My guest today on the Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit Lit Blog Tour is Carleen Brice, the widely acclaimed author of Orange Mint and Honey, whose second book, Children of the Waters, has just been released from One World/Ballantine.
Children of the Waters strikes deep emotional chords and poses the intriguing question: Can two strangers become sisters?
Trish Taylor’s white ancestry never got in the way of her love for her black ex-husband, or their mixed race son, Will. But when Trish’s marriage ends, she returns to her family’s Denver, Colorado home to find a sense of identity and connect to her past.
What she finds there shocks her to the very core: her mother and newborn sister were not killed in a car crash as she was told. In fact, her baby sister, Billie Cousins, is now a grown woman; her grandparents had put her up for adoption, unwilling to raise the child of a black man. Billie, who had no idea she was adopted, wants nothing to do with Trish until a tragedy in Billie’s own family forces her to lean on her surprisingly supportive and sympathetic sister. Together they unravel the age-old layers of secrets and resentments and navigate a path toward love, healing, and true reconciliation..
Carleen stopped by to answer a few questions.
Name three songs that would be perfect for the soundtrack of your book.
Michael Jackson’s “Black or White,” Sister Sledge’s “We are Family” and “As” by Stevie Wonder.
How do you approach writing your novel? Do you outline the plot? Start with a character or...?
I usually begin with a premise and end up writing & plotting as I go and adjusting as everything changes the more I learn about the characters.
Who are the top three writers who have influenced your writing style?
Pearl Cleage, Bebe Moore Campbell, Alice Hoffman.
What are you reading now?
I always have more than one book going, so: Dust Tracks on a Road: The Autobiography of Zora Neale Hurston and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
What do you like to do when you're not writing?
Read, walk, watch movies, pull weeds, herd cats.
What and where is your favorite restaurant and why is it your favorite?
A family-owned Mexican restaurant called La Cueva. I love it because the food is great and the service is wonderful. I got into the habit of going with coworkers for my birthday a few years ago, and now the waitresses expect me in May.
Carleen is at work on her third novel, Calling Every Good Wish Home, and she maintains the blogs “White Readers Meet Black Authors” and "The Pajama Gardener."
You can read an excerpt of Children of the Waters at Carleen's Web site here.
Carleen, we wish you continued literary success!
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