I’m delighted to be taking part in the celebrations to mark publication day of A Different Kind of Fire by Suanne Schafer. Watch the book trailer here.
For US readers only, there’s a giveaway with a chance to win a Fiery Bookish Prize Pack, including a literary scarf, beaded velvet bookmark, a copy of A Different Kind of Fire and a $10 Amazon Gift Card! Read the terms and conditions and enter via the form on the tour page here.
About A Different Kind of Fire
Ruby Schmidt has the talent, the drive, even the guts to enrol in art school, leaving behind her childhood home and the beau she always expected to marry. Her life at the Academy seems heavenly at first, but she soon learns that societal norms in the East are as restrictive as those back home in West Texas.
Rebelling against the insipid imagery women are expected to produce, Ruby embraces bohemian life. Her burgeoning sexuality drives her into a life-long love affair with another woman and into the arms of an Italian baron. With the Panic of 1893, the nation spirals into a depression, and Ruby’s career takes a similar downward trajectory. After thinking she could have it all, Ruby, now pregnant and broke, returns to Texas rather than join the queues at the neighbourhood soup kitchen.
Set against the Gilded Age of America, a time when suffragettes fight for reproductive rights and the right to vote, A Different Kind of Fire depicts one woman’s battle to balance husband, family, career, and ambition. Torn between her childhood sweetheart, her forbidden passion for another woman, the nobleman she had to marry, and becoming a renowned painter, Ruby’s choices mould her in ways she could never have foreseen.
Praise for A Different Kind of Fire
“Writer Suanne Schafer spins a unique tale of a turn of the 19th century Texas heroine and her way of artistic expression. A Different Kind of Fire depicts the journey of a determined woman to meet life on her own terms.” [Pamela Morsi, USA Today bestselling author of 26 books including The Cotton Queen and Bitsy’s Bait & BBQ]
“If you love historical novels about women who throw off the shackles of feminine convention, then this book is for you. In spare but sensuous prose reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy and E. Annie Proulx, Schafer brings Ruby Schmidt to life – a woman who doesn’t belong in the late nineteenth century but gradually finds her place in the twentieth. This is a powerful and deeply satisfying read.” [Helena Echlin, co-author of Sparked and author of Gone]
“An exceptional first novel. Schafer has woven a cohesive tale from disparate elements–a stark life in the rugged countryside of 1890s Texas vs the gentility of an arts academy in the East; a traditional marriage and motherhood vs a secret and haunting sexuality. Unequivocally recommended!” [Michael R. Hardesty, author of Amazon Best Seller, The Grace of the Ginkgo]
“With rare artistry, Schafer paints a life both creative and cursed in A Different Kind of Fire”. [Willa Blair, award-winning Amazon and Barnes & Noble #1 bestselling author of His Highland Love, Highland Troth, Highland Seer, and ten other books]
“The saga of a young woman determined to follow her dream, whatever obstacles cross her path.” [M J Fredrick, author of A Texas Kind of Love, Smitten in a Small Town, and twenty-five other books, two-time Epic Awards winner and four-time RWA Golden Heart finalist]
“Told in a rich, sensual, style, A Different Kind of Fire is a book about reconciling the irreconcilable. It is a book about boundaries: the dilemmas they place upon those would dare rise above them.” [James Hanna, author of The Siege, Call Me Pomeroy, and A Second, Less Head and Other Rogue Stories]
“Suanne Schafer’s A Different Kind of Fire tackles the sensitive subject of bisexuality in 19th century America with grace, compassion, and empathy through fully developed characters in a story readers will cherish long after the book ends.” [C.S. Fuqua, author of Walking after Midnight: Collected Stories]
Format: Paperback, audiobook (pp.) Publisher: Waldorf Publishing
Published: 1st November 2018 Genre: Historical Fiction
Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com | Publisher
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme
Find A Different Kind of Fire on Goodreads
About the Author
Suanne Schafer, born in West Texas at the height of the Cold War, finds it ironic that grade school drills for tornadoes and nuclear war were the same: hide beneath your desk and kiss your rear-end goodbye. Now a retired family-practice physician whose only child has fledged the nest, her pioneer ancestors and world travels fuel her imagination. She originally planned to write romances, but either as a consequence of a series of failed relationships or a genetic distrust of happily ever after, her heroines are strong women who battle tough environments and intersect with men who might – or might not – love them.
Suanne completed the Stanford University Creative Writing Certificate program. Her short works have been featured in print and on-line magazines and anthologies. Her debut women’s fiction novel, A Different Kind of Fire, explores the life of Ruby Schmidt, a nineteenth century artist who escapes – and returns – to West Texas. Suanne’s next book explores the heartbreak and healing of an American physician caught up in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
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About the Book
The smattering of Portuguese phrases and references to local dishes really help to conjure up the atmosphere of the beautiful island of Madeira. I was lucky enough to holiday there a few years ago and the scenery is as dramatic and stunning as the book describes, especially if you venture on a bus ride around the coast. The bus drivers really do deserve a medal for bravery! Hint: if you suffer from vertigo, best not sit by the window.
In Joseph Barnaby, the author skilfully melds a tender romance with the gradual reveal of the mystery of Joseph’s past, all set against the stunning backdrop of the island of Madeira. Personally, I wasn’t sure it needed the mystical element introduced via one of the characters. What’s not in doubt is that the book is a great advertisement for the island of Madeira!
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