Wow. I started to include some of the cultural, political, musical situations that marked that landscape of time. There were too many. True rock and roll was new, culture was marked by experimental drugs, and free love.
Where were you in 1968? I was only 13, but was already feeling the influence of the music.
Instead of focusing on a cultural history lesson, I chose to weave just a little of it into the story so you knew where you were in time. I let Paulette Toliver, Asa Sinclair, and a host of new characters tell their own stories.
If you read The Carving Place, the new book is a prequel, telling you the story of Buck's mother Paulette and how he came to live with the Sinclairs.
I'm dedicating this book to the friendships of women, especially the relationship between and older woman and a young girl. I can't say more or I will spill the beans. Read The Carving Place before you read The Bargain. The story will be more meaningful.
I hope to have the new book out around the first of April. So, get ready. Turn on the lamp on your bedside table and get ready for a night of reading. That's about how long it will take you to finish it. But I hope the characters of Paulette, Asa, Merry Bell, and Winston stay with you a long time.
