FREE KINDLE BOOK: The Dream Bucket and Manuela Blayne

The Dream Bucket and Manuela Blayne, combined in one e-book, are free on Amazon June 26-June 30, 2023.

The Dream Bucket shows life in a simpler time–1909–and yet the Cameron family’s problems resemble those we face today when things go wrong. This novel, told from two points of view, portrays mystery, romance, grief, and courage.

  Special Recognition 

International Writers Alive Contest Winner

Audio Creation Exchange Stipend Recipient

(ACX)

Qualified Independently Published Status for Author

(QIP, ACFW)

Living in a Shack

As long as she can remember, Trudy Cameron has adored Papa, who calls her his little princess. In the night when the moon is going down, she hears her father abuse her mother in the next bedroom. All Zoe, her mother, wants to know is where he has stored the family fortune.  Trudy realizes William Cameron is less of a person than she had believed. She wishes he would die. While she is at school, the family home burns, and Papa dies in the fire.

Her mother takes Trudy and her brother Billy Jack (Will) to live in a sharecroppers’ shack, and they struggle to survive with no money. Predators, both human and animal, threaten the family. A gentle neighbor stands by. Kind people from the town of Taylorsburg help as much as Zoe will allow.

Manuela Blayne is the sequel to The Dream Bucket.

·        Tale of self-discovery, emotional, expressive, innocence versus awakening, important (from Reader’s Favorite).

·        Story of racial separation in the early twentieth century, when Black lives didn’t matter.

·        Clean and sparse but loaded with meaning.

·        Depiction of hope and love.

·        White girl’s attempt to understand how it feels to be Black.

·        Realistic portrayal of Southern poverty.

                                 

 Kirkus Reviews

The inherent tension between Trudy’s cheery worldview and Manuela’s family’s troubled lives makes for a compelling read. 

The Dream Bucket and Manuela Blayne

Mississippi Legacy: How would you live in a house like this one?

Hi. I’m a writer from Mississippi, and I’m glad to be in that category. Sometimes I write about other places, but my heart and my laptop always return to the hills of south Mississippi. I spent my early days in a simple wooden farmhouse situated between Taylorsville and Hot Coffee.

The time I write about doesn’t matter much. I like the old days. The way of life changed little from the late 1800s until World War II began. I research before writing to make sure the subtle changes from one decade to the next are accurate. The way of life of my great grandparents, grandparents, and parents slowly transformed, but in the Mississippi piney woods, we were isolated from the rest of the nation.

I ran across two interesting photos I want to share with you. These are pictures taken in 1939. In that year, the New York World’s Fair showed displays of televisions with the prediction wide audiences would soon watch them. Judy Garland starred in The Wizard of Oz. The completion of the Golden Gate Bridge was the source of a big celebration.

Today I went to the Library of Congress website and found two pictures of a residence near my hometown, Taylorsville, Mississippi. These photographs were taken in 1939. Until the coming of electricity, automobiles, decent roads, desegregated schools, and telephones, life remained primitive in our neck of the woods.

By the time I came along, some things had started to change, but modernization came slowly. I can remember knowing people ten years later living in houses like these. They left a permanent impression on my brain. As we age, our minds go back to our youth. These photos bring bittersweet memories of my childhood playmates. 

African American cabin showing grass and mud chimney and broom made of corn husks for sweeping yard. Taylorsville, Mississippi digital file from original neg. Lee Russell, Photographer  

If you haven’t read Manuela Blayne, allow me to invite you to do so. In the simplest of words, I'm trying in this little novella, to evoke some thought about how other people feel inside. For example, I'm trying to paint pictures of how it feels to be African American and how it feels to be saturated in white prejudices in the early 1900's. (It’s part of a series, but it stands alone. You can read it first.)

Available as Kindle, Audible, and Printed Book

My oldest brother, who was born on this day 98 years ago used to say, “But for the grace of God, there go I.”