel is about to set bookstores on fire . . .
Because I network on Facebook in a writing community, I met Kate Evans through mutual writers groups and took her up on previewing the first chapter of her soon to debut novel, For the May Queen.
I am a bibliophile and opening lines and the first five pages are for me, what makes or breaks a novel. Sometimes I don’t get any farther than the first paragraph. If I make it through the first five pages, there is potential. By the time I soared through the first chapter, I fell in love with Norma Rogers the central character and promptly joined the Kate Evans’ fan club.
I wrote on her wall – she had me in stitches over her comments and posts, so much that I wanted to interview her but first I had to read more and told her so. She emailed me galleys and I did something that I hadn’t done in years, I stayed up the entire night reading For the May Queen.
Kate Evans is a master of imagery and a master of honesty – Norma’s story is told in the first person we become so involved with the storytelling we relate to her feelings, her thought processes, and even her experiences whether or not we had similar ones.
Take coming of age in the tumultuous era of the early 1980s, leaving home for the first time, and having the freedom to do what ever you wanted to do.
“It had only been a few hours since my parents had dropped me off, had helped me bring boxes into the room and tearily hugged me goodbye, and there I sat on the floor of a dorm room with three people I’d just met, drunk and wearing only my bra and underwear.”
I will tell you more about the book and author later, but first you need to go and read Chapter 1 of For The May Queen and then tell us: What did coming of age mean to you? Was it having the freedom to rebel against your parents without feeling guilty? Having sex? Not making your bed in the morning? Staying up all night? Tell us the truth and win a Kate Evans T Shirt, Mug, or G String.
Read For the May Queen here. Visit Kate’s blog.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
The first chapter definitely pulls the reader in - Kate Evans has a terrific way with words.
To me coming of age meant not being embarrassed by questions about sex! LOL.
September 20th, 2008 at 4:24 am
I moved to the middle of the desert (Ayers Rock) and for the first time i had to do everything myself and what a shock it to finally be the boss of me for the first time. Sleep when where and with whom ever I pleased with out having to justify myself to anyone it was fantastic and liberating. Plus the bonus of not having to rush to make the bed!!
I cant wait for the 25th and thanks for all the info on kate and the book.
September 20th, 2008 at 6:51 am
My mother had always forbidden me physical contact with boys, even kissing. “Soon you’ll be away at college and you can have sex,” she said, “But I don’t want you making out under my roof.” Consequently, I thought that as soon as I went away I HAD to have sex immediately. I very nearly lost my virginity Freshman week with a boy I had just met.
Somehow, though, my technical virginity was preserved until the following summer. My first attempt at intercourse was almost as awkward as that in the first chapter of “For the May Queen.” But the next time — the next time was a week before my eighteenth birthday, and that time, it felt wonderful. I felt like I had claimed adulthood a week early.