July 15, 2019

Longing to Belong

As a Jew growing up in Poland in the 1920s, Anna, the main character in my upcoming novel, lived through many upheavals and displacements and has never truly felt at home. This feeling intensifies when she lands, yet again, in a place where Jews are despised, but this time, she has been cast from her family and is far away from any reinforcements. She is wired to flourish in a community setting, so now, with no people of her own in this hostile environment, she is forced to face not only the danger she is in, but the loneliness of her heart.

Have you ever felt as if you didn't belong anywhere?
If you've moved a lot growing up or in life, what anchors you?

July 5, 2019

Cover Reveal for WINGS Like a DOVE

Cover art: Roseanna White Designs
The Cover has been revealed!!
I can't stop staring at this stunning new cover for my upcoming book, Wings Like a Dove, coming Dec 1, 2019 from WhiteFire Publishing. I'm really excited about this book!

It's the story of Anna Leibowicz, a lovely young Jewish woman whose life has taken a sudden, devastating turn...

In 1933, Anna Leibowicz is convinced that the American dream that brought her Jewish family here from Poland is nothing but an illusion. Her father has vanished. Her dreams of college can’t make it past the sweat-shop door. And when she discovers to her shame and horror that she’s with child, her mother gives her no choice but to leave home. Deciding her best course of action is to try to find her father, she strikes out…hoping against hope to somehow redeem them both.

When Anna stumbles upon a house full of orphan boys in rural Indiana who are in desperate need of a tutor, she agrees to postpone her journey. But she knows from the moment she meets their thoughtful, deep-hearted mentor, Thomas Chandler, that she doesn’t dare risk staying too long. She can’t afford to open her heart to them, to him. She can’t risk letting her secrets out.

All too soon, the townspeople realize she’s not like them and treat her with the same disdain they give the Sisters of Mercy—the nuns who help Thomas and the boys—and Samuel, the quiet colored boy Thomas has taken in. With the Klan presence in the town growing ever stronger, and the danger to this family increasing the longer she stays, Anna is torn between fleeing to keep them safe…and staying to fight beside them.

Oh, that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest...

Quote: “She had never known that love could be so consuming, so tenacious. That it could take root and burrow down so deeply, even in ground that rejected it, even when there was no hope of it ever being cultivated.”

  • You can now pre-order the book HERE.
  • Book Reviewers: drop me an email if you're interested in reviewing or being part of the WINGS Launch Team!
Happy Summer!!
-Camille

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF. . . .

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:

I've published five novels and 2 novellas (more about those on my website.) I've been writing all my life, but decided in 2007 to get serious about being published.

I love action movies and Jane Austen. (she’s dead, I know. I found that out when I tried to get her to endorse my novel)

They let me play Bass guitar and sing in a worship band.

I can produce 4 dozen homemade cinnamon rolls in a flash for a crowd of drooling young adults. Or publishing house editors.

I used to have a Harley. Now we have seven grandkiddos. Decent trade, really.

I am a proud Grammy. Don't even think about taking candy from my babies.

I hate shopping (Yes, I'm aware that I'm a girl)

MY ROOTS:
I've lived in Oregon all my life, spent time in Eugene (Go DUCKS!), Springfield, Reedsport, and Smith River. Which is not really a town, but a river, about 70 miles long, a tributary of the Umpqua River in southwest Oregon.

Although it's not a town, it is a community with a strong sense of pioneer history. It's cool to say you've lived there, especially if you lived there during the days when you had to take a boat to school. No joke! The old farmhouse my grandfather and my mother grew up in still stands, nestled into a narrow, pasture carpeted valley, complete with a swimmin' hole and its own 'crick'. It may turn up in one of my novels.

There's a rumor that my ancestors had a connection with the Mafia back in Sicily. I used to fantasize as a kid about a big black limo with tinted windows pulling up and whisking me away from school. Ahhh. So THAT'S why I'm having so much trouble conjugating my dangling participles now.

NOT RANDOM: I am challenged by the truth and amazed by the grace of God. And it's either in spite of or because of that grace that I hold a PhD in Learning Stuff the Hard Way.