Please welcome author Ariel Swan. We share a similar taste for old Victorian homes, rural New England settings, art by Lori Nix, and a make-believe world in our heads that would make Walter Mitty proud. A high school English teacher by day, Ariel loves nothing better than to find a quiet corner or shaded tree and dream up a new story. I’ve asked her to tell us about the last two books she completed, what inspired her to write, and how she found the time between grading papers and coaching teens how to embrace the inner writer within.
Take it away Ariel.
DISTILLATION is the story of Alice Towne, who has been trying to get pregnant and to be a good wife, but the smell of the dead is getting in the way. She smells their memories, sweet and sour, essences of life hanging on with the soul. When her husband can’t accept her for who she is and his disdain borders on abuse, Alice finds the strength to leave. With few options, she agrees to do a favor for her mother, caretaking a house in the hills of western, Massachusetts, where she hopes to exorcise her demons and come to terms with her curse in solitude.