Friday, May 10, 2013

HF Virtual Book Tours Guest Post and Giveaway: Maryanne O'Hara

Today I am very happy to welcome Maryanne O'Hara, author of Cascade here to A Bookish Affair.

Author Maryanne O'Hara

I’ve always been fascinated by the human impulse to create art. And I’m fascinated, too, by what cultures deem worth saving. I liked the idea of using a doomed town threatened with extinction as background for a story about an artist trying to create lasting works of art. I hoped that this juxtaposition would give readers a lot to think about.

I first saw the great Quabbin reservoir in Massachusetts as a child, during a family road trip. As we gazed out at a vast body of water that I assumed was natural, my uncle pointed out that a town had once existed under that water, that the island we were looking at had once been a hill. I was thrilled and spooked and obviously never got the image of the drowned town out of my head.

I originally planned to set CASCADE in Enfield, the largest of the original towns and a farming and mill community, but as I developed the novel, I realized that the town in my book needed to have been a “place to be” in the 1920s—a summer cultural center, with a Shakespeare theater at its heart. So I created Cascade, Massachusetts, then superimposed it over the real towns on the map.

What’s interesting is that I have received emails from all over the country, from people sharing similar stories. Towns were flooded in almost every state, and around the world. Very real lives were upended and forever changed by the dictates of the government. In CASCADE, I have the mailman mention, somewhat callously, and in passing, that an elderly man committed suicide rather than move from his home when another Massachusetts reservoir, the Brackett, was built in 1878. That old man’s former piece of land is watershed
next to my own riverside house, and I often thought of him, and all the other displaced people like him, while writing CASCADE.

Giveaway:

I am very excited to be able to give away a copy of Cascade (US only)!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the Rest of the Tour:


Monday, April 29
Review & Giveaway at Peeking Between the Pages
Tuesday, April 30
Feature & Giveaway at Passages to the Past
Wednesday, May 1
Review & Giveaway at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews
Thursday, May 2
Review & Giveaway at Flashlight Commentary
Friday, May 3
Review at Tiny Library
Wednesday, May 8
Review & Giveaway at Confessions of an Avid Reader
Thursday, May 9
Review at A Bookish Affair
Review & Giveaway at The Relentless Reader
Friday, May 10
Guest Post & Giveaway at A Bookish Affair
Monday, May 13
Review at Write Meg
Tuesday, May 14
Review at Kinx’s Book Nook
Review & Giveaway at Bippity Boppity Book
Wednesday, May 15
Review at Raging Bibliomania
Thursday, May 16
Review & Giveaway at Ageless Pages Reviews
Friday, May 17
Review & Giveaway at The Blue Stocking Society
Monday, May 20
Review at Amused By Books
Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book!
Tuesday, May 21
Interview & Giveaway at Oh, For the Hook of a Book!
Wednesday, May 22
Review & Giveaway at The Worm Hole
Thursday, May 23
Review at A Book Geek
Friday, May 24
Review & Giveaway at The Picky Girl
Monday, May 27
Review & Giveaway at The Novel Life
Tuesday, May 28
Review & Giveaway at Always with a Book
Review, Guest Post & Giveaway at The Lit Bitch
Wednesday, May 29
Review at Turning the Pages
Thursday, May 30
Guest Post at The Novel Life
Friday, May 31
Interview & Giveaway at Cheryl’s Book Nook
Monday, June 3
Review at Words and Peace
Tuesday, June 4
Review at Historical Tapestry & Adventures of an Intrepid Reader
Giveaway at Words and Peace
Wednesday, June 5
Review & Giveaway at A Chick Who Reads
Thursday, June 6
Review at The Little Reader Library
Friday, June 7
Review at A Novel Review
CascadeTourBannerFINAL1 photo CascadeTourBannerFINAL1_zpsa7f9bbc0.jpg

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for featuring Cascade which I would enjoy greatly. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  2. Oh, what a great post! I'm very excited about this book; will be adding it to my TBR list!

    lafra86 at gmail dot com

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  3. The cover of this book caught my eye. I like reading how an author creates the story and how it can sometimes change in the middle when something isn't quite how they want it to be.

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  4. The thought of a drowned town is spooky to me too. I'm very curious about the book!

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  5. That is interesting, I have not heard of any towns underwater but it is intriguing.

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  6. I have heard about towns being flooded, even saw a movie about it...kind of creepy that a town is suspended in water forever...thanks!!

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  7. I'm fascinated by towns that were flooded. It must have been a traumatic experience for the townspeople to lose their homes.

    This sounds like a fantastic read. Thanks for the chance!

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  8. sounds like a book i would read!
    thank you for the giveaway!!

    cyn209 at juno dot com

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  9. Thanks for the chance to win! This book sounds fascinating and the cover is so neat!

    Beth
    bharbin07[at]gmail[dot]com

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Hi! Welcome to A Bookish Affair. If you leave a comment, I will try to either reply here or on your site!

As of 6/6/2011, this book is now an awards free zone. While I appreciate the awards, I would rather stick to reviewing more great books for you than trying to fill the requirements.

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