It’s Sophia’s Secret, it’s The Winter Sea and it can be a touch hard to find in stores in the US. But I’ve got ten copies of the soon-to-be-released mass-market edition of The Winter Sea courtesy of Susanna Kearsley and her marvelous publisher to give away to Bitchery readers.
Since the response to my linkage to her interview in The Toronto Star was so effusive among her fans, I figure there’s at least 10 readers here who would like to give her book a try. So, if you’d like a copy, leave a comment. To make it fun, since the book already has two titles, why not create a third? Here’s the description:
Carolyn McClelland, a writer of historical novels, finds herself with a familiar enemy; writer’s block.
A change of scenery leads her, and her book, in a whole new direction. Writing about the attempted Jacobite invasion of 1707, Carolyn takes up residence in a cottage in Edinburgh. Inexplicably drawn to Slains Castle, and not so inexplicably drawn to the charming, but somehow familiar, Stuart Keith, Carolyn is soon writing with an unusual speed and imagery which leads her to wonder whether her ‘fictional’ character of Sophia is really so fictional after all.
Carolyn soon realises that she is somehow channelling the memories of her distant relative and that her story has a life of its own.
So what kinds of fun titles can we come up with? Clearly two is not nearly enough. The Scot, the Scribe, and the Secret? The Reincarnated Writer’s Boardroom Mistress? Castled for the Writer’s Block? Whee! I’ll pick 10 winners at random, and send out your books as soon as they arrive at Bitchery HQ. You have 24 hours – ready, set, go!
Dude, Where’s My Chronotope?
I read “Inexplicably drawn to Slains Castle, and not so inexplicably drawn to the charming, but somehow familiar, Stuart Keith, “ to say that Keith and the castle were similar, so the first thing that came into my head was “The Scotsman Built Like a Crumbly Old Castle”… hardly romantic, I know.
otherwise, maybe “Reincarnation Vacation”. The cover makes me think of “What to do in Scotland when writer’s block makes you want to jump off a cliff”, but that’s a mite bit long.
I’m terrible at titles, so completely random “The Scotsman from the Winter Sea.”
Free book? YES PLEASE.
I haven’t read over the other suggestions yet—I’m sure they’re brill, as always. Hm.
The Historical Novelist’s Secret Scottish Specter?
The Wind Seeking a Harbor (from a Scottish saying)—that sounds appropriately romantic and castle-on-a-cliff-y.
Okay, I was hit with inspiration while scrolling through the above entries:
Hot Scot, Dead Scot, Blocked Scot, Ooh Scot!