Miami Morning - #TeaserTuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph / Tuesday Intros

     From South Africa to South Beach, Miami Morning gives a deep and fascinating look into Leila Payson's world as a teacher, community volunteer, daughter, and friend. Author Mary Clark takes us into the character's thoughts and dreams through her life choices and relationships with others, including a mysterious man with a book who keeps popping up. "Miss Pacer" is an interesting character who leads an introspective life.
     I lived in Miami for quite a few years, so I especially enjoyed visiting the area again through the pages of Mary Clark's story. She nailed the setting and "feel" of that locale.

First Paragraph:
Present Day.
     Leila Payson walked from her pale yellow bungalow toward the opening horizon, listening to the call of birds rising above the primal hum of dunes. She had risen early the first morning of her forty-something life, seized by an eager sense of being on the threshold of accomplishment.

Teaser (from 17% on my Kindle) (Leila is thinking about a fight she had stopped between two girl students.)
     She'd seen these fights before, with the girls using every means to inflict as much damage as they could, even slamming their opponent against the floor, lockers, or the concrete planters in the courtyard. Without a tradition of long-understood rules of combat, the ferocity was frightening; rather than a ritual dance, a rite of passage, or defending a romantic interest, as it was with boys, this came from a primeval source, protecting and asserting the girl's core identity.

Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction / Literary
Book Length: 202 Pages
Amazon Link: Miami Morning
Author Website/Blog: Literary Eyes

Synopsis (from Amazon):
Leila Payson, affectionately nicknamed “Miss Pacer” by her students, is always pushing the boundaries in her efforts to achieve her goal of becoming a better teacher and human being. Before settling in to her life as a Social Studies teacher and volunteer at the local playground, Leila spent a year teaching in South Africa where she met an occupational therapist and others working within the disability community. Now, years later, when a student discovers he is going deaf and asks her for help, Leila embarks on a pivotal journey that calls on her to employ everything she’s learned and earns her both allies and rivals. And while she juggles work, family, and adventures with her diverse group of friends, a mysterious man with a book keeps appearing at her favorite places. Come along for the ride as Leila Payson faces challenges and opportunities with spirit and courage … and a bit of humor, too.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Jenn of Books and A Beat. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!

Link at Books and A Beat

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea

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The Mirror - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

Have you ever read a book where you weren't sure if you liked the main character? That's what I felt about the protagonist (Agnes La Grange) in The Mirror by Lynn Freed. Agnes was hired as a housekeeper, but after the father of the family where she worked installed a full-length mirror in her bedroom and she became aware of her beauty, she took full advantage of her assets. I admired Agnes's honesty with herself, her determination, and her ambition, but she was selfish and just not likable. Of course, that also made her story very interesting! I will say that the book kept me entertained and fascinated. Part of that was due to the setting: South Africa in the 1920s-1940s. I also enjoyed the way the story was presented - as a memoir, complete with photographs. It seemed real although it was fiction.  

Here's the Book Beginning:
1920
     I came into that house of sickness just after the Great War, as a girl of seventeen. They were there waiting for me, father and daughter, like a pair of birds, with their long noses and their great black eyes. The girl was a slip of a thing, no more than twelve, but she spoke up for the father in a loud, deep voice. Can you do this, Agnes? Have you ever done that? And the old man sat in his armchair with his watch chain and his penny spectacles, his pipe in his mouth and the little black moustache. Sometimes he said something to the girl in their own language, and then she would start up again. Agnes, do you know how to-

The Friday 56 (from Page 56 in my paperback):
     In the books I read, there was nothing but joy in the hearts of the mothers, except when they weren't real mothers at all, but only stepmothers. And then it was all rage and fury, and the girls cowering under the rod or eating poisoned apples. But here was I, the real mother, and I thought, She'll not always be a child, and I'll not always be young and beautiful. And who will I have then but her?

Genre: Historical Fiction
Book Length: 219 Pages (plus a reader's guide)
Amazon Link: The Mirror
Author's Website: Lynn Freed

Synopsis (from Amazon):
This is the story of Agnes La Grange, a beautiful young woman who emigrates as a housekeeper to South Africa in 1920. With a determination to make a future of her own and a love of men that does not leave her in desperate need of them, Agnes constructs a life beyond the conventions of colonial society. Written in her own fresh and unguarded voice, The Mirror is a fictional memoir, telling the story of the essential female, what she must do to survive, and how little the cost has changed over time.

FYI: A friend recently cleared out some books from her collection and gave a lot of them to me. This book was among them. It was copyrighted in 1997, and there were no grammatical or other errors in the book to distract me.

                 

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