đ Merrily Indie After Book Con, a review of Addie LaRue and a cover reveal Â
Book of the week
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'The Pirate Queen' by Ariel Lawhon
Ariel Lawhon poses a provocative question in the authorâs note that follows her story of a 16th century pirate queen. She asks: What if the story of your life was written by the people who despised you? Who wanted nothing more than to blacken your name?
So it was for Grace OâMalley, a woman who commanded her own ships, who headed a powerful Irish clan and who survived imprisonment, a violent marriage, a shipboard birth and a number of battles to both claim and defend her property.
But the historical record of OâMalleyâs life in Irish history is puzzlingly scant which is why as Lawhon writes in "The Pirate Queen": âIt is in the folklore that we find the real Grace. Here we see the passionate, ferocious woman who became a legend.â
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đ¤ What's the newsroom reading?
Iâm currently reading "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue," published in 2020. The premise is intriguing: Desperate to escape an unwanted marriage, a young woman in 1700s France trades her soul to a shadowy devil-like figure for immortality and freedom. But the deal comes with a curse: No one will remember her.
Addie moves like a ghost through history, slipping into homes, borrowing clothes and enduring brief, touching but painful interactions with people who forget her face and her name by morning. Everything changes when she meets a bookstore worker who remembers her â but who has his own complicated secret.
The novel is almost 450 pages, and plays out over centuries. It works because of the rich characters and the thought-provoking questions it raises: What does it mean to truly live if no one remembers you? How do we inspire others and leave a lasting mark on the world? I appreciate how Addie finds moments of beauty and purpose in the face of loneliness and hopelessness. Iâm eager to find out how her story ends.
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