Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! HFVBTs is one of the very first touring companies I started working with as a 1st Year Book Blogger – uniting my love and passion with Historical Fiction and the lovely sub-genres inside which I love devouring. It has been a wicked fantastical journey into the heart of the historic past, wherein I’ve been blessed truly by discovering new timescapes, new living realities of the persons who once lived (ie. Biographical Historical Fiction) inasmuch as itched my healthy appetite for Cosy Historical Mysteries! If there is a #HistRom out there it is generally a beloved favourite and I love soaking into a wicked wonderful work of Historical Fiction where you feel the beauty of the historic world, the depth of the characters and the joyfulness in which the historical novelists brought everything to light in such a lovingly diverse palette of portraiture of the eras we become time travellers through their stories.
I received a complimentary copy of “The Girl from Oto” direct from the author Amy Maroney in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On why this story appealled to me:
In truth, the trifecta of ‘time’ narratives (ie. time shift, time slip and time travel) are three of my favourite ways in which genre can become bent towards the will of a novelists pen. It never fails to ensnare a wicked curiosity about what I shall find if I were to dip into a narrative set in a duality of focus between the past and the present whilst what motivates me to seek out these stories is the fact I love being a time traveller of History. There is a benefit to reading Historical Fiction – as the writers who are curating their worlds for us to read are the ones who are re-illuminating the past in such strong strokes of colours and lives to give us a building of the past in our imaginations which befits the real persons who once lived.
It is through this exploration of the human condition, of humanity’s progress and the journeys we venture forth into embracing through this portal of interest where we seek out the most hope for the future because we have a better foundational understanding of whence we’ve previously have travelled.
The Girl From Oto (Spotlight)
by Amy Maroney
Source: Author via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
A Renaissance-era woman artist and an American scholar. Linked by a 500-year-old mystery…
The secrets of the past are irresistible—and dangerous.
1500: Born during a time wracked by war and plague, Renaissance-era artist Mira grows up in a Pyrenees convent believing she is an orphan. When tragedy strikes, Mira learns the devastating truth about her own origins. But does she have the strength to face those who would destroy her?
2015: Centuries later, art scholar Zari unearths traces of a mysterious young woman named Mira in two 16th-century portraits. Obsessed, Zari tracks Mira through the great cities of Europe to the pilgrim’s route of Camino de Santiago—and is stunned by what she finds. Will her discovery be enough to bring Mira’s story to life?
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9780997521306
Also by this author: The Girl From Oto, The Girl From Oto
Also in this series: The Girl From Oto
Published by Artelan Press
on 20th September, 2016
Format: Trade Paperback
Published by: Artelan Press
The Miramode Series:
The Promise (prequel) novella – about Elena (mountain healer, midwife)
The Girl from Oto (book one)
– where we are introduced to Zari, Elena & Mira
Mira’s Way (book two)
Ideally, I would have preferred to rad “The Promise” ahead of the first installment as I love reading series in order of sequence. Except it is not yet released into print and/or audio
– I loved Elena instantly in “book one”.
Converse via: ##TheGirlfromOto + #HistFic or #HistNov
as well as #TimeShift and #HistoricalFiction
Available Formats: Trade Paperback and Ebook
About Amy Maroney
Amy Maroney lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family. She studied English literature at Boston University and public policy at Portland State University, and spent many years as a writer and editor of nonfiction. When she’s not diving down research rabbit holes, she enjoys hiking, painting, drawing, dancing and reading. The Girl from Oto and Mira’s Way are books 1 & 2 in The Miramonde Series.
For a free prelude to The Girl from Oto, for the full scoop on the research behind the book, and for news about the sequel, please visit www.amymaroney.com.
about how the story was written:
This is a wonderfully published novel – it has all the lovely touches and extras as a reader which makes me wicked excited to hold the book in hand. Such as what greets you when you first open the pages of The Girl from Oto – there is a duel layout detailing the cast of characters from both perspectives of the time shifting inside the timeline of the novel itself – both the past and the present are happily represented side by side. This is brilliant as it gives you a firm foundation of the characters and the people you’re about to encounter whilst it followed a bit of a map which outlines where in Spain ‘Oto’ is located.
Even the typography used to ‘set’ the font inside the novel was a smart choice – the larger characters and the type of paper used give this a lovely entrance point for those of us who are seeking to read fiction before or after a migraine (such as I do on a regularly basis; save the past three weeks where I’ve been thankfully migraine-free). It is the choices in the details and the layout, I appreciated the most – it is simply in essence a smartly published novel and one which I adored having the chance to tuckaway inside to find the heart of its story.
on the historical writing styling of amy maroney:
Quite immediately, as your starting to settle into the narrative you start to notice a few distinctive changes in the ways in which Maroney reveals her writing style – the turns of phrase, the alternative ways in which she is using descriptive narrative and the joyfulness of finding words being used in her story which are not always selected for use in others. One of my favourite reasons for reading – across genres – is noting the turns of phrase, the dialogue choices and the mannerisms of illuminating a story to a reader’s perspective. Maroney gives a feast for the eyes, mind and heart – this is a story not only writ with a purpose but with an eye for detail. It has been awhile since I’ve found a wordsmith whose taken me by surprise and delight in how they’ve set the tone of their story and the usage of the words in which form the foundation of the portal to their world.
why i am wicked thrilled to be involved on this blog tour:
When I first read the premise of the novel The Girl from Oto – I was rather charmed by the time shift narrative as reading dual timelines in stories is one of my favourite past-times! I like seeing how different writers handle the stories and how the duality of the focus is built through the distinctiveness of having two timescapes to disappear inside as we follow the central lead characters.
In this series, we are anchoured in the present by Zari, in the past with Mira and Elena. The ability to seek out the story through the voices of their characters is quite delightful as you are immediately drawn to Zari due to how adventurous she is in seeking out the truth and the proof of what was once thriving in the past but in the present is only a fluttering of a memory. As you enter Elena’s life as a mountain woman who finds comfort in her healing practices and being a midwife, you also start to see the complications of being a woman in her generation. She has to walk a fine line between her independence and the life which is expected of her to give to a kingdom which is quite unforgiving round the edges. And, then, there is Mira who was an innocent babe in this story – a daughter who was not wanted, an heir of the wrong gender and a twin bourne in secret where only her brother was the celebrated birth.
There is a lot riding the coattails of their lives – especially if you bring into the fray Beatrice who is a nun at an abbey which needs to find a way to financially stablise itself and the arrival of Mira was a welcoming grace as she brought with her a dowry they could not have hoped to have received otherwise. Elena I felt was the most changed by Mira’s birth and Zari is someone we are getting to know in smaller periods of revelation in the opening chapters of the story – to where, Mira’s young life is the central focus to help us align ourselves into their lives and better understand their motivations.
For these reasons and others, I wanted to spend time discussing this story with the author who composed the plotting of their lives. She has such a remarkable story of how she began writing and the ways in which this series was developed. I had a wicked good time reading about this series on her blog whilst I enjoyed digging into the heart of the series as I prompted where our discussion on its behalf would take us.
It isn’t often you find a story which stands out from others – by the way it was written, how it was assembled if it were a series and also, what makes it uniquely original. For me, as I am reading The Girl from Oto – I am finding a wonderfully Feminist driven plot, strong female leads and an atmosphere of introspective intuitiveness from the past.
This blog tour is courtesy of:
Follow the Virtual Road Map
as you visit others participating:
As this particular one has a bookaway along the route:
Return on the 18th of March to read my ruminative thoughts & to see where the conversation led the author and I as we happily discussed this series!
{SOURCES: Book covers for “The Girl from Oto”, “The Promise” and “Mira’s Way”, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Amy Maroney, the tour host badge and HFVBTs badge were all provided by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Stories in the Spotlight and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2019.
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