My BOOKS
Before She Was a Finley
In Carol Hoenig’s previous novel, Without Grace, it is believed that Grace Finley walked out on her husband and two young children to fulfill a selfish dream of becoming a famous singer, leaving behind rumors and questions among her family and townsfolk in the mountains of Upstate New York.
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Now in Before She Was a Finley, it is years later when Adele, a reluctant young journalism student is assigned to “get” a story from a local nursing home where she comes across elderly Grace Finley. Over time, Grace slowly takes Adele back to the 1930s and subsequent years that follow as she provides bits and pieces that eventually reveal the dark truth as to why she walked out on her family carrying only a guitar and suitcase. Adele knows that the class assignment was simply to write about a local person, and even though journalists aren’t supposed to be a part of the story, she cannot shake what she discovered and wants to do more to set the record straight. But is there anyone still alive who would care?
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Without Grace
After the death of her grandmother, Vicky Finley is left to create a place for herself in a houseful of men and becomes consumed by the notion of finding Grace, the mother who abandoned the family when Vicky was just a baby. Vicky's devoted and protective older brother Kevin does his best to look after her while fighting to keep their land and spare their farming community from a ruthless developer who threatens to forever change the world they know. The Finleys learn firsthand how memories can betray us, how secrets of the past can burden the present, and how tragedy can test our resolve. And as Vicky ambitiously pursues her passion for cooking, honors a promise to her brother, and manages to bring a struggling community together, she discovers what really makes a family. Without Grace is a heartening portrait of small-town life and a tender and triumphant coming-of-age tale about the complexities and comforts of family and the healing that comes with letting go of the past.
Of Little Faith
The Vietnam War is on the nightly news and women are burning bras in the fast-changing world of the 1960s, but thirty-year old Laura wonders why her choice as a feminist couldn't be to have a baby without marriage. Laura not only has to justify her desire to her forward-thinking friends but to her fundamentally religious siblings as well. Yet, her most important mission is to find a man who will agree to impregnate her and then get out of the picture once the act is accomplished. Four narrators push along the events in Of Little Faith, set in 1960s Seabrook, Long Island, as three adult siblings converge in their recently deceased father's home. Laura is a 30-year-old newspaper columnist from New York. Her brother, Eric, is a compassionate minister trying to find his faith, and sister Beth is an angry and disapproving fundamentalist who is determined to hinder her siblings' desires in the name of her religion. They share the narration with Eric's wife, Jenny. Tragic secrets are revealed without resorting to high drama in this portrayal of two separate halves of counterculture and suburban banality. Readers will find Of Little Faith to be uplifting and heartfelt in the most surprising of ways.
The Author's Guide to Planning Book Events
In The Author's Guide to Planning Book Events, award-winning author and accomplished book-event coordinator Carol Hoenig provides the know-how to show authors how to find and choose the perfect venue, plan an event for optimum results, and build on each success to reach more readers. Hoenig has worked with hundreds of successful authors and book publicists and shares the best of her stories and theirs. She explains why nontraditional venue functions can be much more lucrative than traditional events at a local bookstore, and she provides step-by-step instructions for planning, organizing-and enjoying-publication and book-signing events. The result is a must-have resource for every author's bookshelf.