THE
CADENCE OF GYPSIES
By
Barbara Casey
BLURB:
Three high-spirited 17 year olds, with intelligent
quotients in the genius range, accompany their teacher and mentor, Carolina
Lovel, to Frascati, Italy, a few weeks before they are to graduate from Wood
Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women. Carolina's purpose in planning the
trip is to remove her gifted, creative students from the Wood Rose campus
located in Raleigh, North Carolina, so they can't cause any more problems
("expressions of creativity") for the headmaster, faculty, and other
students – which they do with regularity. Carolina also wants to visit the
Villa Mondragone where the Voynich Manuscript, the most mysterious document in
the world, was first discovered and search how it is related to a paper written
in the same script she received on her 18th birthday when she was told that she
was adopted – a search that will take them into the mystical world of gypsy
tradition and magic, more exciting and dangerous than any of them could have imagined.
THE CADENCE
OF GYPSIES
"Ouch!
You're standing on my fingers!"
This from the petite girl with a long, blond ponytail, wearing a
nightgown, most of which was pulled up between her legs and tied into a knot at
her waist to keep it from getting tangled on the limb where she was
perched. Somewhere above her the sound
of a saw and splintering wood filled the darkness followed by a stream of profanity
repeated in several foreign languages for emphasis.
The petite girl, with the magazine that had been
overlooked in the last confiscation and now wedged firmly under her armpit,
started the perilous descent first since she was nearest to the ground,
followed by the tall girl. The girl in
the nightshirt eased her way down the ladder juggling pruning shears, a hand
saw, and scissors. Once on the ground,
the three girls stood back to admire their work.
It would soon be light; and Wood Rose Orphanage
and Academy for Young Women would start another day.
AUTHOR
INFORMATION:
Originally from Carrollton,
Illinois, Barbara Casey attended the University of North Carolina, North
Carolina State University, and North Carolina Wesleyan College where she
received a BA degree, summa cum laude,
with a double major in English and history. In 1978 she left her position as
Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Development at North
Carolina Wesleyan College to write full time and develop her own manuscript
evaluation and editorial service. Since that time her award-winning articles,
short stories, and poetry for adults have appeared in several publications
including the AMERICAN POETRY ANTHOLOGY, the SPARROWGRASS POETRY
FORUM, THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF POETRY (Editor’s Choice Award),
the NORTH CAROLINA CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE MAGAZINE, THE NEW EAST MAGAZINE,
the RALEIGH (NC) NEWS AND OBSERVER, the ROCKY MOUNT (NC) SUNDAY
TELEGRAM, DOG FANCY, BYLINE, TRUE STORY and THE
CHRISTIAN RECORD. A thirty-minute television special which Ms. Casey wrote
and coordinated was broadcast on WRAL, Channel 5, in Raleigh, North
Carolina. Ms. Casey's award-winning science fiction short stories for adults
are featured in THE COSMIC UNICORN and CROSS TIME short story
anthologies. Her essays, also written for adults, appear in THE CHRYSALIS
READER, the international literary journal of the Swedenborg Foundation,
and A CUP OF COMFORT ANTHOLOGY by the Adams Media Corporation.
Her two middle-grade/young adult
novels, LEILANI ZAN and GRANDMA JOCK AND CHRISTABELLE (James
C. Winston Publishing Co.) were nominated for awards of excellence by the SCBWI
Golden Kite Award, the National Association of University Women Literary
Award and the Sir Walter Raleigh Literary Award. SHYLA'S INITIATIVE (Crossquarter
Publishing Group, 2002), a contemporary adult novel of fiction, received
the 2003 Independent Publisher Book Award and received special
recognition for literary merit by the Palm Beach County Cultural Council.
Ms. Casey’s novel THE COACH’S WIFE (ArcheBooks Publishing), a
contemporary mystery, was listed as a Publisher’s Best Seller and was
semifinalist of the Dana Award for Outstanding Novel. In 2007 her novel,
THE HOUSE OF KANE (ArcheBooks Publishing), also a contemporary
mystery, was considered for a Pulitzer nomination, and in December 2009
her novel, JUST LIKE FAMILY (Wandering Sage Publications), was
launched by the
7-Eleven stores in St. Louis, Missouri. Her young adult novel, THE CADENCE OF GYPSIES (Gauthier Publications), was released in March 2011 and considered for the Smithsonian’s Most Notable 2011 Books. It has also been selected by Amazon for its 2013 List of Best Books. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PRISSY (Strategic Media Books), a novel for adults, was released in March 2013 and received an IPPY Award for Best Regional Fiction. It has also been listed as a “2013 Best Summer Read” by Conversations Live Radio and has been placed in nomination for a Pulitzer Award.
7-Eleven stores in St. Louis, Missouri. Her young adult novel, THE CADENCE OF GYPSIES (Gauthier Publications), was released in March 2011 and considered for the Smithsonian’s Most Notable 2011 Books. It has also been selected by Amazon for its 2013 List of Best Books. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PRISSY (Strategic Media Books), a novel for adults, was released in March 2013 and received an IPPY Award for Best Regional Fiction. It has also been listed as a “2013 Best Summer Read” by Conversations Live Radio and has been placed in nomination for a Pulitzer Award.
Ms. Casey is a frequent guest
speaker at writers’ conferences and universities throughout the United States.
She is former director, guest author, and panelist of BookFest of the Palm
Beaches, Florida; and for thirteen years she served as judge for the Pathfinder
Literary Awards in Florida. She held
the position of Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of Children's Book
Writers and Illustrators from 1991 to 2003.
Ms. Casey is president of the Barbara
Casey Agency. She represents clients nationally and internationally in
fiction and nonfiction for adults. Her past and present professional
associations are numerous and include being editorial consultant for The
Jamaican Writers Circle in affiliation with the University of West Indies
and Mico Teachers College in Kingston. She also received special recognition
for her editorial work on the English translations of Albanian children’s
stories.
LINKS
Elaine, thank you so much for hosting me today. I look forward to hearing from your bloggers.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteKit3247(at)aol(dot)com
You might be interested to know that Amazon has selected it for its list of "Best Reads."
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting
ReplyDeletebn100candg at hotmail dot com
Elaine, thank you again for inviting me to be your guest. I had a wonderful time.
ReplyDeleteMy best,
Barbara