#31 Inside the Emotion of Fiction's THE EXILE by Gregory Erich Phillips

Chris Rice Cooper 

caccoop@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

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***The CRC Blog welcomes submissions from published and unpublished fiction genre writers for INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION.  Contact CRC Blog via email at caccoop@aol.com or personal Facebook messaging at https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

****Gregory Phillip’s The Exile is the thirty-first in a never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific excerpt from a fiction genre and how that fiction writer wrote that specific excerpt.  All INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links are at the end of this piece.  

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? My novel The Exile came out on April 6. Other than slight variations (we considered “Exiled”) the name really stuck and I think it fits the work. The title can imply people who are on exile in a foreign land, or a person who has herself become an exile. That double meaning is apt for the novel.

Fiction genre?  Ex science fiction, short story, fantasy novella,  romance, drama, crime, plays, flash fiction, historical, comedy, movie script, screenplay, etc.  And how many pages long? The Exile is upmarket, mainstream fiction, with a great love story that will appeal to romance readers. It is also a suspenseful, fast-paced novel that is a real page-turner. It is 309 pages long.

Has this been published? And it is totally fine if the answer is no.   If yes, what publisher and what publication date? It is published by Koehler Books, April 6. The pre-publication period was very exciting for me, as the early reviews coming in have been very positive.

What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? I amazed myself with how fast I wrote this novel. I remember starting it the weekend after Easter, 2016, and now it has been  just before Easter, 2019! I wrote the first draft in 9 months, while working full time and not taking any significant time off, while also having a lot of things in my personal life that demanded my attention. Once the story of The Exile, and even more so, the character of Leila were in my head, the words simply flowed onto the page.

Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work?  And please describe in detail.  And can you please include a photo? I have a committed routine of writing for an hour or two in the mornings before going to work. My mind is clear in the early mornings. That’s when I do my best writing, in my home study. I also look for long weekend getaways where I can be closer to nature and write for longer periods at a time. This picture (Left) is from a place I like to go on Whidbey Island, a short ferry trip from my home in Seattle, WA (Below Right). I actually started The Exile and also finished the first draft on Whidbey Island, WA.

What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? I like a good cup of tea while I write: strong, loose-leaf black tea. I sometimes listen to classical music while I write, but often prefer silence in my early morning writing time. The romantic in me wishes I could write effectively with pen and paper, but I go with the efficiency of the laptop.

What is the summary of this specific fiction work? The Exile is the story of Leila, a young Colombian American woman who with her father escaped a violent past in Latin America, but face the threat of deportation from the U.S. The story of The Exile has many fascinating angles which all came together for me that weekend about three years ago—cross-cultural love, the housing crisis of 2008, Colombian militants in the 80s, the Latin American immigrant experience, the effects of racism. It is a suspenseful story that moves between Phoenix, Arizona and Cartagena, Colombia (Above Left). It is a heart-warming love story.  At its core, The Exile is a story about love, family, home, and the courage it takes to protect those things.

Can you give the reader just enough information for them to understand what is going on in the excerpt? In this excerpt, Leila and her father, Manny, have just finished playing their guitars together on a warm evening in the patio of Manny’s home in Phoenix. Leila has been focused on career success and Manny is encouraging her to remember what’s important in life. (Above Right:  Cartagena, Columbia street art) 

Please include the excerpt and include page numbers as reference.  The excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer. The Exile, Chapter 2, page 8-11

It was late. The moon shone down onto the patio through long palm fronds. A breeze blew in off the desert, cooling the March evening. The sound of two guitars and two voices serenaded the neighborhood to sleep.

Leila smiled at her dad as they finished the song “La Cartera.” It was a popular Colombian song about the gifts of love. They set down their guitars in unison.  It was a good one to end on; she would let the song ring in her mind for the night.

“That’s still my favorite song. You gave me all those things, Papá.”

She breathed in the dry Arizona air, scented by spring flowers and mesquite. This was such a nice evening. She had let it go too long since the last time they played together.

Leila looked over at her dad.

“Why did you take the chance on me, after everything you went through? Why take the risk?”

“Love is always worth the risk.”

Leila wasn’t sure she agreed.

“After my first wife was killed, I didn’t expect to love again,” Manny said. “I didn’t want to. Losing my family hurt too much. It would have been easy to destroy myself in the revolution. Instead, I set my life on a whole new course, and now here I am. For me, life was the risk and death would have been easy. Life has always meant love to me, and so to live, I had to be willing to take a risk on love again.”

He made it sound so noble, but she knew it hadn’t been any easier for him than it would be for her if she faced the same choices.

“I’ve made my life be about so many other things,” she said. “It’s because I don’t want to take the risk. I’m afraid of getting hurt the way you did.”

They had lowered their voices. The palms brushed rhythmically against the roofs of the single-story houses.

“You have become such an American, my dear,” he said. “All work.”

The remark took her by surprise.

“I learned the value of work from you.”

“Yes, I understand. You had much to work for. So have I. A second chance is strong motivation. But work isn’t life. I have worked for you, for Carmen, for a night like this playing music under the stars. But many Americans work for its own sake. Remember the Latin way: work is so you can enjoy your family and friends with more security and to create the little moments that make life beautiful.”

Leila wanted to believe that.

Going it alone wasn’t always so bad though. She had everything she needed and nothing she didn’t want. Her life was ordered just so, and she liked it that way. She didn’t want to think that something was missing.

She looked up through the branches at the stars, abundant above the Valley of the Sun. The moon had passed behind the house but still glowed in the sky.

She turned and looked at her dad in the darkness. “Was love worth the risk for you?”

“Absolutely. My heart still hurts, even after all these years. I won’t pretend that you and Carmen have made up for it. I know you understand, but I can’t talk to Carmen about it. She’s jealous of my old love. But you know.”

Leila nodded.

“I hope you learn sooner than I did,” said Manny. “Too many years of fighting. Too long running away from myself and arguing with God. Too many years talking about love without living it.”

Leila picked her guitar up from where she had set it down against her chair. She hugged it to her chest and closed her eyes. She could still feel the faintest vibration in the wood of the instrument, so recently touched by music. The resonance passed into her. It comforted her but also unsettled her. Music always reminded her that life wasn’t as simple as she tried to make it. She was never in control. The lessons of her life should have taught her that by now, even though it seemed like a lesson she had to learn over and over. She was never in control of music either, even if she knew all the words of a song and where to find every note on the strings. Music had a life all its own. It would be frightening to let life itself take on the unpredictable magic of a song.

Why is this excerpt so emotional for you?  And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? This scene in the novel shows Leila’s unwillingness to risk the safety and security for which she has worked so hard, but also her awareness of the emptiness of her success. It shows Manny’s wisdom after years fraught with mistakes and loss. This early scene drives the emotional foundation for both characters, as from it are revealed Manny’s story leading to this point, and Leila’s story leading on from there.

Other works you have published? Love of Finished Years published last year. This novel won the grand prize in the prestigious Chanticleer Reviews international writing competition.
https://www.amazon.com/Finished-Years-Gregory-Erich-Phillips-ebook-dp-B07H9FW8Z2/dp/B07H9FW8Z2/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=

Anything you would like to add? I hope The Exile is a meaningful story to readers, who I think will really come to love the character of Leila and identify with her journey, as I did in writing her story. 
https://www.amazon.com/Exile-Gregory-Erich-Phillips/dp/1633937658/

With my novels, I aim to tell aspirational stories through strong, relatable characters that transcend time and place. I have been writing novels since I was 14 and am so happy to have finally turned the corner last year with my first published novel. I work by day as a mortgage consultant. I am also a tango dancer and musician. I have performed tango on stages in Seattle, San Francisco, New York City and elsewhere. I live in Seattle, WA with Rachel, my wife, tango dancer and muse.

http://www.gregoryerichphillips.com

https://www.facebook.com/gregoryerichphillips/

INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links

001   11 15 2018 Nathaniel Kaine’s

Thriller Novel

John Hunter – The Veteran

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/001-inside-emotion-of-fiction-nathaniel.html

002   11 18 2018 Ed Protzzel’s

Futuristic/Mystery/Thriller

The Antiquities Dealer 

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/002-inside-emotion-of-fiction-ed.html

003   11 23 2018 Janice Seagraves’s

Science Fiction Romance

Exodus Arcon

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/003-inside-emotion-of-fiction-exodus.html

004   11 29 2018 Christian Fennell’s

Literary Fiction Novel

The Fiddler in the Night

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/004-inside-emotion-of-fiction-christian.html

005  12 02 2018 Jessica Mathews’s

Adult Paranormal Romance

Death Adjacent

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/5-inside-emotion-of-fiction-jessica.html

006  12 04 2018 Robin Jansen’s

Literary Fiction Novel

Ruby the Indomitable

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/006-inside-emotion-of-fiction-robin.html

007  12 12 2018  Adair Valerez’s

Literary Fiction Novel

Scrim

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/007-inside-emotion-of-fiction-adair.html

008  12 17 218 Kit Frazier’s

Mystery Novel

Dead Copy

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/008-inside-emotion-of-fiction-kit.html

009 12 21 2019 Robert Craven’s

Noir/Spy Novel

The Road of a Thousand Tigers

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/009-inside-emotion-of-fiction-robert.html

010 01 13 2019 Kristine Goodfellow’s

Contemporary Romantic Fiction

The Other Twin

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/010-inside-emotion-of-fictions-other.html

011 01 17 2019 Nancy J Cohen’s

Cozy Mystery

Trimmed To Death

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/11-inside-emotion-of-fiction-nancy.html

012 01 20 2019 Charles Salzberg’s

Crime Novel

Second Story Man

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/12-inside-emotion-of-fiction-charles.html

013 01 23 2019 Alexis Fancher’s

Flash Fiction

His Full Attention

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/13-inside-emotion-of-fiction-alexis.html

014 01 27 2019 Brian L Tucker’s

Young Adult/Historical

POKEWEED:  AN ILLUSTRATED NOVELLA

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/14-inside-emotion-of-fiction-brian-l.html

015 01 31 2019 Robin Tidwell’s

Dystopian

Reduced

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/15-inside-emotion-of-ficton-reduced-by.html

016 02 07 2019 J.D. Trafford’s

Legal Fiction/Mystery

Little Boy Lost

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/16-inside-emotion-of-fiction-little-boy.html

017 02 08 2019 Paula Shene’s

Young Adult ScieFi/Fantasy/Romance/Adventure

My Quest Begins 

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/017-inside-emotion-of-fiction-my-quest.html

018 02 13 2019 Talia Carner’s

Mainstream Fiction/ Suspense/ Historical

Hotel Moscow

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/18-inside-emotion-of-fiction-talia.html

019 02 15 2019 Rick Robinson’s

Multidimensional Fiction

Alligator Alley

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/19-inside-emotion-of-fiction-rick.html

020 02 21 2019 LaVerne Thompson’s

Urban Fantasy

The Soul Collectors

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/20-inside-emotion-of-fictions-soul.html

021 02 27 2019 Marlon L Fick’s

Post-Colonialist Novel

The Nowhere Man

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/21-inside-emotion-of-fictions-nowhere.html

022 03 02 2019 Carol Johnson’s

Mainstream Novel

Silk And Ashes

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/22-inside-emotion-of-fictions-silk-and.html

023 03 06 2019 Samuel Snoek-Brown’s

Short Story Collection

There Is No Other Way to Worship Them

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/23-inside-emotion-of-fictions-there-is.html

024 03 08 2019 Marlin Barton’s

Short Story Collection

Pasture Art

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/24-inside-emotion-of-fictions-pasture.html

025 03 18 2019 Laura Hunter’s

Historical Fiction

Beloved Mother

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/25-inside-emotion-of-fictions-beloved.html

026 03 21 2019 Maggie Rivers’s

Romance

Magical Mistletoe

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/26-inside-emotion-of-fictions-magical.html

027  03 25 2019 Faith Gibson’s

Paranormal Romance

Rafael

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/27-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rafael-by.html

028 03 27 2019 Valerie Nieman’s

Tall Tale

To The Bones

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/28-inside-emotion-of-fictions-to-bones.html

029 04 04 2019 Betty Bolte’s

Paranormal Romance

Veiled Visions of Love

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/29-inside-emotion-of-fictions-veiled.html

030 04 05 2019  Marianne Maili’s

Tragicomedy

Lucy, go see

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/30-inside-emotion-of-fictions-lucy-go.html

031 04 10 2019 Gregory Erich Phillips’s

Mainstream Fiction

The Exile

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/31-inside-emotion-of-fictions-exile-by.html

CRC Blog Analysis on LOST ROSES by Martha Hall Kelly

Chris Rice Cooper 

caccoop@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

*The images in this specific piece are granted copyright privilege by:  Public Domain, CCSAL, GNU Free Documentation Licenses, Fair Use Under The United States Copyright Law, or given copyright privilege by the copyright holder which is identified beneath the individual photo.

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CRC Blog Analysis:

Martha Hall Kelly’s Lost Roses

“Each Was Lost, But Now Is Found”

Martha Hall Kelly became a household name worldwide when her historical novel Lilac Girls was published on April 5, 2016.  Lilac Girls is based on the true-life character socialite and philanthropist Caroline Ferriday who is credited with championing the rights for the Rabbits, a group of 74 Polish women who were treated worse than Guiana pigs by Dr. Joseph Mengele while imprisoned in the Ravensbrück women’s concentration camp during World War Two.  

     Lilac Girls takes place between 1939 to 1950, and is narrated by three women:  Caroline Ferriday (Below Left), Polish teenager Kasia Kuzmerick (based on real life Rabbit Nina Ivanska) (Below Middle); and German doctor Herta Oberheuser (Below Right) who assists Dr. Mengele at the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. Since its publication by Ballantine Books Lilac Girls has been published in over 30 languages and has been a New York Times bestseller.

       Ballentine Books released Martha Hall Kelly’s prequel to Lilac Girls, Lost Roses, on April 9, 2019.  Lost Roses takes place during World War 1 and the Bolshevik Revolution and is told through the voices of four women.

https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Roses-Martha-Hall Kelly/dp/1524796379/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1544814321&sr=8-1      

     

American socialite Eliza Ferriday (Caroline Ferriday’s mother) and her best friend Russian aristocrat  Sofya Streshnayva are close friends who have an unbreakable connection and bond with one another. Sofya’s younger sister eight-year-old Luba who is perhaps the most courageous and enduring of the four:  she’s obsessed with the stars in the sky and has an inquisitive and intelligent mind, a voice that will not be silenced, and a spirit that is perhaps the strongest of all four women.  

     Last but not least is the marginalized poor fortune teller’s daughter Varinka who is hard to hate but yet hard to love – she is perhaps the most complex character of the four women – and each reader will have his or her own opinion of Varinka and all of them will vary.  

     The Lost Roses are referring to Russian sisters Sofya and Luba – both whom have been orphaned by their mother who died and are then orphaned by the loss of their own home, their family, their friends, their freedom, and finally their own country.

In Russia, roses symbolize every aspect of life and even though the roses do not live forever - the memory of what the roses symbolize – love, friendship, relationships, patriotism, spirituality, and, unfortunately, loss - will forever be sketched in human consciousness.

       The novel’s prologue is told through the voice of eight-year-old Luba in 1912 where she, Sofya and Eliza all lie down side by side and observe the heavens; the place where Sofya and Luba insist their mother now resides.

       The novel’s first chapter opens in May of 1914 in Southampton, New York where Eliza Ferriday is throwing a farewell party for her best friend, seven months pregnant Sofya, and her husband Afon at her mother Caroline Carson Woolsey Mitchell’s house Gin Lane (Below), a Queen Anne cottage that lies next to the ocean.

     The party is also a farewell, though a temporary one, for Eliza, who is expected to travel with Sofya and Afton to Russia and stay with them for a few months. 

       Eliza’s gardener is the beholder of the novel’s name Lost Roses – and greets Sofya and Eliza with a silver Revere bowl filled with his famous, healthy, robust antique roses.

Sofya gasped, one hand to her sollen bodice.

       “We thought you’d like them,” I said.  Sofya had once been on the path to becoming an accomplished botanist and still pursued the study of plants for pleasure.  When not walking the dunes in search of beach roses she spent hours in Mother’s greenhouse grafting orchids.

       Mr. Gardener placed the bowl on the polished dining room table, the felted bottom quiet on the mahogany, smoothed his hands down the front of his white overalls and turned to leave.  Mr. Gardener’s people had known Mother’s for two generations.  He was infinitely kind and a fine-looking gentleman:  tall, with a plowman’s physique, and dark as the loamy earth he worked.

       Sofya caught him by the elbow.  “You are just a genius with roses, Mr. Gardener.”

       Each blossom was lovelier than the next:  a William Lobb moss rose in ballet pink, with spiky, mosslike growth on her sepals, a deliciously scented, flesh-colored Madame Bosanquet.

       Sofya breathed in their essence.  “I’ve never seen anything like these.  The fragrance is remarkable.  Just in from China?”

       “No ma’am.  These are antiques.  Some of the finest old roses just grow wild nowadays.”

       “He finds them in the most unlikely places,” I said.  “The cemetery, the lumberyard.”

       “I imagine they’re disease resistant, too,” Sofya said.  “You’re a magician, Mr. Gardener.  The creamy white one with a tangle of golden threads at her heart –“

       “Mrs. Mitchell’s favorite, and mine, too,” he said with a smile. “Katharina Zeimet – such a hardy repeat bloomer.  All she needs is water and a little fertilizer.”

       “He’d be happy to crate some for you, wouldn’t you, Mr. Gardener?”  I asked.  “To take home to your hothouse.”

       Eliza says tearful goodbyes to her husband Henry and daughter Caroline as she boards a ship with Luba, Sofya, Akon and their baby, Eliza’s godson, Maxwell Streshnayva Afonovich, born two months early in a hospital near Gin Lane.  Eliza plans to return back to the states in August, but due to the People’s rebellion and her experience of being robbed and injured while on a tram makes her departure for America a month earlier than originally planned.   She, accompanied by Sofya and Luba, rides the carriage through St Petersburg where she is greeted with a huge crowd of protestors.  She is afraid.  She is worried.  But Sofya and Luba seem to be in denial and have “adopted a curious denial of the flames rising around them.”

       She held me close, her chest heaving with silent sobs, and then handed me a slip of paper.  ‘I’ll write often – letters sent by Fahter’s Ministry mailbag should still get to you fairly quickly in New York.  And if you ever need me immediately, call our number here in the city or in the country, there’s a telephone at the general store in Malinov.  The proprietress Mrs. A. makes sure we get messages.

       “If the mood hits her,” Luba said.

       Sofya removed the glove from her right hand and we made the sign of the cross over each other, as Russian friends did.

       “I’ll miss you, my dear,” I said, my own eyes tearing.

       Sofya handed me a tiny, bright blue charm.  ‘I want you to have this to remember me by.”

       I took the charm, a tiny enamel telegram in French blue.

       “It opens,” Luba said.

       I lifted the tiny flap of the charm, which revealed the French phrase Ne m’oublies pas!

Don’t forget me

Luba leaned in and looked closer at the little telegram.  “Father’s first ever gift to Mother.”

“I can’t take this, Sofya.”

       “Promise you’ll think of writing to me every time you look at it.”

The coachman tapped the ceiling above us with his stick.  “Hurry, madame.  You will miss the train.”    

       By 1916 Sofya, Max, Akon, Luba, their beloved father Ivan, who works in the Finance Ministry, and his wife Agnessa all flee to their country estate Malen Koye Nebo located near the village of Malinov, Russia.   

While there Agnessa visits Fortune Teller with the agreement that if her fortune is told she will hire the Fortune Teller’s daughter Varinka in her own household.   The deal is sealed.  Varinka works as a nanny for Sofya, caring for Max, while hiding her identity and the unbreakable and dangerous relationship she is forced to maintain with Taras, the same man who was one of the bandits who robbed Sofya and injured Eliza’s hand that day on the tram.

       The family senses danger, and (as Varinka watches Max upstairs) sits at the table eating cheese and bread, discussing how they will flee that very night when they are invaded by a group of bandits – the same bandits that robbed Sofya and injured Eliza’s hand on the tram two years before. . . .

      Eliza (Left) suffers unspeakable loss and finds salvation in the Russian immigrants fleeing Russia to America in hopes of a better future.  Eliza does not know if Sofya is dead or alive.  All she knows is she wants to help her; and the only way she can is to help these women, whom she welcomes into her home.  
      Eliza finds  herself fighting for these immigrants even if it means losing her prestigious role in society, one of which is having her membership, a membership her family has held for generations, revoked by the Meadow Club ( Above Right) in Southampton, which causes her to loose her friends and her community.

      All four women begin her own quest:  one to conquer death in order to find sisterhood; one of friendship that is stronger than love; one of motherhood; and the other, a chance at true love.