Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Country Of Red Azaleas by Domnica RadulescuThanks to Bailey Donoghue of Twelve Books,I am giving away three print copies of Country Of Red Azaleas by Domnica Radulescu.

DESCRIPTION OF Country Of Red Azaleas by Domnica Radulescu


A riveting novel about two women–one Serbian, one Bosnian–whose friendship spans decades and continents, war and peace, love and estrangement, in the vein of Elena Ferrante and Julia Alvarez. Closer than sisters, Lara and Marija share everything, from stolen fruit and Hollywood movies as girls to ideologies and even lovers as young women. But when the Bosnian War pits their homelands against each other in a bloodbath, Lara and Marija are forced to separate: romantic Lara heads to America with her Hollywood-handsome husband, and fierce Marija goes to her native Sarajevo to combat the war through journalism.

In America, Lara seeks fulfillment through work and family, but when news from Marija ceases, the uncertainty torments Lara, driving her on a quest to find her friend. As Lara travels through war-torn Serbia, following clues that may yet lead to the flesh-and-blood Marija, she must also wrestle with truths about her own identity. Told in lush, vivid prose, COUNTRY OF RED AZALEAS is a poignant testament to both the power of friendship and our ability to find meaning and beauty in the face of devastation. 

PRAISE FOR Country Of Red Azaleas by Domnica Radulescu


This exquisite novel celebrates the bonds of female friendship and  the spirit of women’s resilience and self-invention. A riveting and beautifully written novel, COUNTRY OF RED AZALEAS sheds light on our transcendent human connections in the face of war, exile, and displacement.—Jasmin Darznik, New York Times  bestselling author of The Good Daughter

“A passionate novel of fortitude and friendship . . . With a poetic intelligence and an extraordinary sense of language and history, Radulescu has given us a mesmerizing work, a tribute to the human spirit and its resilience. I loved the novel and did not want it to end.”—Marjorie Agosin, winner of the Gabriela Mistral Medal of Honor & author of I Lived on Butterfly Hill

“COUNTRY OF RED AZALEAS testifies to the resilience of women’s friendships in the aftermath of one of the late twentieth-century’s most horrific conflicts. Well-developed, complex characters, an opulent style, ironic humor, an exotic background brought to life on the page, all contribute to a moving, spellbinding tale of love and survival.”—Linda Álvarez, author of Every Hidden Fear, and finalist for the International Latino Book Award

ABOUT Domnica RadulescuCountry Of Red Azaleas by Domnica Radulescu


 Domnica Radulescu is a distinguished professor of French and Italian literature at Washington and Lee University, a Fulbright scholar, and an award-winning playwright. She escaped the Communist dictatorship in her native Romania in 1983 and settled in the United States as a political refugee. Radulescu is also the author of Train to Trieste, which won the Library of Virginia Fiction Award.

GIVEAWAY OF Country Of Red Azaleas by Domnica Radulescu


This giveaway is open to the U.S. only and ends on April 22, 2016 at 12 am pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

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Madwoman UpstairsThanks to Courtney Brach of Touchstone Publicity, I am giving away one print copy of The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

Description of Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell


In this smart and enthralling debut in the spirit of The Weird Sisters and Special Topics in Calamity Physics, the only remaining descendant of the Brontë family embarks on a modern-day literary scavenger hunt to find the family’s long-rumored secret estate, using clues her eccentric father left behind.

Samantha Whipple is used to stirring up speculation wherever she goes. As the last remaining descendant of the Brontë family, she’s rumored to have inherited a vital, mysterious portion of the Brontë’s literary estate; diaries, paintings, letters, and early novel drafts; a hidden fortune that’s never been shown outside of the family.

But Samantha has never seen this rumored estate, and as far as she knows, it doesn’t exist. She has no interest in acknowledging what the rest of the world has come to find so irresistible; namely, the sudden and untimely death of her eccentric father, or the cryptic estate he has bequeathed to her.

But everything changes when Samantha enrolls at Oxford University and bits and pieces of her past start mysteriously arriving at her doorstep, beginning with an old novel annotated in her father’s handwriting. As more and more bizarre clues arrive, Samantha soon realizes that her father has left her an elaborate scavenger hunt using the world’s greatest literature. With the aid of a handsome and elusive Oxford professor, Samantha must plunge into a vast literary mystery and an untold family legacy, one that can only be solved by decoding the clues hidden within the Brontë’s own writing.

A fast-paced adventure from start to finish, this vibrant and original novel is a moving exploration of what it means when the greatest truth is, in fact, fiction.

About Catherine Lowell


Catherine Lowell

(c) Karolina Novitska

Catherine Lowell received her BA in Creative Writing from Stanford University, where she was awarded the Mary Steinbeck Dekker Award for Fiction and received two Stanford University Arts Grants.

Giveaway of Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell


This giveaway is open to Canada and the U.S. and ends on March 18, 2016 12 am pacific time.  Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

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Giveaway: Eulogy By Ken Murray

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on December 12, 2015
Posted in My Past Giveaways  | Tagged With: , | 3 Comments

Ken MurrayThanks to Amanda Harkness of Meryl Moss Media, I am giving away one print copy of ‘Eulogy’ By Ken Murray.

Description of Eulogy By Ken Murray


The controlled and calm life of William Oaks is shattered when his parents die suddenly in a car crash. A reclusive paper conservator at a renowned Toronto museum, William must face the obsessions and denials that have formed him: delusional family history, religious fundamentalism, living with unhappy parents who are constantly bickering, forced starvation, secrets and get-rich-quick schemes. Memory and facts collide, threatening to derail his life and career as William feverishly prepares for an important exhibition on the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Ken Murray’s powerfully written debut novel, EULOGY (Tightrope Books) explores an unusual, Rapture-obsessed fundamentalist Christian family that places all of its hopes on catastrophic destruction. The only offspring of a sad marriage, William practices self-flagellation, since being disappointed with salvation was a damnable sin, and experiences tremendous self-doubt because of his upbringing. Murray writes, “When the timbers of your house are cemented with bullshit, you ignore the smell and hope for the bullshit to hold.” He hides in his lonely, quiet world away from other humans, but is it enough to survive his traumatic upbringing?

About Ken MurryKen Murray


KEN MURRAY is a writer and teacher of creative writing. His work has also appeared in Prairie FireGlobe and MailMendacity ReviewBrooklyn RailOttawa CitizenCanadian Business MagazineMaclean’s, and has also been published by the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (through the Random House of Canada Student Award in Writing). While earning his MFA at The New School, he also trained as a teaching artist with the Community Word Project and taught with Poets House.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the inaugural Marina Nemat Award and the Random House Award, and received an Emerging Artist’s Grant from the Toronto Arts Council. Originally from Vancouver, Murray grew up in Ottawa and has lived across Canada and in New York City. He now divides his time between Prince Edward County and Haliburton Ontario, and teaches at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies and Haliburton School of the Arts.

Giveaway of Eulogy By Ken Murray


This giveaway is open to Canada and the U.S. and ends on December 31, 2015 at midnight pacific. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway