I've been asked to post some excerpts from The Moonstone. This one is at the beginning of the story right after Finna discovers her mother--the woman she thought was dead. Finna is faced with a momentous decision and has gone to a favorite spot of hers to think.
As the sun sank lower, the indigo water became streaked with mauve and gold. Finna closed her eyes and when she reopened them the sky had turned deep purple; time felt suspended in the stillness of the growing twilight. At the bottom of the hill Catriona sat on a cedar log facing the sea. As she rose and moved toward the house her body was surrounded with light but the sun had gone down an hour ago. Finna watched her until she entered the cottage, heard the hollow thump of the door as Catriona pulled it shut. Was there something dangerous about her? Could that be the reason her father had lied about her death? Despite these new revelations about him she longed for her father’s calm certainty. He wasn’t here to help with this decision; she had to rely on herself.
Guilt surged through her. In her fervor to be independent, Finna hadn’t told either her husband or her father where she was living. There was a baby to consider. All of a sudden she felt very irresponsible—like a recalcitrant child mad at the world. Now the rash decision to live alone away from town seemed wrong when just yesterday it had seemed so right.
This does whet my appetite. Do you have a pitch for your story, a paragraph to explain what it's about? It's hard to condense an entire manuscript down to a paragraph, I know. And you might have already posted one for this novel and I missed it because I'm new to your blog. But what you are sharing today sounds great! Very visual.
ReplyDeletethanks Stephen! I do have a blurb for the back--will post that next.
ReplyDeleteHey, Nikki :) Thanks for stopping by my blog - glad you did! The number of blogs at BlogBooks is overwhelming so I'm happy you found me.
ReplyDeleteGreat piece of writing here! You've left me intriqued!