Imagining Violet now an E-Book

Hello friends,

I am pleased to announce the publication of my novel Imagining Violet as an E-book.

It's available at Amazon.ca for $3.99 or $2.99 US at Amazon.com.

One reviewer, Pauline Sugar of chaptersandchances.wordpress.com wrote: This was amazing and fantastic and I really enjoyed it! This is a work of historical fiction which draws a lot of inspiration from actual events. … Although the story is set in the 19th century, it feels natural. Another great thing about this book is that unlike other “letter novels”, you actually understand the plot. Even though you only get to read one side of the story, namely Violet’s, it is still incredibly easy to imagine what all the other characters are feeling and their distinct personalities.

Written as a series of letters to friends and family, the book is also available as a paperback for $20 plus $5 postage from Amazon, or with the Order Form on this website.

Another Interview - this one with Wayne Turmel

A Young Girl and Her Violin

with Mary Hughes

(Interview with Wayne Turmel, Author of Acre's Bastards and Acre's Orphans – posted 16 April 2019)

Historical fiction often deals with big themes: war, politics, violence and upheaval. But no matter the time period, there were also individuals living fascinating lives out of the view of most. These little stories can be as interesting, involving and intriguing as anything else. Mary Hughes took the story of a young woman with a dream to learn music in pre-WW1 Germany and turned it into “Imagining Violet.”

Mary, what’s your story and how did you come to be a writer?

I live on a beautiful small island off the west coast of Canada. Salt Spring Island, population around 10,000, is an amazing place to grow live, with its healthy moderate climate, a strong culture of volunteerism and an extraordinary enthusiasm for the arts. There are 117 writers here and just as many potters and painters.

Saltspring is a truly amazing place, and not for nothing it’s the home of my friend Howard Busgang’s deli, Buzzy’s Luncheonette so if you’re jonesing for Montreal smoked meat…. but I digress. What’s Imagining Violet about?

Imagining Violet is the story of a 16 year old Anglo-Irish girl who goes, on her own, to study violin in Germany in 1891. The 1890s were a period of tremendous change, with new technologies (typewriters, bicycles, sewing machines) affecting what women could do with their lives. My MC, Violet, is based on my grandmother’s life; I wanted to explore what her student life in Germany might have been like.

To give the book intimacy, I chose to craft it as a book of letters, an old-fashioned epistolary novel. I knew I could do it when I found a Guide Book for Northern Germany for 1892  on-line, complete with railway schedules. One of my favourite scenes is in one of the early letters; young Violet’s journey by train from Edinburgh to Germany.

You really got into the research for this, didn’t you?

My research was extensive. At one point I decided to take violin lessons in order to be able to write plausibly on that subject. Then Violet’s actual violin came my way – truly – and today I play it in a local amateur string ensemble.

Where can we learn more?

Imagining Violet is available through Amazon or through my website:https://imaginingviolet.blogspot.com. I am a Goodreads Author and I am on Facebook.

Wayne Turmel's latest, Acre’s Orphans is out in the world! You can order Paperbacks on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Chapters. The e-book is Kindle only Please help me launch it successfully by buying now. And any time you read a book like Imagining Violet (or one of mine,) please leave an Amazon or Goodreads review. It’s like applause for  the author.

A nice review for Imagining Violet

Review by Goodreads Author, Cathleen Townsend

Imagining Violet is an epistolary tale, which is something I have a cordial dislike for. Telling a story through a series of letters is very different from telling it as a straight narrative. It has a much different rhythm. People include things in letters, everyday details that wouldn’t make it into a typical three-act tale. I seem to have worn a three-act groove into my soul at an early age, so that’s a disadvantage for this book with me as a reader.

However, as an epistolary story it was exceptionally well done. The world may have had a great deal of non-narrative related detail, but it was all vivid and felt incredibly real and authentic. Judging it as the type of story it is, I would say it’s very successful. The line editing is flawless. The main character feels three-dimensional and her personality leaps off the page.

Violet is a young woman in 1892. She describes herself as born in Ireland, living in Scotland, but really an Englishwoman. She takes up studying music along with other liberal arts in Germany, a very demanding course of study that has her relying on tutors for months to get up to speed.

We see pre-Weimar Germany through Violet’s eyes, and it’s a fascinating glimpse, with the education of a young violinist, social experiences of upper-class young women, ice skating on the canals, celebrating holidays—all filled with youthful exuberance, and eventually disappointments. Should appeal to historical fiction fans who enjoy the Victorian period. Or possibly Jane Austen fans who like epistolary formats. For these groups, I would highly recommend this book.