Hi, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Beth M. Caruso and her new book, “The Salty Rose”! For other stops on her 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 Beth and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!
The Salty Rose
by Beth M. Caruso
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GENRE: Historical Fiction
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BLURB:
Marie du Trieux, a tavern keeper with a salty tongue and a heart of gold, struggles as she navigates love and loss, Native wars, and possible banishment by authorities in the unruly trading port of New Amsterdam, an outpost of the Dutch West India Company.
In New England, John Tinker, merchant and assistant to a renowned alchemist and eventual leader of Connecticut Colony, must come to terms with a family tragedy of dark proportions, all the while supporting his mentor’s secret quest to find the Northwest Passage, a desired trading route purported to mystically unite the East with the West.
As the lives of Marie and John become intertwined through friendship and trade, a search for justice of a Dutch woman accused of witchcraft in Hartford puts them on a collision course affecting not only their own destinies but also the fate of colonial America.
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EXCERPT ONE:
The Director General slammed the gavel down with the harsh thud of an ending.
“Marie du Trieux, you are hereby banished from New Netherland forever!” he said.
As I held on to the railing of a departing schooner, I remembered the jarring finality of those stark words against me. Looking back one last time at my town, a little place in the wilderness that had grown up with me—I longed to stay in the home where I gave birth to all my children, the location of my loves and of my losses.
This is the best place to begin recounting the story of how I played a part in the transition from Dutch New Amsterdam to English New York, my dear granddaughter.
I suppose the English will have their own tales to tell about the events that transpired but I want you to know my personal and secret version of the history of my beloved city before I am gone.
Having left New Amsterdam for the first time on that cold winter day in 1664, I felt unsettled, not quite believing that the time for my departure had finally come. Where had the time gone? How quickly had it passed? It had been nearly forty years since I first set foot on the shores of Manhattan with my mother, father, and little brother.
The view from our vessel, The Morning Star, was unrecognizable from the one my family saw many decades earlier. We had arrived to nothing but marsh, forest, and a few Indian canoes that approached our ship in greeting and curiosity. It’s easy to recall my excitement as a young girl of flowing dark hair seeing the Natives for the first time when we reached these shores many years ago.
But at the point of my expulsion, I wasn’t an adventurous, naïve child anymore. A mature and defiant woman who had faced her share of hardship and disappointment had taken her place. The Council of New Netherland and Director General Stuyvesant had told me they were finished with my repeated offenses and had given the order for banishment. I’d been in trouble with the authorities far too often they said. They’d insisted that my tavern be closed.
“So
this is how it must end,” I uttered in disbelief to my son Pierre, your uncle,
as we huddled together on deck.
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GUEST POST:
Everyone loves a hero! Tell us all about this genuine character and the inspiration behind their development.
Marie du Trieux, the Unlikely Hero of The Salty Rose:
Marie du Trieux doesn’t hesitate to tell someone how she really feels, even if her truth is brutally honest or targeted at the stuffy and stringent leader of New Amsterdam, Director General Peter Stuyvesant. In a colonial age where men and their laws commonly repress women, the women of New Netherland have more leeway and societal power than those in the English colonies of New England and Virginia. Still, Marie pushes the limits in her own society. She’s not refined, polished, or always polite. Instead, she is tempered and seasoned with the real-life experience and grit that can only come from one transported to the wilderness in the infancy of its settlement. She’s fluent in Native languages and possesses the skills of trade and commerce, having acclimated to the American continent in the area now known as New York City since she was just a young girl.
No stranger to hardship or controversy, a passionate and independent Marie has babies out of wedlock, endures the deaths of many close to her and even faces banishment from New Amsterdam for her penchant to break laws as she attempts to run and keep her tavern open to the rowdy populace of her city. For some, Marie would be too tarnished to be the heroine and main protagonist of my story. But it is precisely for her flaws and her rebellious nature that Marie is the obvious choice of heroine for my story. Marie understands the undercurrents of what drives people to do the things they do in her society. She empathizes with people that struggle around her. She also loves fiercely and loyally, comprehending the heart of what people truly want in their lives. In fact, her honesty in looking at herself and the world of her era allow her to have a better sense of justice and compassion than most. These qualities are often lacking in some others, indifferent and powerful, who may make or follow the laws but are aloof or more removed from the desires of everyday people.
The character of Marie du Trieux came about through the genealogical discovery of one of my husband’s ancestors in the early Dutch colony of New Netherland. Marie was a living person who stood out like florescent paint from the worn pages of research records. These documents point to a woman who had several run-ins with the law in regards to her tavern and liquor license. Marie had no problem selling liquor to Native Americans, on Sundays, or after dedicated hours. These events eventually led to her banishment. However, she returned to New Amsterdam after it changed from Dutch to British hands and became New York City.
Personally, I love finding rebellious women from earlier times, those who went against the grain and stood their ground. Marie shows us that the world of her era was challenging and people, including her, did what they had to do to survive. In addition, the life of Marie reflects an early American colony that was very diverse and based more on trade than freedom of religion. She was a French Walloon whose family was among the first group of immigrants to come settle New Amsterdam for the Dutch West India Company. She often dealt with traders, Natives, and settlers from all over the world who came from multiple echelons of her society as well as varied cultures. Marie may have faced a more severe fate had she lived in the Puritan colony of New England. Indeed, The Salty Rose is set in both Puritan New England and Dutch New Netherland. Marie helps give context to the vast differences between the two colonies.
I’m humbled that Marie still lives on through her offspring nine generations forward—my sons, River and Sky. I see in them Marie’s rebelliousness, independence, and compassion. The Salty Rose brings to life Marie and the early colonial struggles she faced with perseverance, individuality, and courage. I’m grateful to share information about my defiant, yet loving female lead character, Marie du Trieux, with the Fabulous and Brunette Blog today.
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AUTHOR BIO:
Award-winning author, Beth M. Caruso, is passionate to discover and convey important and interesting stories of women from earlier times. She recently won the literary prize in Genre Fiction (2020) from IPNE (Independent Publishers of New England) for her most recent novel The Salty Rose: Alchemists, Witches & A Tapper In New Amsterdam (2019). The Salty Rose is Beth’s second historical novel and explores alchemy in early colonial times, an insider’s view of the takeover of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, and the Hartford Witch Panic with information she gathered from previous and ongoing research. Beth’s first historical novel is One of Windsor: The Untold Story of America’s First Witch Hanging (2015), a novel that tells the tale of Alice ‘Alse’ Young and the beginnings of the colonial witch trials. She based the story on original research she did by exploring early primary sources such as early Windsor land records, vital statistics, and other documents. She lives in Connecticut with her family. Beth kayaks and gardens to unwind.
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CONNECT WITH BETH:
Website:
Email:
oneofwindsor@yahoo.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/bethmcaruso
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/oneofwindsor
Goodreads Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14648928.Beth_M_Caruso
Goodreads Book Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49509832-the-salty-rose
Amazon Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle eBook:
Amazon Paperback:
Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-salty-rose-beth-m-caruso/1133991342?ean=9781733373814
Barnes and Noble Paperback:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-salty-rose-beth-m-caruso/1133991342?ean=9781733373807
The Book Depository Paperback:
https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Salty-Rose-Beth-M-Caruso/9781733373807
BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:
https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Salty-Rose/Beth-M-Caruso/9781733373807
Kobo eBook:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-salty-rose-1
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Beth will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway**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**
Beth ~ Good morning! Welcome to FAB! It is so great to have you here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for having me as a guest on your blog!
ReplyDeletenice excerpt
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThis sounds like a really good read. Nice cover!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Cover art by Sue Tait Porcaro
DeleteSounds like a great book. I like the cover.
ReplyDeleteGreat post - thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a very good book.
ReplyDeleteI liked the guest post.
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt.
ReplyDelete