From Alice Tasman on behalf of H.S. Cross:
Please join us at Words Bookstore in Maplewood on Wednesday, November 12th, at 7:30pm, where H.S. Cross will be reading from her acclaimed novel AMANDA and chatting about writing, inspiration, and all things literary. It’s going to be a fun, lively night and you don’t have to have read the book to come!
Praise for AMANDA
“A historical romance of a grand, old-fashioned and very British variety, with hints of L.P. Hartley, D.H. Lawrence and Evelyn Waugh… Compelling and ultimately convincing, which is one of the most difficult things a love story can be.”—Mary Marge Locker, The New York Times Book Review
★ “In 1926 England, two people—a young woman desperate to avoid her former lover and that former lover, equally desperate to find her—struggle with despair and spiritual doubt… Cross tackles such small issues as faith, the Easter Rebellion, and British classism… That Cross’ voice—some combination of Edna O’Brien, Muriel Spark, and maybe a pinch of Jane Austen—comes from a contemporary American writer is hard to believe. Mesmerizing, haunting, hopeful.”— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“It’s an intoxicating drama about two damaged individuals finding love in post-World War I England… Cross impresses with original descriptions and deft examinations of the agony and ecstasy of love. This is a book that appeals to hearts and minds.”— Malcolm Forbes, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“At once as a mysterious romance, a psychological portrait of two fractured protagonists, and an utterly convincing, inside-out look at an England navigating the heat and the shadows of The Great War… A propellent, engaging, complex work of literature that inhabits, rather than uses, its time period. Amanda , like history itself, is truly original.”— D. W. White, Chicago Review of Books
“Sizzling with restrained eroticism, Amanda is about two lovers driven apart by secrets and brought together again by irrepressible need… A scintillating historical novel about the potential revival of a star-crossed love.”— Foreword Reviews
“Cross delivers an intense psychological drama set in the aftermath of WWI, when an English headmaster searches for the woman he fell for when he was at Oxford… It’s a nuanced tale of love and loss.”— Publishers Weekly
“Cross writes with an eloquent lyrical tone that penetrates through the storyline for a profound literary work. Readers will be entranced by the wounded lovers and by Cross’ writing style, reminiscent of classic works like Jane Eyre and Rebecca .”— Booklist
