New Release: Bitter Greens: A Novel by Kate Forsyth

Over two years ago I announced the publication of Bitter Greens: A Novel by Kate Forsyth in New Zealand and Australia. It was a fine announcement for those of you who live there but frustrating for those of us who couldn't easily obtain the book. A year later, I was pleased to announce that the book was being released in the UK. Great for those you reading from those shores and a little easier for us in the states--namely me--to obtain the book, but not that easy.

Today, I get to share here that Bitter Greens: A Novel is finally officially released tomorrow here in North America. With yet another cover, too. This release is in hardcover and ebook and has also sparked a rerelease in hardcover in the UK with the new cover, too. Which makes me a little sad since the original UK cover--the silhouette above--is my personal favorite.

When books are able to make the jump from "down under" (phrase with hubris I know) to American booksellers, its a wonderful achievement. And usually means the book is excellent--I have several favorite authors in several genres who have been able to woo publishers here from those foreign lands where Christmas is a summer holiday.

I will be sharing a guest post tomorrow about the book but felt it also deserved the usual book announcement type post I offer for all new releases. And I really want to see Forsyth's other novels get a wider release, so I will do all I can to help! And Kate is a fairy tale kindred spirit so we all want to support her in the fairy tale faith, yes? And actually, The Wild Girl: A Novel will also be released in July 2015, but we'll focus on Bitter Greens for today.

Book description from the publisher:

The amazing power and truth of the Rapunzel fairy tale comes alive for the first time in this breathtaking tale of desire, black magic and the redemptive power of love

French novelist Charlotte-Rose de la Force has been banished from the court of Versailles by the Sun King, Louis XIV, after a series of scandalous love affairs. At the convent, she is comforted by an old nun, Sœur Seraphina, who tells her the tale of a young girl who, a hundred years earlier, is sold by her parents for a handful of bitter greens...

After Margherita’s father steals parsley from the walled garden of the courtesan Selena Leonelli, he is threatened with having both hands cut off, unless he and his wife relinquish their precious little girl. Selena is the famous red-haired muse of the artist Tiziano, first painted by him in 1512 and still inspiring him at the time of his death. She is at the center of Renaissance life in Venice, a world of beauty and danger, seduction and betrayal, love and superstition.

Locked away in a tower, Margherita sings in the hope that someone will hear her. One day, a young man does.

Award-winning author Kate Forsyth braids together the stories of Margherita, Selena, and Charlotte-Rose, the woman who penned Rapunzel as we now know it, to create what is a sumptuous historical novel, an enchanting fairy tale retelling, and a loving tribute to the imagination of one remarkable woman.