A Bookchat about The Wings of Poppy Pendleton with Melanie Dobson.

About the author

Writing fiction is  Melanie Dobson’s excuse to immerse herself in the past by reading old books, interviewing new friends, and exploring fascinating places around the world. She is the award-winning author of almost thirty historical, time-slip, and romantic suspense novels. 

Melanie received her undergraduate degree in journalism from Liberty University and her master’s degree in communication from Regent University. When she’s not writing, Melanie enjoys teaching at writer’s events and as an adjunct professor.

Melanie Dobsonlives with her husband Jon in the Pacific Northwest. They have two daughters and enjoy traveling, hiking, and serving together in their community.

About the book

In this compelling new time-slip mystery, a little girl goes missing from her family’s castle in the Thousand Islands of New York. Eighty-five years later, a journalist teams up with a woman living on Koster Isle to find out what happened to Poppy.

1907. On the eve of her fifth birthday, Poppy Pendleton is tucked safely in her bed, listening to her parents entertain New York’s gilded society in their Thousand Islands castle; the next morning, she is gone, and her father is found dead in his smoking room.

1992. Though Chloe Ridell lives in the shadows of Poppy’s ruined castle, she has little interest in the mystery that still captivates tourists and locals alike. She is focused on preserving the island she inherited from her grandparents and reviving their vintage candy shop. Until the day a girl named Emma shows up on Chloe’s doorstep, with few possessions, save a tattered scrapbook that connects her to the Pendleton family. When a reporter arrives at Chloe’s store, asking questions about her grandfather, Chloe decides to help him dig into a past she’d thought best left buried. The haunting truth about Poppy, they soon discover, could save Emma’s life. Chloe and Logan must work together to investigate exactly what happened long ago on Koster Isle.

Questions

  1. With autumn bringing the start of football season, as well as baseball’s World Series, I’m wondering if you enjoy watching or playing any sports. (If not at all, feel free to talk about another activity/hobby you enjoy.) 🙂 
  2. Your bio mentions that your professional writing began with journalism. How do you think that influences your fiction writing?
  3. I saw on your website that you were an avid reader as a child. What is a favorite book written for young readers that still sticks with you today (and why)?
  4. Is there anything interesting that you haven’t covered in other interviews that you could share with us, or is there something God has laid on your heart that you would like to share with your readers?
  5. Was your novel inspired by a real-life unsolved disappearance, or did something else spark the idea?
  6. What cool tidbits of history did you discover while looking at New York’s high society in the early twentieth century?
  7. So the blurb gives us a touch of Chloe’s backstory–she’s inherited a candy shop from her grandparents–but all we know of Logan is that he’s a reporter. What brings him to investigate Chloe’s grandfather and the tragedy of Poppy Pendleton?
  8. What is next for you, book-wise?

Connect with Melanie via newsletter, Book Bub, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Episode 12: Guest Misty M. Beller & a Review of The Curator’s Daughter

Interview: Misty M. Beller is a USA Today bestselling author of romantic mountain stories, set on the 1800s frontier and woven with the truth of God’s love. She shares her love for potato casserole (aka shepherd’s pie,) the mountains, and her novel Courage in the Mountain Wilderness (which is currently free on Kindle Unlimited.)

Pinch of the Past: With July 4th, right around the corner in the US I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the American political writings from before 1776, showing how the thought of the day finally grew into Jefferson’s monumental document. 

Bookworm Review: The Curator’s Daughter by Melanie Dobson. If you love stories that delve into World War II through the eyes of a German SS officer’s wife, if you find inspiration in the lost and found pieces of people’s lives and how God knits them back together, The Curator’s Daughter is the book for you.

The Curator’s Daughter by Melanie Dobson

About the Book

1940. Hanna Tillich cherishes her work as an archaeologist for the Third Reich, searching for the Holy Grail and other artifacts to bolster evidence of a master Aryan race. But when she is reassigned to work as a museum curator in Nuremberg, then forced to marry an SS officer and adopt a young girl, Hanna begins to see behind the Nazi facade. A prayer labyrinth becomes a storehouse for Hanna’s secrets, but as she comes to love Lilly as her own daughter, she fears that what she’s hiding–and what she begins to uncover–could put them both in mortal danger,

Eighty years later, Ember Ellis is a Holocaust researcher intent on confronting hatred toward the Jewish people and other minorities. She reconnects with a former teacher on Martha’s Vineyard after she learns that Mrs. Kiehl’s mother once worked with the Nazi Ahnenerbe. And yet, Mrs. Kiehl describes her mother as “a friend to the Jewish people.” Wondering how both could be true, Ember helps Mrs. Kiehl regain her fractured childhood memories of World War II while at the same time confronting the heartache of her own secret past–and the person who wants to silence Ember forever.

The Review

Melanie Dobson’s book The Curator’s Daughter is a heart wrenching yet inspiring read.

The modern day character Ember is shrouded in mystery so the unraveling of her traumatic past as well as that of her past romance, is fascinating. 

Hannah, the main female character in WW2 Germany is troubled–typical of one living in war time. Her struggle to do what is right amidst the ravishment of her country and the expulsion and murder of Jewish people is heart wrenching to read.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

About the Author

Melanie is the award-winning author of more than twenty historical romance, suspense, and time-slip novels. Five of her novels, Memories of Glass, Chateau of Secrets, Catching the WindThe Silent Order and Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa, have received Carol Awards. Catching the Wind received the Inspirational Fiction Audie Award in 2018 and was nominated for a Christy Award in historical fiction. The Black Cloister, her novel about a dangerous cult, was named the ForeWord Religious Fiction Book of the Year.


Episode 5: Guest Melanie Dobson & a Review of All Through the Night

Join us for a chat with award-winning author, Melanie Dobson. You’ll enjoy hearing this delightful historical and time-slip author share about her experience with adoption, her latest release, and more. Find out more about Melanie and her latest release, The Curator’s Daughter, on her website MelanieDobson.com

A Pinch of the Past presents a few interesting historical tidbits about a general, queen, wrestler turned president, and a female sniper. You just never know what you’ll find when you look into history beyond what we read in textbooks.

Our Bookworm Review brings you Tara Johnson’s January release, All Through the Night. You can find our interview with Tara on episode 3 of the Historical Bookworm Show. For more on Tara, go to her website TaraJohnsonStories.com