Monday, March 21, 2016
Today we welcome Marin Thomas, author of The Promise of Forgiveness, who writes about nontraditional settings in Women's Fiction books...
A LOT of Women’s Fiction books are set in cozy coastal towns along oceans, beaches, bays, shores, harbors and in small, charming Southern communities filled with the scent of oleander and lilac. I wasn’t surprised when my friends balked after I revealed the setting of my first Women’s Fiction novel—Unforgiven, a fictitious town in the Oklahoma Panhandle.
Five words that might come to mind when you think of Oklahoma…
Dust Bowl
Tornadoes
Oil boom
Native Americans
Cowboys
And maybe you’ve read one or more of these five famous novels set in Oklahoma…
Cimarron (1929) by Edna Ferber. The novel is based on development in Oklahoma after the Land Rush. The book was made into a movie by the same name in 1931 and again in 1960.
The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck. It won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize.
Where the Red Fern Grows (1961) by Wilson Rawls is a children's novel about a boy who buys and trains two coonhound hunting dogs.
True Grit (1968) by Charles Portis is a novel told from the viewpoint of Mattie Ross, who recounts the time when she was 14 years old and sought revenge for the murder of her father by Tom Chaney. Considered by some critics to be a great American novel.
Mean Spirit (1991) by Linda Hogan is a novel about the Osage Tribe during the Oklahoma oil boom. It was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
The lists are compelling but not exactly filled with the adjectives or story lines most readers expect to find in a Women’s Fiction book. But I can’t imagine a stronger more turbulent atmosphere than the Oklahoma Panhandle to nurture the raw emotions of my flawed and stubborn characters as they wrestle with the theme of forgiveness and the power of redemption and absolution in The Promise of Forgiveness.
What’s the most memorable setting you’ve read in a Women’s Fiction book?
About Marin Thomas:
Marin Thomas has penned over twenty-five western romances for Harlequin Books, including the bestselling series, The Cash Brothers. The Promise of Forgiveness (Penguin/NAL) is her first women’s fiction book. When Marin isn’t writing she’s researching ghost tours or stalking estate sales and vintage junk shops searching for her next story idea. She and her husband are recent empty nesters living in Houston, Texas. You can find out more about Marin and her books at www.marinthomas.com
Find The Promise of Forgiveness on Amazon.
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