Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column - July 30, 2024

Dear Reader,

Today's guest author, Mary Fleming, is originally from Chicago, and moved to Paris in 1981, where she worked as a freelance journalist and consultant before turning full-time to writing fiction. Her previous novels are Someone Else and The Art of Regret. She chronicles her French life between Paris and the Perche (Normandy) in the photo-essay, A Paris-Perche Diary.

Mary's new novel is Civilisation Française: When recent college graduate Lily Owens enrolls in the Civilisation Française course at the Sorbonne in 1982, she hopes to put a difficult childhood behind her and to find direction for her future. She moves into a mansion on the place des Vosges where her job is to help the housekeeper, Germaine, care for the elderly, half-blind Amenia Quinon, another ex-pat American. The three women live alone in this old house of silence and secrets, mostly revolving in their own worlds. When Lily extends an invitation to a friend, all of their lives are upended.

Reach out to author Mary Fleming via Instagram: @flemingm6

SERENDIPITY

The first day of my freshman year, the college president welcomed our incoming class with a speech about serendipity, a word I did not know. I was so taken by the idea of 'the happiness of discovery' that I can still see myself leaning forward in that chapel pew, hanging on his every word.

Fully understanding the concept, though, is another matter, and it's possible the penny didn't fully drop until 30 years later in Paris. Late one evening, just after New Year, I went downstairs to walk Lily the Labrador. As I opened the door to the courtyard, out of the dark another dog came towards me with frightened, pleading eyes.

The building's gardienne didn't know where she came from, so I walked her, took her upstairs with Lily. From the tattoo in her ear (pet ID in France before the age of microchips), I had the name of the owner, but Madame C never answered my increasingly urgent messages.

My husband said: "There is no way we're keeping that dog." I could see his point. We already had one largish shedding creature and five children, quite enough to fill an urban household. But I couldn't hand her over to the pound. No one I approached wanted her.

In the meantime, the unnamed dog, who had the coat of a golden retriever and the body of Border collie, was not idle. She made a personal appeal to each member of the family. Paws on the lap, a lick of the face, an irresistibly penetrating, loving look, straight into the eye of the beholder, as if no one else in the world existed. She didn't even bark.

Despite the fact she was not housetrained, even my husband cracked. My daughter said: "Mum, it's fate."

Indeed. Elsa stayed.

She and Lily became great pals, and Elsa was as bereft as we were when Lily died. Though only obedient when she felt like it, her joie de vivre was irrepressible and highly contagious. Those eyes, that soft face, lit up the lives of everyone in her orbit. They spoke whole sentences. Right to the end we wondered if this enchanting creature of unknown origin was 100 per cent canine. In the countryside I was afraid she'd be taken for a fox and shot. At other times she seemed to possess traits of cats, deer, hares.

I don't know what I would have done without Elsa when we moved half-time to Berlin. She was the conduit through which I explored the city--was at the origin of the online Diary I began writing then and still write today. Her arrival in our courtyard that night turned out to be living proof of serendipity.

-- Mary Fleming

@flemingm6

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

Dear Reader Column - July 23, 2024

Dear Reader,

Please welcome today's guest author Detective Kim Mager, a 30-year law enforcement officer, who retired from the Ashland City Police in 2022. Kim works for a prosecutor's office and still holds a law enforcement commission. She specializes in sex offenses, violent crime, and child abuse and has investigated over 2,000 cases. Kim has a BA from Ashland University and graduated Top Gun of her Police Academy. She is married to husband, Dan, and they have three children, Corbin, Macy, and Reed.

Kim's new true crime title (with Lisa Pulitzer) is, A Hunger to Kill: A Serial Killer, a Determined Detective, and the Quest for a Confession That Changed a Small Town Forever. In this fascinating and profoundly chilling account, Detective Kim Mager, a real-life version of Clarice Starling, reveals how she closed in on-and broke-one of Ohio's most infamous serial killers.

You could win one of three copies of A Hunger to Kill. Send an email with your preferred shipping address (in case you're a winner) to: [email protected]

Finding Solitude

 As a detective, I've spent 30 years interviewing victims of sex offenses and violent crimes. I've sat across from countless suspects and relentlessly pursued their confessions. There have been many times when I have felt like I was suffocating upon entering a scene or when hearing a victim recount their trauma. There never seemed to be a right time to process what I had seen and heard because It wasn't about me, it was about the job I had to do. It was impacting me incrementally and it wasn't apparent to me for most of my career. I spent all of my time looking ahead and focusing on what I needed to do next. I mistakenly believed that because my cases were successful, that was the measure of whether I was okay. I was so wrong.

I reside back along a lane that is so far off the road, you can't hear traffic. I'm surrounded by rolling hills, trees, and a moving creek. For the majority of my career, I took it all for granted. A while back, after a particularly difficult case, I found myself walking my property. I didn't have a plan--I just felt a strong need to go. I walked until I found a small, grassy area between a pine grove and a hardwood forest. I sat down on the ground next to a century-old fallen tree with outgrown roots. I looked around and was taken by the natural beauty surrounding me. I became quiet and still. I felt so small and alone, almost apprehensive. I was afraid to even think because I feared losing control. I looked all around, with an unusual awareness. I could see the sun breaking through the trees, in glowing rays. I could smell the earthy decay of the forest floor, and I noticed the distinct scent of the walnut trees. Birds were rhythmically calling to each other and two squirrels were effortlessly jumping tree-to-tree. I could hear the water rippling over the river rock in the shallow creek. I had lived in the midst of all of that, but on that day, it was different. 

I sat in silence, in a state of repressive coping. After a long pause, I slowly submitted and allowed myself to cautiously reflect. I stayed there for hours, giving thought to my cases, my family, my faith, and my purpose. I began to consciously focus on connecting with myself. I started to feel less alone. It felt surreal. I then realized I had been missing something. I didn't know I was looking for it, but I had found it--solitude. I found a space where I could connect exclusively with myself. A place where I could breathe. 

I now recognize the importance of encouraging others to find solitude. It doesn't have to be in the middle of a forest; it can be anywhere. It's simple, yet profound. Solitude is a state of being alone without feeling lonely. Solitude allows us to stay grounded and reconnect with ourselves. It lets us find calmness and inner focus. It's so critical to our well-being.

Although it took many years, I'm so thankful for the ability to reflect.

I'm drawn to that peaceful spot.

-- Kim Mager

You could win one of three copies of A Hunger to Kill Send an email with your preferred shipping address (in case you're a winner) to: [email protected]

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

Dear Reader Column - July 16, 2024

Dear Reader,

Today's guest, Laura Pritchett, is the author of seven novels. Known for championing the complex and contemporary West and giving voice to the working class, her books have garnered the PEN USA Award, the Milkweed National Fiction Prize, the WILLA, the High Plains Book Award, and others. She's also the author of two nonfiction books, one play, and edited three environmental-based anthologies. She directs the MFA in Nature Writing at Western Colorado University. When not writing or teaching, she's generally found exploring the mountains of her home state of Colorado.

Laura's new book is Three Keys...Newly widowed and unemployed, a woman in her mid-fifties sets off on a journey of trespassing and adventure through the American West and beyond in this witty, thought-provoking novel.

See the details below about how you could win one of five signed copies of Three Keys.

Welcome to the book club Laura...

I somewhat shyly admit it: During the pandemic, I became a bit of a "prepper." At night, I occupied my brain by considering what to do if the water supply fritzed--fill bathtubs and pans at first opportunity! In the day, I added fruit trees to my little orchard in the foothills of Colorado's Rocky Mountains--peaches would feed my family! It doesn't take an expert to see what my brain and heart were doing--I was scared, I wanted some control and sense of safety in uncertain times.

As someone who grew up on a ranch, and with brothers who took me camping, I have some of that how-to knowledge. I know where wild asparagus grows, I can catch and cook a fish. But the pandemic had me contemplating all that I do not know, which is plenty, and take for granted, which is even more. Didn't we all ponder our access to electricity and water and fuel (and even toilet paper!)?

My nervous system has since calmed. But I don't regret this time of what some might call neurotic and loopy behavior. For me, it was clarifying. For one thing, I have a bigger orchard, and apricots and peaches are on their way! For another thing, I've sat with my mortality, the transience of things, and my fears. While I recognize I likely need cortisol-free calm more than I need fishing line and water purifiers, I now have both.

I know I'm not alone in this. Enrollment in survival courses has increased dramatically since covid--everything from urban survival, naturalist schools, and outdoor survival camps--and learning, or re-learning, some of this is not a totally bad idea. Self-sufficiency can lead to empowerment, even as we recognize that we are dependent upon our community. My new book, The "Three Keys" came out of this push-pull between independence and dependence.

And at the end of the day, who doesn't like a good survival story? Whether in real life or in fiction, it's one of the greatest human endeavors: To get scrappy, think our way out of unique scenarios, overcome the odds, and to feel like we are sturdy souls, capable of strengths we didn't know we had. And sometimes, we get some extra fruit to boot.

What makes you feel empowered? I love to hear from readers and you can find me at [email protected]. I'm giving away 5 signed copies of my book, Three Keys so drop me a line.

-- Laura Pritchett

www.laurapritchett.com

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

Dear Reader Column - July 10, 2024

Dear Reader,

Please welcome today's guest author, Dr. Kathleen Sheppard. She is a Professor in the History and Political Science department at Missouri S&T in Rolla, Missouri. She has spent her whole career telling the life stories of women in Egyptology. Her most recent book, Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age is a grand retelling of the history of Egyptology through the work that women did.

Enter the drawing to win one of three copies of Women in the Valley of the Kings. Send an email with your preferred shipping address (in case you're a winner) to: [email protected]

Welcome to the book club, Kathleen...

She'll Have Fun, Fun, Fun...Or Will She?

For some, running is a type-2 kind of fun. You know the kind: you don't like it while you're doing it, but you have good memories once it's over. For me, running is a mix of type-2 and type-1 fun. It is the kind of activity that you enjoy in the moment (which makes you want to keep doing it), but it can also make you miserable. So, I keep running both for the pleasure of it and the stories to tell later.

One of my favorite running events is a four-day series of races, beginning with a 5K the first day, then a 10K, then a half marathon, then a full marathon on the last day, for a total of 48.6 miles run in four days. Called the Dopey Challenge, the event is associated with a major theme park in Florida (ahem) and their tagline is "Every Mile is Magic." Despite the completely 'accurate' moniker and the outright lies in the tagline, I've done this series twice, 10 years apart. I was far too tired after the first time to try it again too soon. Was it dopey to do? Twice? Yes, probably. Will I do it again? Yes, probably.

Where else would you find yourself slogging through a two-mile loop in a desolate parking lot with no cover during a torrential downpour, only to have the skies clear for your run up Main Street, USA, while a princess castle looks down on you? In what other race could you high-five an anthropomorphized mouse, only to cross the finish line carrying a pretzel shaped like said mouse's head while a church choir belts out songs from beloved children's films?

Toward the end of the marathon this year, I was at mile 45 out of 48.6 total for the weekend, and I saw a sign that asked, "Is every mile still magic?" I made eye contact with the person holding the sign, laughed, and said: "Absolutely not." The person nodded solemnly and replied: "I knew it."

But each mile really was magic, in its own way. True to type-2 fun, I've sort of forgotten about the misery and only remember the good times, and I hope to be that way about most things.

-- Kathleen Sheppard

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Enter the drawing to win one of three copies of Women in the Valley of the Kings. Send an email with your preferred shipping address (in case you're a winner) to: [email protected]

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 

Dear Reader Column - July 9, 2024

Dear Reader,

It's a Classics day!

Today you can sample this month's Penguin Classic and enter the drawing to win your own copy. This month's Penguin Classic is The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing 25th-Anniversary Edition (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by Melissa Bank, Foreword by Nick Hornby.

Start reading (below) and enter for your chance to win. 

(From the Publisher:)

The New York Times bestselling classic of a young woman's journey in work, love, and life… 

Generous-hearted and wickedly insightful, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing maps the progress of Jane Rosenal as she sets out on a personal and spirited expedition through the perilous terrain of sex, love, relationships, and the treacherous waters of the workplace. Soon Jane is swept off her feet by an older man and into a Fitzgeraldesque whirl of cocktail parties, country houses, and rules that were made to be broken, but comes to realize that it's a world where the stakes are much too high for comfort. With an unforgettable comic touch, Bank skillfully teases out universal issues, puts a clever new spin on the mating dance, and captures in perfect pitch what it's like to come of age as a young woman.

Start reading this month’s Penguin Classic and enter to win your own copy.

 

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite columns…

Four years ago a hungry, tuckered-out, feral, orange tabby showed up on my porch. He was a feisty little guy but with good reason. Somewhere along the way folks had let him down. The pain and mistreatment he'd suffered, I could see it in his eyes. He kept his distance, but soon…

To read the rest of today's heartfelt Goldie column and to see photos, go to: https://www.dearreader.com/goldie/

Thanks for reading with me. It’s so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]