It is with the greatest of pleasure that I welcome author, Trish MacEnulty, onto the Whispering Bookworm.
Winner of the Gold Medal in YA Fiction from The Historical Fiction Company!
When her beloved step-grandmother, a semi-retired opera singer, dies of cancer in 1970, 15-year-old Eli Burnes runs away with a draft-dodger, thinking she's on the road to adventure and romance. What she finds instead is a world of underground Weathermen, Black Power revolutionaries, snitches and shoot-first police.
Eventually Eli is rescued by her father, who turns out both more responsible and more revolutionary than she'd imagined. But when he gets in trouble with the law, she finds herself on the road again, searching for the allies who will help her learn how to save herself.
"The book is a fantastic read: fast-moving, full of smoothly woven historical detail and rich characterizations, all told in Eli's appealing voice." — Sarah Johnson, Reading the Past
Book Title: Cinnamon Girl
Author: Trish MacEnulty
Publication Date: September 11th, 2023
Publisher: Livingston Press
Page Length: 311
Genre: Historical YA (but boomers love it, too)
Author: Trish MacEnulty
Publication Date: September 11th, 2023
Publisher: Livingston Press
Page Length: 311
Genre: Historical YA (but boomers love it, too)
Join me in a cosy chat with Trish.
What inspired you to start writing?
Like Eli Burnes, the protagonist of Cinnamon Girl, I loved reading as a child. I’ll never forget reading The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, how I was able to enter a completely different world. I especially loved stories about animals, including Albert Payson Terhune’s books about dogs or the Black Stallion series. I’m pretty sure I always knew I wanted to be a writer because I wanted to give other people that writers gave to me growing up.
What was the hardest part about writing this book?
I’m not sure what was the hardest part of writing the book, but I can tell you the most fun part: doing the research on rock concerts. I was able to find dates, places and even playlists for concerts in 1970. I also really enjoyed learning about the advent of FM radio. I remember when it happened, when we started listening to FM stations instead of AM, but I had no idea the impact on the culture of this change in technology. FM stations played songs that you didn’t hear on the AM radio. The DJs had much more freedom in the music they chose as well as the news they delivered. They often served as community forum in a way that AM radio with its strict format couldn’t do.
Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart?
The character of Mattie is especially dear to me. In the book Mattie is the step-grandmother of Eli. I based her in part on my godmother, an elegant woman who had a lovely soprano voice. She had the softest skin of anyone I ever met, and she loved to laugh. She was also quite kind. Even though she was raised to be a southern belle, she was gracious to everyone no matter their status in life. She was quite close to Suzy, the African-American woman who worked as her maid. Nowadays, people might look down on her for even having a fulltime maid. But those were different times. She treated everyone with repect and kindness. I remember there was a big life-size portrait of her in a gorgeous crimson dress with pearls hanging in her living room. I recreated that portrait in my book.
If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?
Somewhere out there is the perfect teenage girl to play Eli. I don’t think she’s a celebrity yet.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
I think a lot of people today don’t understand what the counter-culture movements in the late 60s and early 70s were all about. People have forgotten that the lives of young Americans were on the line. These young men (at the time, women weren’t drafted though they did serve) were being asked to kill and to die for a cause they weren’t sure they believed in. The government did not make a good case for the war. It didn’t make sense to many18-year-olds to throw their lives away in a little country on the other side of the globe. To save us from Communism?
Many people also don’t realize how dangerous it was to be a Black activist at the time. I think about what happened to Freddy Hampton who was shot to death in his bed by law enforcement or Angela Davis who was thrown in prison. The Black Lives Matter movement didn’t come out of nowhere. There’s a long history behind it.
There were also so many young people who fought for change. And while it may not seem like it, they had some important successes. The war became so unpopular, the government finally pulled out. The vote was granted to the same young people who were expected to fight for our country. Women and African Americans made strides in all areas. Even education was revolutionized. We’re entering into some pretty turbulent times now, and in some ways it seems like we’re going backwards. I hope young people will take a little bit of that idealism of the past and fight for what they believe is right. Maybe they can also learn from the mistakes of the past. And there were plenty of those.
Trish MacEnulty is the author of a historical novel series, literary novels, memoirs, a short story collection, children’s plays, and most recently, the historical coming-of-age novel, Cinnamon Girl (Livingston Press, Sept. 2023). She has a Ph.D. in English from the Florida State University and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Florida. She currently writes book reviews and features for the Historical Novel Society.
She lives in Florida with her husband Joe and her two tubby critters, Franco and Tumbleweed. More info at her website: trishmacenulty.com.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://trishmacenulty.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pmacenulty
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Trish-MacEnulty/author/B01G4A797G
Thanks so much for hosting Trish MacEnulty on your lovely blog.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club