Check out a preview of Chapter One on the Lumby Website!
Review: You have to start laughing out loud when Mark nicknames 2 sheep Mutton and Chops- you know you're gonna be in for all the lovely insanity that is Lumby! I know I keep telling you just HOW much I love this series and I have to admit it is number ONE on my list! I had 3 books I had to read before this one, and I swear I could hear the bees from the orchard at Montis humming from the pages of the book, angry while waiting for me to open it and start reading! I always breathe a sigh of relief when I start a Lumby book- "I am back!" I want to cry out to the residents of Lumby- I am here to see what is going on in your lives now - I feel like a silent journalist chronicling my family!
I wasn't too sure when this book started out though- a shock jock in Mark's family? Horrors! But of course I should have known better- Fraser's deft hand allowed the magic of Lumby to envelope her characters. Her magic is making her characters believable and able to come under the spell of Lumby like her readers do. I find myself seeing a bare pink flamingo in a yard and missing Hank's adorable outfits. I hear rum sauce and immediately think of the former monks of Montis. This book like the 4 before it wraps up the primary story line but leaves side ones open for the next book- just like in real life not everything gets resolved. It makes you want to run to pick up the next book to see what happened. Thus, Fraser shows what a great author she is! Pickup you own copy when the book is released on July 6th! And if you want books to get you thru half the summer- pick up the rest of the series too!
Here's an excerpt from the May Lumby newsletter with an interview with Gail, since I've told you so much about her already!
"What can you tell us about yourself?
If there is a merging between fact and fiction, between the harsh realities of life and the figments of paradise, it is at Lazy Goose Farm, the secluded upstate New York gentleman's farm of crimson red barns, cozy cottages, and a babbling stream, where Art (Poulin) and I live. And if life does imitate art, it is at Lazy Goose: The orchard, the multi-colored beehives, even the heirloom tomatoes at our homestead are mere references to a deeper solace found here, a serenity grounded in the belief that one can maneuver past the potholes of life and come out for the better by living with simple tenets and finding purpose and synergy through one's passions
How
would you describe Lumby?
It's a town
with relentlessly quirky residents who remind us just how crazy normal
life usually is. It's where a store mannequin
signs the town's tax returns, where there are more riding mowers than
cars parked in front of the library, and where there's a one-room movie
theater above the local feed store. There's one
very industrious resident who just renovated the bus stop on the corner
of Hunts Mill Road and Main Street, with a new skylight and wall-to-wall
carpet, and before Thanksgiving, the townsfolk scattered Perdue oven
roaster stuffers throughout the fairgrounds in hopes of attracting wild
turkeys - I know, it made no sense to me either. And
just south of town sits a hundred-year old monastery that, in the first
book, is purchased by a couple and converted into a country inn. Thus begins the series.
When did you start writing the
Lumby books?
I began
working on the first novel shortly after 9-11, when we faced so much
uncertainty, anger and fear in our own country and in the world. So part of the concept was a knee-jerk reaction to
wanting a safe, gentle place to which I could escape, in which I could
laugh.
Speaking of laughter, how's
Hank?
Ah, Hank. For those who are not
familiar with my books, Hank is a plastic pink flamingo, four feet high
with long, skinny legs and a black beak. He came by way of a mislabeled
box from Amazon.com and quickly became the town mascot, amassing a full
wardrobe from an unknown benefactor. He was listed as an alter boy in
the Presbyterian church bulletin, and a while ago, he applied for a
shift manager position at Lumby's Sporting Goods (no doubt to be closer
to the bathing suit mannequin). Hank is always
seen about town: at the voting booths being as politically involved as a
plastic bird can, taking the eleventh-grade final English exam, on the
picket line in front of the lumber mill demanding better health
insurance, or in a canoe paddling around Woodrow Lake...he so hates to
get his feet wet.
And he has a large following
now?
An
understatement. He's become quite a cult figure and a world traveler,
which began a few years ago when two of his fans invited him to
Rochester, NY, for a long weekend. Once he left
Lazy Goose in a first class Fed Ex box (why fly when there are other
means of transport?) he never looked back, but we get photographs
regularly: Hank at the Olive Garden restaurant, Hank at the movie
theater with his 3-D glasses on, watching Avatar, Hank lending a wing in
New Orleans. After seeing the sights in a dozen
cities, a few months ago he crossed the border and is now up in Canada
visiting some libraries in Manitoba. He now ends each sentence with "Eh?"
What's next
for you, Art and Hank?
Working on a series is quite different
from writing a stand-alone novel. At any given
time, there are usually three books that require my attention. Right now, I'm writing Chapter Four of All Roads Lead to Lumby,
the sixth book in the series that will be released in 2011,
and developing the concept for Book 7, which I'll submit to my publisher
next month.
So, Art and I
continue to work and garden and enjoy life at Lazy Goose; most of the
time, he's in front of his canvas and I'm in my office typing away. And Hank? Well, Hank will be Hank. He
hasn't been invited to the White House yet, but I wouldn't be at all
surprised if he somehow weasels his way into a formal dinner party - he
loves wearing his tuxedo. And we'll, of course,
be riding on his coattails."
Disclosure: Thanks as always to Caitlin over at FSB for feeding my Lumby addiction, she is a very nice enabler! I received this book free of charge for this review. All thoughts are my own!
