Hi lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Willard
Thompson and his new book, “The Girl from the Lighthouse”! For other stops on his Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
this post.
Be sure to make it to the
end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Willard
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
The
Girl from the Lighthouse
by
Willard Thompson
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GENRE: Historical Literary Romance
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BLURB:
The Girl From the Lighthouse tells the
compelling story of Emma Dobbins.
Abandoned
by her mother at an early age, she was raised by her father, a lighthouse
keeper at Point Conception in California, where early on she discovers her
artistic talent. At the age of 17, Emma
travels to Paris with a chaperone, to attend art school but is separated from
the chaperone when the woman becomes ill. Emma arrives alone in Paris with no
money, no language skills, and no friends. A chance meeting with a young
working girl in the train station becomes her first Parisian friend.
The
setting is Paris in the 1860s-70s, the start of the Belle Èpoque. France soon
is involved in the Franco/Prussian War and the Commune Uprising; difficult
times for Emma and all Frenchmen. Initially rejected by art schools, her
determination keeps her moving toward her goal in the art world, where the
Impressionists are starting to change the world. Frenchmen fall in love with
her beautiful face and lustrous dark hair. Some wanted to paint her, others to
court her, but either way, she does not abide by the rules they try to impose
on her because she never learned them. She grows into an accomplished artist
but never gives up her own principles... even when someone steals something
precious to her and she fights to get it back.
The
story is told in the first person, present tense, allowing the reader to enter
the story and feel a part of it as it unfolds, sharing with Emma her highs and
lows, loves and rejections, all focused in the art world of Paris. The novel is filled with vivid characters,
both fictional and real people, and the story unfolds gracefully from the 1870s
until 1912, just prior to the start of WWI.
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EXCERPT THREE:
The
next morning, I go to the orchard with my easel and a canvas to capture the
early light and the dew on the leaves of the apple trees. I set up the easel
midway between two rows and concentrate on getting the perspective just right,
as the trees appear to merge in the distance. It is delicate, tedious work, but
the charcoal pencil I sketch with comes alive in my fingers, eagerly welcoming
the challenge. In my mind's eye, I see myself in solitude on the bluff looking
out at the headlands of the rugged California coastline merging into the mist.
"That
is a very brilliant thing you have done to capture the complexity of the apple
orchard fading into the distance," the voice over my shoulder says around
mid-day.
When
I look up, I see Lamar scrutinizing my morning's work. "The flowers are so
delicate," I tell him, "So hard to get right. Tomorrow my challenge
will be to reproduce in oil what I've sketched." I pause then ask,
"How has your morning been, mon cher?" I wait for his reaction.
"Well
enough, I suppose. I've read my mail and a couple of newspapers that came with
it. What do you say we drive into the village for lunch? I'm ready."
"Can
you wait just a few more minutes?"
"Ah,
but Emma, I am hungry now."
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GUEST POST:
My Favorite Scene in the Book
Emma
Dobbin is a young American girl studying art in Paris, France in 1870, and
trying to find her way in the Victorian era society. She regularly goes to the
Lourve Museum to study and copy the masterpieces there and is befriended by
Impressionist artist Berthe Morisot. They go to lunch together. Here are the
scene and the picture Emma is studying:
Sitting on a bench in the
Louvre Museum a month later, hunched over my sketching pad, I’m focusing on the
masterpiece in front of me, oblivious to people walking up and down the
marble-walled Grand Gallery. A Jacque-Louis David portrait of a reclining woman
is in front of me, so elegant in its simplicity, yet so beguiling and
mysterious, I can only stare at her, trying to imagine the thoughts going
through her mind. I can’t help wonder if Madame
Récamier had any of the same feelings I do while she was being painted.
I set pencil and pad down,
after adding a final few strokes and turn to a friend who has just come by. “Ah, Bonjour, Mademoiselle Morisot.
Pardonne-moi. I was lost and didn’t notice your approach.”
“Bonjour Emma. I would be pleased to have you call me Berthe. I saw
you and wanted to ask if you would join me for lunch.”
“Yes,” I tell her. “Yes, I
would like that. I have done enough for today. Some days—like today—the work
seems hard, and I get distracted. I haven’t seen you for some time, Berthe. It
will be pleasant to catch up.”
“Oui I have been with my family. If you are finished...”
Together we leave the museum,
cross rue de Rivoli, and walk along the stone-canopied sidewalk to a café on
the corner of rue Royale, across from the Place de la Concorde. We take an
outdoor table. Berthe orders a meat and cheese plate, with a glass of wine, and
a mushroom omelet for me.
“How is your work
progressing?” She asks as we settle in.
“It’s been several months,
and I still copy with pad and pencil, sometimes I try watercolors—I think I
have learned a great deal, but I’m still not ready to try oils.”
“You should,” she encourages
me. “David is a good artist for you to copy. His portraits are beautifully
executed, especially the one of Madame Recamier you are working on. Portraits
like that are the kind of commissions you are likely to get when you are
ready.”
“How so?”
“There
is always demand for portraits of wives and children, and other women that are
best done by women artists. You should also study some of Vigee Le Brun’s
portraits.”
I study the wine in my glass,
using the pause to consider Berthe’s recommendation. “I hope to paint
landscapes one day,” I tell her.
“Difficult for a woman,” she
replies. “Traveling alone to paint a landscape is often...” She pauses, “how do
I say, looked down upon. There are not many buyers for the work of a woman
landscape artist.”
“I want to be free to paint
whatever I want.”
Berthe cuts a slice of cheese
from the wedge on her plate and adds it to a piece of baguette before taking a
sip from her glass. She looks at me with her doleful dark eyes the whole time.
“That can be difficult,” she says at last. “Consider your decision carefully.
It is easier for us to paint in a boudoir than side-by-side in a world with
men.” She pauses again and picks at a piece of ham.
Feeling frustrated, and
looking for a response that won’t offend my friend, I stab my fork at a
mushroom. “It seems to me women in Paris have only limited freedom. Do you find
it that way, Berthe?”
“I have never thought much
about it, but yes, I do. It’s just the way life is for women. Both of my older
sisters are married. I think they have more freedom than I do, but they still
obey their husbands.” Setting her glass down, she adds quietly, “I hope to
marry one day. Do you? But for now, marriage can wait.”
“I don’t know. I find some
men quite charming, but others seem brutish and demanding. I want my freedom.”
As I set my fork down, thinking about Leo and Frederic, my gaze wanders off to
the Place de la Concorde, where there is a bustle of activity. “What is going
on there, Berthe?”
“Tents. For the National
Guard. Did you know the Emperor has declared war on Prussia?”
I’m stunned. “No, I did not.
You say the National Guard has been called up?” I strain to see the activity
across the boulevard.
“Louis Napoleon has mobilized
the army and the National Guard. The Guard is camping over there for now. My
father says they will all march off to the Rhine in the next day or two.”
“All of them?”
“Oui. My father says Louis Napoleon has made a big mistake starting
a war.”
“I have a friend in the
Guard. Perhaps he is over there. Will you walk with me to look for him?”
“Oh no, Emma! It would not be
proper for two young women to go walking alone among all those men.”
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AUTHOR BIO:
Willard Thompson is an award-winning
historical fiction and romance writer living in Montecito, California with his
wife Jo. His newest historical romance, THE GIRL FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE was
published in early 2019. His previously published three novels of historical
fiction DREAM HELPER DELFINA'S GOLD, and THEIR GOLDEN DREAMS are part of his
CHRONICLES OF CALIFORNIA trilogy. The Independent Publishers 2009 Book Awards
selected DREAM HELPER for a gold medal as the best fiction in the
Western/Pacific Region.
Thompson
is a past president of the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Maritime
Museum. He is a native of Manhasset, New York and a graduate of Colgate
University in Hamilton, New York.
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Willard will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC
to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this
blog. This does not cost you anything,
it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
