When I first learnt of this novel going on tour with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, I was a bit intrigued by the premise, as I have been reading quite a few immigrant stories of late, and this particular one interested me because the McClusky family was arriving in America from Ireland. I have newly defined ancestral roots to Ireland, and now that I know for a bonefide fact I descended from an Irishman, I have noticed my appreciation for reading about the Irish who came to America has increased tenfold. A bit due to the fact there is such a breadth of unknown factors and stories that are simply out in the void of the past; inches away from knowing anything further about this side of my family and perhaps even, the route they took to arrive not only in America but as settlers on land they chose to farm.
I was captured by this one particular family’s plight to forge their own future in a country so far removed from their own, and encouraged by their determined spirit to make it irregardless of what would come across their path! Therefore, I was quite happy that I could take a moment to Interview the author who is going to pen a series around the McClusky’s and giving us a bit of a taste of who they are inside Tower of Tears!
Book Synopsis:
Read an Excerpt of the Novel:
Chapter 1: The Voyage
Betrayal. Despair. Murder. Mystery. Romance. Blackmail. “If God be good, Mr. Landon will burn in the eternal flames of hell. If God be bad, he will suffer much worse.” In 1820, a young woman and her son leave Ireland for a better life in America. She soon suffers heartache and tragedy, while residing with family whom she has never met.
Unbeknownst to her, the family had already set her up with employment in a factory–a factory run by a lecherous man. This is the first book in a series that will follow the McClusky family while they become Americanized while face with the Potato Famine, the US Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution.
Author Biography:
Rhoda D’Ettore was born in Woodbury, New Jersey, into a family of 5 siblings–which has provided her with plenty of comical material. She began working at the United States Postal Service at 25 years old, and over the past 15 years has accumulated many humorous stories about situations that the public never gets to know about. Her first ebook, “Goin’ Postal: True Stories of a U.S. Postal Worker” was so popular that readers requested it in paperback. Recently, she published the humorous “Goin’ Postal” in paperback along with another story entitled, “The Creek: Where Stories of the Past Come Alive”. Combining these two into one book may seem strange, as one is humorous and the other is a heart wrenching historical fiction, however, doing so proves to the reader Rhoda D’Ettore’s versatility.
Rhoda D’Ettore received her degree in Human & Social Services while working at USPS, has travelled extensively, and loves history. Over the years she has volunteered for several community service organizations, including fostering abused and neglected dogs for a Dalmatian rescue.
Your novel “Tower of Tears” encompasses such a startling moment inside one immigrant family’s life towards a new beginning in a new country. Did you base the premise of the story which is the first of a new series on research or a connection through your own ancestral past?
D’Ettore responds: I did use my ancestral past. Almost all of the characters are named after real people, and I thought it important that their spirits are remembered. In 1820, a woman named Jane Lindsay came to Philadelphia from Ireland and was my first immigrant ancester to arrive. The character of Eva is a combination of my own mother and her aunt, Eva. Both are strong and independent women as portrayed in the book. As far as the story—that is completely fiction. Other than having lots of children and the family being devoutly Catholic, there is no similarity.
Did you find it difficult to decide which portions of our own living history to coincide with the history of the McClusky family inside the series as a whole? Or did everything simply call into place right as it should when you wrote the series?
D’Ettore responds: I don’t outline and plan the stories. For this story, I sat at the computer and tried to imagine a terrified woman leaving her home and what the conditions must have been like for her. Then I thought, “How can I screw this woman’s life up?” I did do a lot of research as to current events of the day and even the speech patterns. When I needed to find Jane a job, I researched the businesses in Philadelphia for that time period. Sparks Shot Tower is a real place that still stands. It really did make the shot pellets and have a contact to make the bullets for the War of 1812. Eva resembles my real life mother who constantly watches the news and tells me what is going on in the world. To make her character pop, I researched the newspaper headlines of the early 1820s. As for the entire series, the potato famine, the building of the railroads and the US Civil War will all be great backdrops for the future books.
What do you feel is the hardest part about writing convicting historical fiction whose heart of story is rooted in a remembered part of our combined past?
D’Ettore responds: Historical Fiction needs to have accurate descriptions and events to be convincing. An author loses credibility if he/she write about an atomic bomb going off in 1620 Virginia. His/Her entire target audience would immediately lose interest. For that reason, I think the research and details are the hardest part of writing historical fiction. In almost any other genre, the author can create anything he/she wants and no one can claim they are wrong. But with historical fiction, if the author says something was invented in 1840, it better have been invented in 1840. The readers are smart and they demand their authors to respect the past.
What prompted you to choose the specific events that are highlighted in the series? Were they of personal interest or did they come to fit the story in a way that benefited the inclusion?
D’Ettore responds: I tried to grip the reader by either putting humorous family banter, some sort of shocking or exciting scene or details of conditions and events into each chapter. There are certain issues that everyone can relate to: disease, love, death, betrayal, family, etc. No matter what time period is discussed, these topics are relevent. I simply tried to choose events that fell into those topics during that particular time period.
What has led you to soak into the historical fiction genre to such a passionate level and know that it is a niche you want to explore further!?
D’Ettore responds: I have always been a lover of history & politics. The past fascinates me because one tiny moment can define a person or nation. So many people have gone before us, and we often make assumptions about their lives. But can we truly know what it was like to sit on a chamber pot on a rocking ship with over 100 people who haven’t bathed in weeks while holding your three year old son’s hand and not having toilet paper? NO! And most people have never thought about it either. My writing is a dedication to those who went before us and suffered. It is a great big “thank you” to all of the people who paved the way for a woman such as myself to publish opinions and ideas that would have been chastised in the past. It is also a symbol of the accomplishments those of the past made to conquer their obstacles we no longer have to endure. So heck yeah, I’m passionate about it!
Your story “Tower of Tears” has such a layered intensity within its pages, simply from the catch words of the synopsis, how did you decide to craft a novel that does not fit entirely into one genre but rather encompasses several as the the story is told? Do you find that stories alight in your mind with a genre in mind or is the genre second to the telling of the story?
D’Ettore responds: This probably goes back to the “write what you know” rule. I know large families headed by strong women, because my mother raised five kids on her own after my father died. I also know history and love true crime stories. If you put all those things together, you get a family saga crime drama with a historical backdrop. I knew one of the characters of Tower of Tears was going to be murdered, but I had not decided who the killer was. The easiest way for me to continue writing was to make all the characters appear guilty and decide later. Before it was finished, my beta reader said, “I know who the killer is!” So I took the name she gave me and made sure that person was not the killer! Next thing I knew, readers were calling it a murder mystery. I think I will let the readers decide what my stories are, and just keep writing what I know.
Outside of the 19th Century, is there a moment in the folds of the historical past you might be curious to explore?
D’Ettore responds:
Nazi Germany:
My next book, Newborn Nazi, was supposed to be about a boy being forced into a Hitler Youth training facility which prompted his sister to help save Jewish lives. As I continued to write it, it took on the dimensions of a spy novel with the backdrop of Nazi Germany. I intend on having New Nazi available for sale within the next month. But again, the same wit and scarcastic humor as well as strong family ties are weaved throughout this book.
1950s South Philadelphia:
I also have a work in progress entitled Mob Kids: Growing up in South Philly. It takes place in the 1950s and depict what children of mobsters went through when dealing with arrests, fathers in jail and being subjected to violence they thought was normal.
Do you travel to destinations that are reminiscent of locales or scenes that are inside your novel(s)? Or is most of your research condensed to what you can draw out of materials outside of travelling? I think it works both ways personally, as not everyone can travel to each country or city where their novel is set.
D’Ettore responds: I have used both. My first book, Goin’ Postal & The Creek, as well as Tower of Tears were set in the Philadelphia/New Jersey areas where I live. Drawing upon local history is easy to do having lived here my whole life. However, my upcoming novel, Newborn Nazi, takes place almost entirely in Germany. Again, I drew on my family history to write this book because I have never visited Germany myself. The interesting thing about Newborn Nazi is that although fictionalized, the main characters were real. Edmund was forced into a Hitler Youth camp and eventually became an officer in the SS. His sister was indeed horrified by the Nazis and began housing Jews and even American soldiers. The brother was put in a difficult position of family vs country loyalty conflict. It makes for a great book! The ending scene of the book has become part of my family legend. The point: They were real, and I did not have to be there or travel to their homes to appreciate them. There is a story behind every life and some stories should be told. Sometimes even those you were taught to hate were the “good guys”.
Where does the second and third book in the series start as far as era and generations? Did you continue to have well-known events highlighted behind the storyline as the series moves forward?
D’Ettore responds: Books 2 & 3 are still works in progress. Book 2 is entitled “Liam’s Longing” and will pick up about ten years after Tower of Tears. The same characters will be utilized, as well as some family members who flee Ireland due to the Potato Famine. Tragedy will strike in the family once again, and one of the characters will blame himself for turning his back on the Catholic Church. Also, many of the Irish worked to build the railroads and a real-life murder mystery took place in the Pennsylvania area that I intend to draw upon. The best thing about historical writing is that there is always something in real life that can be included for credibility. One of the biggest criticism I received about Tower of Tears was not developing the children’s characters enough. However, that is something I intended to do in the later books. Children are a little difficult to develop for me. They do not commit murder or worry about bills. All you can do is make them sick or kill them. I have no intention of abusing children in my novels, so I will wait until they reach 18, then make them miserable.
What was the impetus which gravitated you into writing? And, when did this occur? Who was your best cheerleader?
D’Ettore responds: Two years ago, an online friend of mine sent me his crime thriller manuscript and I loved it. Then I realized he was only 20 years old. If he could write a novel, so could I. He became my inspiration, but my brother, Alan, became my driving force. As I stated on the Tower of Tears‘ acknowledgment page he would often tell me, “That author sucks, you can write better than that!” But even he was shocked by some of the scenes in my first novella.
What are your favourite tools to use whilst writing? And, where do you write to gain the most inspiration?
D’Ettore responds: WritersDreamTools.com is a Godsend for Historical Fiction writers. It lists events, people and slang from every decade over the past 400 years. I use that constantly. I usually write on my laptop laying in bed, or at time at work on my lunch break. The USPS can be very inspirational! (see my other book as to why)
Outside the realm of writing and reserach, what enriches your spirit the most? Where do you find your serenity?
D’Ettore responds: I’m not married and I don’t have any kids, so my home is fairly peaceful and serene! Just joking. I have made it a point to travel and do all of the exciting things in my life I wanted to. I have done everything from bungee jumping to playing with a tiger. Now I have written several books/ebooks/audiobooks. I feel at peace with my life for those reasons. I also make it a point to volunteer or donate to worthy organizations, such as Toys for Tots or the National Military Family Assoc.–$1 of each book sale will be donated to the defenders of our freedom, although they deserve so much more.
Author Connections:
Site | @rhodadettore | Facebook
Converse via: #TowerofTearsBlogTour
I would like to thank Ms. D’Ettore for giving me such a wonderful response to my Questions, not only on behalf of the first McClusky novel in the new series, but for giving me a good impression on who she is as a writer and about her process to create the stories she brings to life on the page! I appreciated seeing her passion for creating the worlds her character’s live inside, but also, that part of her character lives actually stem and fuse together with her own ancestral roots and family lore from stories which are passed down through generations! I was encouraged hearing this as I oft wondered if other families had living histories shared through stories person to person as their generations continue to grow and prosper! It is one of the many reasons I always enjoyed having such a uniquely diverse ancestral past which stems into different countries of origin!
I am going to be posting my book review for “Tower of Tears” on Friday, in lieu of Thursday, as I still find myself recovering from the three/four day migraine that off-set my entire blog schedule this week! I am thankful to the author for giving all of us a special treat in understanding her inspiration and hopefully inspiring my readers to pick up her novels! I am quite eager to see where my readings lead me in Tower of Tears, as much as I wanted to say that I do find some writers prefer to write older children and/or college-aged adults as it is simply where their pen takes them with greater ease. I am always curious how each writer I ask about ‘serenity’ will answer the prompt – wherein I am only truly curious how they spend their time outside of writing & research. For me, we all need a bit of peace and quiet in our lives, a bit of downtime, and the hours to alight in our everyday life where we can sit back and just ‘breathe’ rather than always be rushed to meet a deadline or finish a project. I love simple joys in life and that is in part what inspired me to ask that question. I was thankful to learn she gives back to our military and their families as they are always in need of kindness and charity as a way to give back a bit of the gratitude we all feel on behalf of their dedicated service.
Blog Book Tour Stop,
Virtual Road Map of “Tower of Tears” Blog Tour found here:
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Similar to blog tours, when I feature a showcase for an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog.
{SOURCES: Book Cover for “Tower of Tears”, Author Photograph of Rhoda D’Ettore, & Author Biography were provided by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and used with permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Jorie asked to host the author ahead of reading the novel as she is most keen on Jane Austen & the sequel authors who give us such a wonderful joy to read their literary muse after being inspired by Austen herself; she was most happy to receive his replies from the Interview through Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours via the author himself.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Tower of Tears
Romancing the Soul
Read an Excerpt of the Novel: