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Dear Reader,
Author Louise Penny is my guest columnist today. Please welcome her back to the book clubs. Take a minute and send her an email. Say hello and not only will you receive a personal reply, Louise will also enter your name in her book giveaway. (Please include your mailing address in case you win.)
I get the nicest thank you emails from the authors I invite to write guest columns. They are so touched by your emails. It's a treat for them to personally hear from readers.
Email: contact@louisepenny.com
Take it away Louise Penny . . .
When I was first considering THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY, what fascinated me was looking at a silent order of monks who'd become world famous for their voices. Who sang Gregorian chant with such beauty, it was considered divine. The word of God, in the voice of God.
I wanted to explore the powerful place music holds in the lives of men who live in great silence, and great isolation.
To research this book, I visited a local monastery where Gregorian chant is still sung. But I also read a book by Daniel Levitin called, This is Your Brain on Music. It was fascinating, and confirmed what I'd experienced in my own life--the transcendent power of music. Each of my books has a soundtrack, and I use different songs to get deeper and deeper into the themes and characters I'm trying to explore. To make connections I couldn't otherwise make. It's more about feeling than thinking.
Some music can even change the pattern of our brainwaves. It can take us into a deep, meditative state, almost a trance, and allow us to experience things normally beyond our conscious mind. A sort of quiet ecstasy.
It probably, then, comes as no surprise that Dr. Levitin equates music to a narcotic. And, if music is a drug then Gregorian chant, the root of all western music, is uncut heroin.
And that, for me, was the final link. I would create and explore this monastery of monks who sing Gregorian chant, music so ancient and powerful it's become known as THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY.
For some of les Freres in the remote Quebec abbey, chant is Divine, for others a drug.
What, then, would happen when someone threatens to take that music away?
A murder mystery happens.
Best,
Louise
LOUISE PENNY is The New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author of the novels featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Penny was the first author ever to win the Agatha Award for Best Novel four times. Louise lives with her husband, Michael, in a small village south of Montreal.
Enter THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY book giveaway at: contact@louisepenny.com
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
www.muffinsandmayhem.com
AUTHORBUZZ: PRELUDE AND FUGUE (Fiction) by Laura Haley-McNeil
Eager to follow her dream of becoming a pianist, Olivia began studying with Liam Wallace, a concert pianist who is also an incredibly fine teacher. Her playing, and her dedication, improves with great leaps. However, she is quite surprised to find that her heart has taken a gigantic leap as well. Does she dare to allow love to become part of her dream?
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on PRELUDE AND FUGUE to read more and to email author Laura Haley-McNeil, you'll get a reply.
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