For the most part, I love the writing process. I love every minute from staring at that blank, empty Word Document, to going back and figuring out how to incorporate new plot points, to rereading and rereading and rereading.
I don’t much care for editing, but that’s why I have Jennifer Harris Dault, my editor.
But one of the best parts about being a writer is having writer friends, and one of my dearest ones is Jennifer Perrine Luitwieler. Personally and professionally, she has been an amazing source of strength and feedback, and today, her novel, Seven Days in May, is out for the public to see.
What’s really special to me about this book is I saw it in one of it’s earliest stages, and I got to watch it grow into the finished product, and it’s PHENOMENAL. I’m not even kidding. This book kept me up late at night, devouring it long after everyone else in my house was asleep. Her prose was so enchanting, so delicious, that I could have eaten it with a spoon.
And her story kicked me in the gut.
Here’s the synopsis:
In a segregated city and time, two girls forge a friendship across social and physical barriers. The pair walk together through the changing world of Tulsa during the oil boom. Grace Irons struggles to root her changing friendship with the white, outspoken Mercy Williams. When the girls discover a horrible secret, they cannot ignore their differences any longer. At a moment when their friendship is threatened, the girls witness the events that set Tulsa on fire in 1921. Will Grace and Mercy survive the seven days in May?
I didn’t want to fall in love with her characters as much as I did, because I knew from the beginning that this story wasn’t going to have a happy ending. But as a mom, my heart ached for both of these girls and all of the tests that their friendship went through. I felt the pain of Mercy’s mom, Miss Willie, who desperately wanted her daughter to fit in with the proper church crowd. The way Ms. Luitwieler weaves the uneasy tapestry of her story sucks you in and refuses to let you go until the very end–and I won’t lie, I had tears in my eyes.
Seven Days in May is currently available on Amazon for Kindle. It will be available as a paperback next week.
For more information about Jennifer Perrine Luitwieler, find her on her website, on Twitter as @jenluit, and Facebook.