You can write me at [email protected] or message me on my Facebook author page: www.facebook.com/SusanGabrielAuthor.
Finally, I want to ask a favor. If you are so inclined, please consider leaving a review of Lily’s Song here. Reviews help other readers take a chance on a book or an author they may not be familiar with. A review doesn’t have to be long or “literary.” Just two or three heartfelt sentences is enough.
Thanks so much for reading Lily’s Song and for spending time with me.
In gratitude,
Susan Gabriel
Acknowledgments
A special thank you to the treasured readers who told me through emails or reviews that they loved The Secret Sense of Wildflower and were sorry when the book ended. They wanted to hear more of Wildflower’s story and more about the McAllister family and Katy’s Ridge. I listened, and thought of them often as I wrote Lily’s Song.
Also, my heartfelt thanks to my entrusted first readers who proofread, corrected my grammar, fact checked and offered the occasional story suggestion. They brought different strengths and sensibilities to the task and were each a gem. In alphabetical order they are: Anne Alexander, Susan Burnside, Deb Klingender, Krista Lunsford, Linda S. Moore and Tarra Thomas. They were an insightful and powerful team. I am very grateful for their input.
Also my gratitude to the members of my early review team, Gabriel’s Angels. I thank them for their honest reviews, support for my writing and help getting the word out about my new books.
Finally, to Wildflower and Lily. Though they are fictional, they feel as real to me as family members. I thank them for allowing me to write their story. It has been an honor.
P.S.
Insights, Interview & Book Club Discussion Questions
About the author
– Meet Susan Gabriel
About the book
Frequently Asked Questions
– Answered by the author, Susan Gabriel
Book Club Discussion Questions
Other Books by Susan Gabriel
About the author
Susan Gabriel is an acclaimed southern author who lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Her novels, The Secret Sense of Wildflower (a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012) and Temple Secrets (2015) are Amazon and Nook #1 bestsellers.
Find out more about Susan and her other novels at https://www.SusanGabriel.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answered by the author
Have you always wanted to write?
Actually, as a little girl I wanted to be Sally Field in The Flying Nun. I thought catching a wind current with the help of my nun hat and flying around the countryside would be the ultimate of coolness. A few years later I thought making people laugh would be better than flying, so I would sneak down to the den to watch Joan Rivers on The Johnny Carson Show, the volume so low on the television that I had to put my ear against the speaker to hear.
Then I got a little more realistic and set my sights on becoming a professional golfer. Needless to say, my golfing career never got off the ground, either, not even with a good tailwind. I did, however, write funny things in high school that made my friends laugh, yet it never occurred to me to be a writer.
Never the one to dream of having a traditional career, I majored in music in college and became a professional flutist for a time, but that was never enough to live on. After that, I got sensible and taught elementary school (special needs kids) before traipsing off to graduate school to become a psychotherapist. A career I was drawn to, in part, I think, in order to understand the quirky southern characters in my gene pool. It was in graduate school that I excelled in writing case studies—think of it as character development—and the writer in me woke up from a deep sleep. I was in my late 30s when that happened. So I have always considered myself a late bloomer.
2. Where do you write? Do you have a writing schedule?
My best writing seems to occur when I am in the company of dogs. My two beautiful mutts and I tend to follow the seasons, seeking out sun in winter and the shade in summer. With this is mind, I have different places around the house where I sit and write. In the summer, I sometimes write outside on my back porch. Right now, it’s February and cold here in the mountains of North Carolina, so I am writing from the family room, the sunniest part of the house. I also have a home office.
I write on a laptop, unless I am revising a manuscript, then I print it out and make changes by hand. Something about holding the pages makes a story seem more real to me.
My most creative time to write is in the mornings, from around 9 o’clock to 12:30. In the afternoons I go about the “business” of writing. I answer emails from readers and other writers, post on my Facebook author page, type in revisions or write a blog post. I work five days a week and take the weekends off. Writing is my livelihood, so I have never suffered from writer’s block. I also consider writing my calling. It helps me get up in the morning to know that I have readers awaiting my next story.
3. Are your novels autobiographical?
I think everything we write is autobiographical in one way or another. As a writer, the things I notice are things that are unique to me. Anyone who has read more than one of my novels knows I have a style and a way of seeing the world that can be recognized. The landscapes I write about, the places I set my stories, are all places I’ve been. The emotions expressed by my characters are all emotions I’ve had myself. While the story and characters are imagined, they are as real as fiction can be, so there are always elements of me in my books.
I told another southern writer in an email recently:
Most of my fiction that takes place in the South is about strong women. Courageous women. Women who are lost and then find their way home again. Perhaps I keep writing my own story, trying to create a map in my fiction that might show me and others a way to get free. A kind of Underground Railroad of fiction, except the route is to the south instead of the north.
4. What are your favorite things about being a writer?
My most favorite thing about being a writer is the actual writing, the using of my creativity and imagination every day.
After two decades of doing this thing that I love, it’s still hard for me to believe that I create stories for a living. It sounds like somebody else’s life, not mine. But I am very grateful for the opportunity, and grateful that enough readers like what I’m doing and buy my books that I can keep moving through the seasons.
The creative process is fascinating to me. Even on the days I’m not writing, I carry around in my mind whatever story I’m working on. Characters walk around in my imagination and sometimes I’ll even hear them talking and see the story playing out and have to take notes so it doesn’t get away. Sometimes the characters even show up in my dreams at night. When I talk about this process during a writing class or when I visit a book club that is reading one of my books, I usually make a joke about how writing is one of the only careers where you can hear voices and the people in white coats don’t come looking for you!
My second favorite thing about writing is hearing from readers. It is incredibly rewarding to get an email or see a review from a reader who expresses how much a story has meant to them. It really makes the struggle of getting books out into the world worth it.
5. Why do you often write about secrets in your books?
I write about things that intrigue me, and secrets intrigue me. Death intrigues me, too, as well as spirits and ghosts, and mysteries of any kind. Like the alchemists of old, I am constantly trying to transform base metals (ordinary life) into gold (an extraordinary story or experience for the reader).
We all have secrets, whether we realize it or not. We keep a lot of secrets from ourselves. Sometimes the biggest secret we keep from ourselves is our greatness, our creativity, or how worthy we are.
Decades ago, when I read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, I loved the concept of having a secret place to go to where you could get away f
rom all the scary and hard things of life. A place with nature all around, which after much hard work transforms into something beautiful. I just love that metaphor. Not all secrets are positive, of course, some can destroy us. But I think secrets, if dealt with respectfully, can be transformative.
Also, in terms of storytelling, secrets create tension, as they do in real life. Tension and conflict is what keeps readers turning the pages. I love it when readers tell me they read a book straight through the night and couldn’t put it down. I’m sorry that those readers lost sleep, but it tells me that I’ve written a compelling story.
6. Where do you get your ideas?
At this point, my imagination is primed to tell stories, so I’m very lucky. In fact, I feel like I have characters waiting in a long line down my street to get their stories told. Mainly, I try to not get overwhelmed by all the ideas I have and the backlog of novels I have at different stages of completion. This is what happens if you write five days a week for over a decade.
I love stories in general, and I read a lot of fiction. I also watch a lot of films. I don’t use outlines for my books. I am what is called in the biz an intuitive writer. I may have a sense of what I want to write about, but I rarely know where I’m going. Basically, a story plays out in my imagination like I’m watching a movie, and I write down what I see. I’m very visual, and it’s very in the moment. I think that’s why I enjoy writing in first person, present tense. It’s like I get to be an actor, embodying the characters and telling their stories. In a way, I guess I finally got to be Sally Field, after all, catching the latest current in my imagination. Crazy fun!
________
Do you have any questions that you’d like to ask me about my writing process or about any of my stories? If so, feel free to email me and your question may be included in the Frequently Asked Questions of my next book.
Book Club Discussion Questions
1. If you were Wildflower, would you have kept from Lily the secret of who her father was, or would you have done something different? Explain.
2. How well do you think Lily handles the truth? What might you have done in her shoes?
3. What role do you think secrets play in families and small communities? Do they affect how people communicate and interact with each other? Do you think they are avoidable?
4. In the book, Wildflower says, “Christians can be some of the worst people there are for judgment.” Do you think there is any truth to this? Why might she feel this way?
5. What do you think Melody Monroe was ultimately searching for when she returned to Katy’s Ridge?
6. What things surprised you in the novel?
7. Did Wildflower’s secret make sense in the novel? Why do you think so many people didn’t understand?
8. Who were your favorite characters in the McAllister family? Have you known families like this one?
9. Why do you think Lily lost her voice in those months after she found out the truth of who her father was?
10. Discuss the role of redemption in the story.
Other books by Susan Gabriel
Temple Secrets
A novel
Fans of The Help and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil will delight in this comic novel of family secrets by acclaimed writer, Susan Gabriel.
Every family has secrets, but the elite Temple family of Savannah has more than most. To maintain their influence, they’ve also been documenting the indiscretions of other prestigious southern families, dating as far back as the Civil War. When someone begins leaking these tantalizing tidbits to the newspaper, the entire city of Savannah, Georgia is rocking with secrets.
The current keeper of the secrets and matriarch of the Temple clan is Iris, a woman of unpredictable gastrointestinal illnesses and an extra streak of meanness that even the ghosts in the Temple mansion avoid. When Iris unexpectedly dies, the consequences are far flung and significant, not only to her family—who get in line to inherit the historic family mansion—but to Savannah itself.
At the heart of the story is Old Sally, an expert in Gullah folk magic, who some suspect cast a voodoo curse on Iris. At 100 years of age, Old Sally keeps a wise eye over the whole boisterous business of secrets and the settling of Iris’s estate.
In the Temple family, nothing is as it seems, and everyone has a secret.
Available in paperback, ebook and audiobook.
Praise for Temple Secrets
“Temple Secrets is a page-turner of a story that goes deeper than most on the subjects of equality, courage and dignity. There were five or six characters to love and a few to loathe. Gabriel draws Queenie, Violet, Spud and Rose precisely, with a narrative dexterity that is amazingly and perfectly sparse while achieving an impact of fullness and depth. Their interactions with the outside world and one another are priceless moments of hilarious asides, well-aimed snipes and a plethora of sarcasms.
“What happens when the inevitable inequities come about amongst the Haves, the Have Nots and the Damn-Right-I-Will-Have? When some people have far too much time, wealth and power and not enough humanness and courage? Oh, the answers Gabriel provides are as delicious as Violet’s peach turnovers, and twice as addicting! I highly recommend this novel.” – T.T. Thomas
“Susan Gabriel shines once again in this fascinating tale of a family’s struggle to break free from their past. Filled with secrets, betrayals, and tragedy, the author weaves an intricate storyline that will keep you hooked.” - R. Krug
“I loved this book! I literally couldn’t put it down. The characters are fabulous and the story line has plenty of twists and turns making it a great read. I was born and raised in the south so I have an affinity for stories that are steeped in the southern culture. Temple Secrets nails it. All I needed was a glass of sweet tea to go with it.” – Carol Clay
“The setting is rich and sensuous, and the secrets kept me reading with avid interest until most of them were revealed. I read the book in just a few days because I really didn’t want to put it down. It is filled with characters who are funny, tragic, unpredictable and nuanced, and I must admit that I really came to know and love some of them by the end of the story.” – Nancy Richards
“I was glued from the first moment that I began reading. The book accurately portrays many of the attitudes of the Old South including the intricate secrets and “skeletons in the closet” that people often wish to deny. Each character is fascinating and I loved watching each one evolve as the story unfolded. This was one of those books that I did not want to finish as it was so much fun to be involved in the action.” – Lisa Patty
“I just finished reading Temple Secrets today and I truly hated for it to end! Susan Gabriel writes with such warmth and humor, and this book is certainly no exception. I loved getting to know the characters and the story was full of humor and suspense.” – Carolyn Tenn
Get Temple Secrets here.
The Secret Sense of Wildflower
A novel
“A quietly powerful story, at times harrowing,
but ultimately a joy to read.”
- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
(for books of remarkable merit)
Named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2012.
Set in 1940s Appalachia, The Secret Sense of Wildflower tells the story of Louisa May “Wildflower” McAllister whose life has been shaped around the recent death of her beloved father in a sawmill accident. While her mother hardens in her grief, Wildflower and her three sisters must cope with their loss themselves, as well as with the demands of daily survival. Despite these hardships, Wildflower has a resilience that is forged with humor, a love of the land, and an endless supply of questions to God. When Johnny Monroe, the town’s teenage ne’er-do-well, sets his sights on Wildflower, she must draw on the strength of her relations, both living and dead, to deal with his threat.
With prose as lush and colorful as the American South, The Secret Sense of Wildflower is a powerful and poignant southern novel, brimming with e
nergy and angst, humor and hope.
Praise for The Secret Sense of Wildflower
“Louisa May immerses us in her world with astute observations and wonderfully turned phrases, with nary a cliché to be found. She could be an adolescent Scout Finch, had Scout’s father died unexpectedly and her life taken a bad turn...By necessity, Louisa May grows up quickly, but by her secret sense, she also understands forgiveness. A quietly powerful story, at times harrowing but ultimately a joy to read.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“A soulful narrative to keep the reader emotionally charged and invested. The Secret Sense of Wildflower is eloquent and moving tale chock-filled with themes of inner strength, family and love.” – Maya Fleischmann, indiereader.com
“I’ve never read a story as dramatically understated that sings so powerfully and honestly about the sense of life that stands in tribute to bravery as Susan Gabriel’s, The Secret Sense of Wildflower…When fiction sings, we must applaud.”
– T. T. Thomas, author of A Delicate Refusal
“The story is powerful, very powerful. Excellent visuals, good drama. I raced to get to the conclusion...but didn’t really want to read the last few pages because then it would be over! I look forward to Gabriel’s next offering.” – Nancy Purcell, Author
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