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The Gaslight Journal
On Thanksgiving Day, The Gaslight Journal was released just in time for Christmas, to Amazon Kindle, Smashwords and Barnes and Noble. You can get it for $2.99 for any reading device, DRM free.
A secret hidden in a dead man's journal will tear his family apart, unless his widow and daughter cannot learn how to overcome it.
The year is 1881. In spite of being in America, how you appear to Victorian high-society determines your future.
Isabella Audley is on Christmas break from Radcliffe, returning home for the first time in 3 years to Fairtown, NY. Grieving the loss of her father, who died of pneumonia a month before leaving for school, she is excited to finally spend holiday with her mother, Lilly, see cherished friends, and step back into the life of privilege she's always known.
But her bliss is cut short with rumors of a tragedy that's befallen her mother. While rummaging for decorations one afternoon, "Izzy" discovers her father's journal and reference to his hidden secret, and confronts Lilly. Soon, it's evident that their relationship may not stand against Lilly's deception at having prior knowledge of the situation (a dark truth that’s already set the course for their family’s destruction), and it will tear them apart unless they cannot learn how to overcome it.
Only Thomas, a childhood friend, whom she soon discovers has a secret of his own, has it in his power to pull them from ruin. As Izzy finds herself falling for him, it's apparent that their difference in class, now caused by her slip in status, thanks to the repercussions of her father's secret, may prevent them from finding the happiness they were meant to have.
It has also received the following accolades so far:
*Featured book of the day on the NightReading UK web-site for 10/25/10
*Nominated for book-of-the-month by NightReading Publishing for September, 2010
*Voted #1 on the HarperCollins web-site for the week of 8/17/10
Here is one recent five-star review by author/journalist Tom Dulaney:
What a delight to sink into the life and times of Isabella Audley, a young Victorian woman ensconced in the rituals of the English gentry, the constraints of social class, the expectations of propriety. From the opening sentences of The Gaslight Journal, the reader immerses in the formal language of those long-ago days when bustles adorned the ladies, servants joyfully attended their needs, and society's taut structure challenged a thoughtful woman's quest for romance and fulfillment. Fans of Jane Austen will enjoy Carla Rene's atmospheric novel.
It is well worth spending time with the author's Introduction, as well. Where Isabella, the character, copes with the nature of her Victorian times, Rene has coped with the nature of her times, pushed to lowest reaches of America's economic social strata by the hard economy. A woman forced to live in her car out of economic necessity is to be pitied. A woman who slept in a car with her cats and still had the courage to write this fine novel is to be admired. Courage, in the book, wore a corset. Courage, in Meltdown America, wears jeans.
It is well worth spending time with the author's Introduction, as well. Where Isabella, the character, copes with the nature of her Victorian times, Rene has coped with the nature of her times, pushed to lowest reaches of America's economic social strata by the hard economy. A woman forced to live in her car out of economic necessity is to be pitied. A woman who slept in a car with her cats and still had the courage to write this fine novel is to be admired. Courage, in the book, wore a corset. Courage, in Meltdown America, wears jeans.
Thank-you so much, and I wish you and yours a very, Merry Christmas!
Frohe Weihnachten und glückliches neues Jahr!
Carla
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On Thanksgiving Day, The Gaslight Journal was released to 