Today, I'm participating in a blog tour for the beautiful and haunting book Magdalena by Candi Sary! I actually hadn't heard of this book before receiving the blog tour invite, and I'm so very glad that it was brought to my attention because it is truly a gorgeous story that absolutely deserves some more attention. Below, you'll find some general information about the book and author, as well as some much-deserved praise to entice you to read this book. :)
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Title: MAGDALENA
Author: Candi Sary
Pub. Date: July 11th, 2023
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Pages: 218
Find it: Bookshop.org | Amazon | B&N
Title: MAGDALENA
Author: Candi Sary
Pub. Date: July 11th, 2023
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Pages: 218
Find it: Bookshop.org | Amazon | B&N
SYNOPSIS:
"'In my dream they’re both still with me, the girl and the ghost…'A haunting and lyrical novel that subverts expectations, Candi Sary’s MAGDALENA (Regal House Publishing; July 11, 2023) pulls the reader into the small and secluded Sam’s Town, a place shrouded in fog and thriving on gossip and superstition. Dottie offers plenty of both when the scandal breaks about a missing girl, a ghost, and the affair that started it all. She recounts her story from within her small room in the nursing home, “a holding cell for the dying,” though Dottie isn’t dying. The town simply has nowhere else to put her.
Dottie begins to write her story. On paper, napkins, bedsheets, whatever they will give her, she feverishly recounts her reclusive existence in Sam’s Town, her tragic history of miscarriages, her longing for the baby that never was, the mysterious disappearance of an almost lover, and the day that the 15-year-old neighbor girl, Magdalena, showed up at her door. Over time, Dottie develops a strange motherly interest in the girl. “I admit I’ve done some terrible things, but I swear on my life,” Dottie writes, “I swear to all my accusers, I did nothing to harm Magdalena.
Somewhere between fantasy and reality, Dottie finds new life in her relationship with the mysterious girl. But Dottie's entanglements with Magdalena, a curious centenarian, a compelling stranger, an ex-mobster, and a murder of crows thrusts this once cloistered woman into a frenzy of public scrutiny. To quell the rumors, Dottie keeps returning to pen and paper, the place where only she can distinguish the fiction from what truly happened. In sharing her story, she discovers something as frightening as it is liberating – her voice.
Though her prose has been compared to Shirley Jackson, Sary’s writing stands in a class of its own. MAGDALENA is a swirling and mystical debut, part ghost story, part tender tale of love, loss, and longing, inspired by the author’s personal experiences. Sary’s mesmerizing and haunting debut will keep readers under its spell long after the final page."
Though her prose has been compared to Shirley Jackson, Sary’s writing stands in a class of its own. MAGDALENA is a swirling and mystical debut, part ghost story, part tender tale of love, loss, and longing, inspired by the author’s personal experiences. Sary’s mesmerizing and haunting debut will keep readers under its spell long after the final page."
Praise for Magdalena:
“I was transfixed by this novel… a gripping testament to the power of the individual imagination.” –Antoine Wilson, author of Mouth to Mouth
“Beautifully written and satisfyingly creepy, this is one of the most poignant and original ghost stories I’ve ever read.” –Mark Haskell Smith, author of Blown
"Sary’s tale of love, loss and maternal devotion pulls hard at the heartstrings and is impossible to -put down.” –Diane Haeger, best-selling author of Courtesan
"Candi Sary’s astonishing fable locates us inside Dottie’s mind as she traverses the ghostly underworld of Sam’s Town and discovers her own power to rescue herself, teenage Magdalena, and the entire town.” – Stephanie Golden, author of Slaying the Mermaid: Women and the Culture of Sacrifice
“Sary draws us into a paranormal tale that feels absolutely real, heavy and creepily familiar.” – Dominic Carrillo, author of Acts of Resistance
“Sary's instinct for the miraculous is indeed strong in this tender novel that lovingly captures the yearning for human connection.” – Donia Bijan, author of The Last Days of Cafe Leila
“Is it possible to write a modern day ghost story that’s also a poignant tale about love, loss, and redemption? Candi Sary has done just that with her second novel, Magdalena. Shirley Jackson fans will be kicking up their heels.” – Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, author of Palm Springs Noir and host of Writers on Writing
“Beautifully written and satisfyingly creepy, this is one of the most poignant and original ghost stories I’ve ever read.” –Mark Haskell Smith, author of Blown
"Sary’s tale of love, loss and maternal devotion pulls hard at the heartstrings and is impossible to -put down.” –Diane Haeger, best-selling author of Courtesan
"Candi Sary’s astonishing fable locates us inside Dottie’s mind as she traverses the ghostly underworld of Sam’s Town and discovers her own power to rescue herself, teenage Magdalena, and the entire town.” – Stephanie Golden, author of Slaying the Mermaid: Women and the Culture of Sacrifice
“Sary draws us into a paranormal tale that feels absolutely real, heavy and creepily familiar.” – Dominic Carrillo, author of Acts of Resistance
“Sary's instinct for the miraculous is indeed strong in this tender novel that lovingly captures the yearning for human connection.” – Donia Bijan, author of The Last Days of Cafe Leila
“Is it possible to write a modern day ghost story that’s also a poignant tale about love, loss, and redemption? Candi Sary has done just that with her second novel, Magdalena. Shirley Jackson fans will be kicking up their heels.” – Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, author of Palm Springs Noir and host of Writers on Writing
Candi Sary is an award-winning writer and graduate from the University of California, Irvine. Her writing has won Reader Views Literary Award, a Chanticleer International Book Award, and was First Runner-Up in the Eric Hoffer Book Award. A mother of two adult children, Sary lives in Southern California with her husband, a dog, a cat and several ducks. She can often be found surfing and paddling boarding in the waters of Newport Beach. She is a proud steward of a Little Free Library.
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