Feature Post and Book Review: Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran

Book Description

In the 1950s, Oscar Hammerstein is asked to write the lyrics to a musical based on the life of a woman named Maria von Trapp. He’s intrigued to learn that she was once a novice who hoped to live quietly as an Austrian nun before her abbey sent her away to teach a widowed baron’s sickly child. What should have been a ten-month assignment, however, unexpectedly turned into a marriage proposal. And when the family was forced to flee their home to escape the Nazis, it was Maria who instructed them on how to survive using nothing but the power of their voices.

It’s an inspirational story, to be sure, and as half of the famous Rodgers & Hammerstein duo, Hammerstein knows it has big Broadway potential. Yet much of Maria’s life will have to be reinvented for the stage, and with the horrors of war still fresh in people’s minds, Hammerstein can’t let audiences see just how close the von Trapp’s came to losing their lives.

But when Maria sees the script that is supposedly based on her life, she becomes so incensed that she sets off to confront Hammerstein in person. Told that he’s busy, she is asked to express her concerns to his secretary, Fran, instead. The pair strike up an unlikely friendship as Maria tells Fran about her life, contradicting much of what will eventually appear in The Sound of Music.

A tale of love, loss, and the difficult choices that we are often forced to make, Maria is a powerful reminder that the truth is usually more complicated—and certainly more compelling—than the stories immortalized by Hollywood.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201102253-maria?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=IvOE3L3kSo&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

MARIA: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran is an engaging biographical historical fiction novel that takes the reader on a journey into the real life of Maria von Trapp compared to the Maria von Trapp portrayed in The Sound of Music. It is a story that is fictionalized and yet still is able to demonstrate the truth of a life is usually more complicated.

Oscar Hammerstein is asked to compose the music for a Broadway play based on the life of Maria von Trapp and her singing family. While it is an inspirational story, it must be condensed for the stage and when Maria sees the script, she is very angry and wants to confront Hammerstein. Hammerstein sends his secretary, Fran, to meet with Maria and find out what she objects to in the musical.

Fran is excited to meet Maria and as she listens to Maria’s life story they become unlikely friends over the week of conversations, but she knows it is too late to change the musical and worries that Maria could cause problems with the press. She begins to understand why Maria is upset, so she writes her report hoping Mr. Hammerstein can do something.

This story is one that you will want to curl up on the couch with and read in one sitting. The differences between the real Maria and the Maria of The Sound of Music are fascinating. She was not an easy woman by any means after a difficult childhood and yet it was her ambition, resilience, and grit that got the family through many difficult times. Families are complicated. I also found the snippets of Oscar Hammerstein’s life interesting. I know that whenever I watch the movie again, I will still love it for what it is, a fun musical movie, but it is not what the real-life von Trapp’s experienced, and their lives were much more complicated than what you see on the screen.

I highly recommend this compelling biographical historical fiction novel!

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About the Author

Michelle Moran is the international bestselling author of seven historical novels. A native of southern California, she attended Pomona College, then earned a Masters Degree from the Claremont Graduate University. During her six years as a public high school teacher she used her summers to travel around the world, and it was her experiences as a volunteer on archaeological digs that inspired her to write historical fiction.

In 2012 Michelle was married in India, inspiring her seventh book, Rebel Queen, which is set in the East. Her hobbies include hiking, traveling, and archaeology. She is also fascinated by archaeogenetics, particularly since her children’s heritages are so mixed. But above all these things Michelle is passionate about reading and can often be found with her nose in a good book. A frequent traveler, she currently resides with her husband, son, and daughter in the US. Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.michellemoran.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMichelleMoran/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormichellemoran/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/michelle-moran

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elsie Cooper: A Jewel in the Crown by David Lewis

Book Description

1940: Weeks after the evacuation of Dunkirk, Germany is poised to invade a near-defenseless Britain. To safeguard the Crown Jewels from the Nazis, Winston Churchill devises a daring gamble to have them shipped overseas. The priceless artifacts will be secretly removed from the Tower of London and driven north to Scotland by two operatives posing as a young married couple, to be taken from there to Canada.

Caitrin Colline—a Welsh coalminer’s daughter and an ardent socialist—will play the wife of Lord Marlton, Hector Neville-Percy. A less likely couple is at first difficult to imagine. Yet Caitrin’s bold, streetwise confidence and sharp wits complement Hector’s social ease and connections, essential to a second part of their mission: uncovering Nazi sympathizers within the highest ranks of Britain’s aristocracy.

Battling enemies within and without, Caitrin wonders if anyone in their circle can be trusted—even her partner. And when unexpected events catapult her into a life-or-death chase across the continent, the morale of a nation and the fate of Europe itself in the balance.

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Elise’s Thoughts

A Jewel in the Crown by David Lewis is a thriller and mystery all in one book, a spy novel set in England during WWII.

In 1940 there is a fear of German infiltrators throughout England.  To safeguard the Crown Jewels from the Nazis, Winston Churchill devises a daring gamble to have them shipped overseas. The priceless artifacts will be secretly removed from the Tower of London and driven north to Scotland by two operatives posing as a young married couple, to be taken from there to Canada.

He recruits Hector, Lord Neville-Percy of Marlton, and police constable Caitrin Colline, a “Welsh firebrand, antiroyalist, and future destroyer of England’s aristocracy,” to act as a squabbling married couple driving a hay wagon where the jewels are hidden. Interestingly they have clashing backgrounds and personalities, since they are from different classes.

The heroine Catrine Colline is working for “512,” an undercover outfit. 512 is fictional, but it bears a strong resemblance to Churchill’s SOE (Special Operations Executive), also an undercover operation. She is a woman no one can mess with. Caitrin’s bold, streetwise, confident, and sharp wits complement Hector’s social ease and connections, essential to a second part of their mission: uncovering Nazi sympathizers within the highest ranks of Britain’s aristocracy, who also happen to be anti-Semitic.

The plot is a good adventure story with likeable characters that readers will root for. 

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

David Lewis: What gave me the idea is how the British hid the jewels 20 feet deep under Windsor Castle and they sent all the Bank of England’s bullion to Canada. I thought if they could transfer the bullion why not the Crown Jewels? This is the first one in the series.

EC:  Was Caitrin based on anyone?

DL: My main character is based on my mother.  She comes from a Welsh coal mining town, one of fourteen children. At the age of fourteen she was sent away to work in a hotel.  I wanted to give my mother a cool and adventurous life.

EC: How would you describe Caitrin?

DL: Caitrin is direct, bold, confident, observant, and a force of nature.  She is also funny, persistent, independent, and determined. She is not so much anti-aristocracy but a socialist who wanted to bring down the landed gentry.  Her goal was to make life more equal for the common man.

EC:  How would you describe Hector?

DL: Hector is from a powerful aristocratic family, but not rich.  He is honest and currently in Special Operations. He is a little bit of a lost soul because of taxes.

EC:  What about their relationship?

DL: He admires her confidence and wishes he had it. They infuriated each other.  Neither one of them can get past their class, stopping the attraction between them. They spark off each other.  They do respect each other.

EC:  Is it true there were German infiltrators?

DL: Churchill was afraid of all the German infiltrators, but MI5 and MI6 were remarkable in sweeping them up. There is this book quote by an English aristocrat, “We English should be building bridges with the Germans. They are our true brothers, not the French or the Poles.” I have always been fascinated by him.  I wanted to make him seen as human, not a legend. Throughout the series he starts to be directly in the adventures. 

EC:  You explore the anti-Semitic sentiment regarding the Jews?

DL: The Aristocracy was also anti-Jew.  All the remarks in the book about the Jews by the aristocracy are true.  For example a book quote, “I lost a fortune to that filthy Jew.  Hitler is right. We should drive the Jews out. They’re nothing but money-grubbing leeches who have latched onto our society.” This is a running theme throughout the whole series.

EC: What about your next book?

DL: The next book, titled Beacon in The Night, is out next year.  It is also based on a true story.  The Germans wanted to drop bombs on historical cities and sites in England. They did it by having an agent on the ground placing a beacon in the buildings where the Germans could bomb with incredible precision. Caitrin and Hector’s job is to find the beacons and the person placing them.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Irish Child by Daisy O’Shea

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE IRISH CHILD by Daisy O’Shea on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour blog post.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

A salty breeze whips the tears from my eyes as I stare out at the emerald Irish Sea. Everything I’ve lost, the child my great grandmother Nellie lost, all feels so present here, in the land my family left years ago. How will I ever move on? Will I ever uncover the truth about the little girl who went missing all those years ago?

When Boston-born Erin arrives in wind-tossed Roone Bay, she’s heart-sore, tired and lonely. Her marriage is over: she’s come to build a new life for herself on Ireland’s rugged southern coast. And to unravel the story behind the mysterious note in her family’s ancient Bible that has haunted her since childhood. But hazel-eyed former lifeboat volunteer Finn, the only local historian around, quietly refuses her pleas to help.

So Erin settles in to the town, with its whitewashed cottages and ruddy-cheeked fishermen, and begins her quest alone. Who was her ancestor, Nellie, and why did she leave Ireland for America? What happened to her missing child, Annie, and did Nellie ever see her again?

Just as Erin despairs ever uncovering the truth, one rain-soaked night she is rescued by Finn, who finally agrees to help. And by firelight and candlelight each evening, just as it would have been in her great-grandmother’s time, Finn and Erin grow closer as they share their stories.

But just as Erin wonders if Roone Bay could be her forever home, she makes a devastating discovery. Will she be able to face the truth, which changes everything she thought she knew about herself, her past, and her family’s Irish legacy? Or will she run, just as Nellie did all those years ago, and lose the best chance at happiness she’s ever had…?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/212033926-the-irish-child

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE IRISH CHILD by Daisy O’Shea is a captivating dual timeline Irish family saga in this women’s fiction/romance/historical fiction mash-up. This book is the second in a series that is loosely tied together by the Roone Bay setting, but it is easily read as a standalone with some of the characters carried over from The Irish Key.

In the present-day timeline, Erin has physically survived a tragic accident and the loss of her husband, but mentally she cannot move forward. When she discovers a mystery in the family Bible surrounding an ancestor named Nellie, it inspires her to travel to Ireland to look for answers. It is also the perfect escape from her overbearing parents and a chance to find peace.

In Roone Bay, Erin begins to feel a connection to not only her ancestor but also the current inhabitants. She soon discovers she is stronger than she believes and can cope with the painful memories and return to her love of music without feeling guilty. With a job offer and a possible love interest, Erin begins to want to set down roots and stay.

In the past timeline, Nellie, her husband, and their small daughter are trying to survive the Great Hunger in Ireland. Her husband leaves for America and promises to send money for Nellie and Annie to follow. When Nellie eventually gets her husband’s ticket, she now has two children that she must get to America. At the crowded dock, after a terrible voyage, Nellie loses her daughter and discovers much worse. Her journey is a story of terrible loss, fighting to survive, and always moving forward.

I loved this emotional story even with the depiction of a horrific time in Irish history and all the difficulties of both the main female protagonists. The author’s writing pulled me into both timelines effortlessly and I found both intertwining stories gripping. There are no punches pulled in the descriptions of famine, loss, pain, and grief but the author tempers it with the strength, courage, and love of both Erin in the present and Nellie in the past.

I highly recommend this beautifully told story. This women’s fiction/romance/historical fiction mash-up is an emotional and engaging Irish family saga.

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Author Bio

Sue Lewando was a teacher for several years before migrating to the office environment, where she was PA to the Treasurer of Clarks Shoes, a multi-national company, then, briefly, PA to Susan George, the actress best known for Straw Dogs. Sue had many genre books published (M&B and Virgin), under pseudonyms, and self-publishes her crime thrillers. She was on the committee of the Romantic Novelists’ Association in England, for whom she assessed typescripts. She has been a fiction tutor for the London School of Journalism for twenty years. She has two grown-up children, a happy second marriage, and a bundle of cats and dogs. She moved to West Cork with her husband to undertake a farmhouse refurbishment project, foster their joint passion for playing Irish traditional music, and to invest time in their individual academic projects. She recently completed a Masters in Creative Writing at UCC, taking the opportunity to explore diverse writing genres. She works with the Jeremy Murphy Literary Consultancy in the capacity of typescript analyst, ghostwriter, editor, and online publishing advisor. She loves good commercial fiction, and is a devotee of the Oxford comma.

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Daisy O’Shea here: https://bookouture.com/subscribe/daisy-oshea/

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaisyOSheaAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/westcorkwriter

Bookouture: https://bookouture.com/bookouture-sign-daisy-oshea/

Purchase Link

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0D2J77FKWsocial

You can sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you’ll love

at: http://ow.ly/Fkiz30lnzdo

Feature Post and Book Review: The British Booksellers by Kristy Cambron

Book Description

Inspired by real accounts of the Forgotten Blitz bombings, The British Booksellers highlights the courage of those whose lives were forever changed by war—and the stories that bind us in the fight for what matters most.

A tenant farmer’s son had no business daring to dream of a future with an earl’s daughter, but that couldn’t keep Amos Darby from his secret friendship with Charlotte Terrington…until the reality of the Great War sobered youthful dreams. Now decades later, he bears the brutal scars of battles fought in the trenches and their futures that were stolen away. His return home doesn’t come with tender reunions, but with the hollow fulfillment of opening a bookshop on his own and retreating as a recluse within its walls.

When the future Earl of Harcourt chose Charlotte to be his wife, she knew she was destined for a loveless match. Though her heart had chosen another long ago, she pledges her future even as her husband goes to war. Twenty-five years later, Charlotte remains a war widow who divides her days between her late husband’s declining estate and operating a quaint Coventry bookshop—Eden Books, lovingly named after her grown daughter. And Amos is nothing more than the rival bookseller across the lane.

As war with Hitler looms, Eden is determined to preserve her father’s legacy. So when an American solicitor arrives threatening a lawsuit that could destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to preserve, mother and daughter prepare to fight back. But with devastation wrought by the Luftwaffe’s local blitz terrorizing the skies, battling bookshops—and lost loves, Amos and Charlotte—must put aside their differences and fight together to help Coventry survive.

From deep in the trenches of the Great War to the storied English countryside and the devastating Coventry Blitz of World War II, The British Booksellers explores the unbreakable bonds that unite us through love, loss, and the enduring solace that can be found between the pages of a book.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/180351949-the-british-booksellers?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=L7LIUaF4zb&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE BRITISH BOOKSELLERS by Kristy Cambron is an epic historical fiction that follows a tenant farmer to bookseller and an earl’s daughter from their innocent childhood friendship and dreams to adulthood with social restrictions and class boundaries. This is a standalone novel spanning 1910 through 1940 in dual timelines that intertwine seamlessly throughout.

The 1910 timeline is the past in this story and introduces a young tenant farmer, Amos Darby and his unlikely friendship with Charlotte Terrington, the earl’s daughter. They share a love of literature and dream of owning a bookstore. When Charlotte is engaged to the Earl of Harcourt, Amos knows his dreams are just that, dreams. He goes off to fight in the trenches of France during WWI and comes back a man troubled not only with his nightmares of the front, but also a secret he keeps from Charlotte about her husband who was killed in action.

The 1940 timeline has Chalotte and her daughter, Eden struggling to keep up the estate and their bookshop which is right across the lane in Coventry and in competition Amos’ bookshop. When an American lawyer shows up threatening the estate, Eden is determined to fight with everything she has to preserve her father’s legacy. As the German blitz on England begins Charlotte and Amos put their differences aside and work together and aid their neighbors as they can. All their lives are on the line as the German Luftwaffe plans their largest blitz to date on Coventry.

This book covers so many situations and emotions. Changing times not only between the classes, but also in the liberation of women are intertwined with the horrors of not one, but two World Wars and the loss of life both at home and away. Amos and Charlotte’s love story is heartbreaking as well as triumphant and beautifully written. Eden’s sub-plot romance displays the generational differences and changes. The terrible Coventry blitz, land girls, and battle fatigue (which we now know as PTSD) are all pieces of history in this story of love, loss, survival and triumph in two bleak times in English history.

I highly recommend this dual timeline historical fiction saga.

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About the Author

KRISTY CAMBRON is a vintage-inspired storyteller writing from the space where beauty, art, and history intersect. She’s a Christy Award-winning author of historical fiction, including her bestselling novels, THE BUTTERFLY AND THE VIOLIN and THE PARIS DRESSMAKER, as well as nonfiction titles. She also serves as Vice President and literary agent with Gardner Literary.

Her work has been named to Cosmopolitan Best Historical Fiction Novels, Publishers Weekly Religion & Spirituality TOP 10, Library Journal’s Best Books, and she received a Christy Award for her novel THE PAINTED CASTLE. Her work has been featured at Once Upon a Book Club Box, Frolic, Book Club Girl, BookBub, Country Woman magazine, and (in)Courage.

Kristy holds a degree in art history/research writing and spent fifteen years in education and leadership development for a Fortune 100 corporation, partnering with such companies as the Disney Institute, IBM/Kenexa, and Gallup before stepping away to pursue her passion for storytelling. Kristy lives in Indiana with her husband and three basketball-loving sons, where she can probably be bribed with a peppermint mocha latte and a good read.

Social Media Links

Website: https://kristycambron.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KCambronAuthor/

Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/KCambronAuthor/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kristy-cambron

Book Tour/Feature Post and Mini Book Review: But One Life: The Story of Nathan Hale by Samantha Wilcoxson

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BUT ONE LIFE: The Story of Nathan Hale by Samantha Wilcoxson on this Coffee and Thorn Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my mini book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

“If I had ten thousand lives, I would lay them all down.”

In the early 1770’s, Nathan Hale is a young philosophy student at Yale. There, he, his brother, and their friend, Ben Tallmadge, are busying themselves with intellectual debate and occasional mischief.

Only too soon, their patriotic ideals of revolution and liberty would be put to the test. Forced to choose between love and duty, young Nathan has to face the harsh personal cost of deeply held beliefs as he leaves to become Washington’s spy.

In this powerful novel of friendship and sacrifice, Samantha Wilcoxson paints a vivid portrait of a young man’s principled passion and dedication to his ideals, turning the legend into flesh and blood.

This is the touching and thought-provoking story of how an ordinary boy grew into an extraordinary man – an American hero.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199202877-but-one-life?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=aMcGb9PNdS&rank=3

Book Information

.Purchase link: https://mybook.to/But1Life

  • Genre:  Historical biography
  • Print length: 169 pages
  • Age range: This is an adult book but would be suitable for mature older teens
  • Amazon Rating: 4.5*

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My Book Review

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

BUT ONE LIFE: The Story of Nathan Hale by Samantha Wilcoxson is a biographical historical fiction about the short life of American revolutionary idealist and patriot, Nathan Hale. This story is told in the first person which lends itself to the addition of personal religious beliefs as well as his belief in the revolutionary cause.

This tale begins when Nathan goes off to study at Yale College with his closest older brother, Enoch. While in college, Soon Nathan begins to form and stand up for his own beliefs through political and philosophical debates. At a time of revolutionary fervor, many tenants of religious beliefs tie in with the cause, also. Feeling the British oppression and with the convincing of one of his best friends from Yale, Nathan joins the revolutionary cause, but is soon captured and considered a spy. The British sentence for captured spies is to be hung.

This story covers Nathan Hale’s life from approximately 14 years of age to his execution at 21 years of age. I found the beginning of the story, recounting his years at Yale, to be interesting but slow paced and it also took me awhile to become accustomed to the prose which is written as if the reader is in 1700’s. As the story got into revolutionary politics and Nathan’s part in the war the pace picked up dramatically and I was more invested. In school, we were taught Hale was a symbol of patriotism and self-sacrifice and this story brings the young idealistic and religious man to life instead of a myth.

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About the Author

Samantha Wilcoxson is an author of emotive biographical fiction and strives to help readers connect with history’s unsung heroes. She also writes nonfiction for Pen & Sword History. Samantha loves sharing trips to historic places with her family and spending time by the lake with a glass of wine. Her most recent work is Women of the American Revolution, which explores the lives of 18th century women, and she is currently working on a biography of James Alexander Hamilton.

Social Media Links

Blog Tour/ Feature Post and Book Review: Holliday by Matthew Di Paoli

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review of HOLLIDAY by Matthew Di Paoli on this AME Blog Tour.

Below you will find a book synopsis, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Synopsis

Holliday follows the infamous 1880s gambler, dentist, and gunslinger, Doc Holliday. From the outset, Doc has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and is told to head to drier climates and imbibe to prolong his life. He has also heard of a spring located somewhere along the frontier that could cure him—what he believes to be the mythical Fountain of Youth. 

The novel portrays Holliday as a rock star, a living legend, increasingly hounded by paparazzi, enamored by death, cards, booze, and women. Doc is a mixture of Clint Eastwood and Jim Morrison, and though he is able to help his friend, Wyatt Earp, exact revenge, his condition worsens, traveling from Arizona to Denver, and finally dying in a sanatorium in Colorado with his boots off. A slow and unfitting end for such a bombastic outlaw.


Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184163597-holliday?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=2ybY3HPYGE&rank=5

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

Holliday by Matthew Di Paoli is a dark and gritty realistic look at an often-mythologized gambler, gunslinger, and outlaw from the Old West. This book follows his life as he travels from town to town in the West looking for a mythical body of water to cure his tuberculosis, help his friend exact revenge in Tombstone, and ultimately die in Colorado.

Born in Georgia, John Henry Holliday became a dentist, but was soon diagnosed with tuberculosis which claimed his mother when he was younger. The doctor told him to head to the southwest for the drier climate which should help his breathing. He soon developed a fatalism which led him to drink continually, gamble for a living and cohabitate off and on with a barroom prostitute.

The papers build up his reputation as the number of men he kills increases. His Southern charm and education are opposite to his ruthlessness and hair-triggered temper when he is drunk, which is most of the time. When his friend, Wyatt Earp needs his help to avenge his brothers, he uses his skills to assist. The tuberculosis cannot be stopped though and he ends up spending his few remaining years in Colorado.

This is an engaging and complex look behind the myth of Doc Holliday that pulled me into the story even as parts were difficult to read. Mr. Di Paoli’s writing is atmospheric and made me feel as if I was in the dirt, grit, stink, and heat of the Old West where everything was handled with a gun. Doc’s story is complicated by his own knowledge of his inevitable death, his wish to be loved and yet his inability to live a normal life he once believed in for himself. There are graphic scenes of gunfights, knife fights, action and blood which add to the realism. This is a clear-eyed look at a complicated man from a violent time who is romanticized in other books and on screen.

I highly recommend this enthralling western historical fiction.

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About the Author

Matthew Di Paoli has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three times including 2020. He has won the Wilbur & Niso Smith Adventure Writing Prize, the Prism Review, two Elizabeth’s, and Momaya Review Short Story Contests. Matthew earned his MFA in Fiction at Columbia University. He has been published in Boulevard, Fjords, Post Road, and Cleaver, among others. He is also the author of Killstanbul with El Balazo Press.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.matthewdipaoli.com/about

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDiPaoli

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruggedemu/