Brilliant language and blueprints

Look, if you love historical fiction or just a great story, if you’re a writer looking for brilliant language and blueprints, hey, if you’re of Irish descent, if you know the work of Sean O’Casey, if, if, if … well then you should know Mary Morrissy, one of my favorite novelists, has a new novel out, The Rising of Bella Casey. She’s the author of one of my favorite novels, Mother of Pearl (not the Oprah pick of the same title, but this gorgeous stunning Morrissy novel, now out of print — but, by God, someone get it back into readers’ hands!) as well as two other books. She’s finally being recognized — one blurb calls her the Irish Hilary Mantel. She’s a brilliant writer, deserving of a much broader audience. Dave found Mother of Pearl while he was roaming a publishing house in London and I was doing an interview — and I’m so thankful for the find, so writes Julianna Baggott (above).

Julianna is an indefatigable cross-genre writer – as herself and under the pen names Bridget Asher and N.E. Bode. She has published nineteen books over the last twelve years. Film rights for her novel Pure, the first of a sci-fi trilogy, was  a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and ALA Alex Award-winner, have been acquired by Fox 2000. The second book in the trilogy, Fuse was released last year: The Guardian raved about her “scalpel-sharp prose”.  I can rave about Julianna’s even rarer gift – the selfless championing of other writers’ work in the true spirit of literary comradeship.   See www. juliannabaggott.com and https://www.facebook.com/JuliannaBaggott‎