HARDWICK – Area author Brett Stanciu will celebrate the publication of her new novel, “Call it Madness,” Tuesday, June 30 at 7 p.m., in the Parker Ladd Community Room at the Jeudevine Memorial Library, co-hosted by the Galaxy Bookshop.
Stanciu provided a brief preview of what readers can anticipate with her return to fiction, “The second book that I wrote was “Unstitched,” and that was a nonfiction book about addiction in this area, and that was a really, really hard book to write. And so I wanted to return to fiction, to my love of fiction. And while addiction does come up in this novel, it’s not really at the heart of this novel, this novel is really a story about seeking out family secrets.”
Her third novel and return to the fiction category, Stanciu said of the creative process, “I think it’s very different. In “Unstiched,”. . . there’s two braided themes that go through it: The nonfiction story of where we live, and then also my own story. “Call It Madness,” is a novel, and so there’s a story arc that goes through it. It’s a very different thing, because it is all fiction. It’s all made up.
“The millennial heroine, Avah Lavoie, believes her life has reached a dull dead-end. Then, unexpectedly, her estranged mother phones with news of her great-grandfather’s death. Avah sets out in her Toyota Matrix for an inherited ramshackle Vermont house. She’s fiercely determined to understand how her life was shaped by buried family secrets: a sawmill accident, a mother who overdosed, a missing father,” said Stanciu.
“This third book delves into my fullest range as a writer and a woman, digging at the thorniness of life while also reveling in the world’s serendipitous beauty.”
Stanciu will discuss the work as well as read from it at the June 30 event. “I am going to read for a little bit, and then we’re gonna eat cake and enjoy ourselves,” she confirmed with a smile.
“I look at the book as, like, a good story to read during the summer, because it takes place during the winter. It’s a very wintry book. It’s a very Vermont book, and it’s a story very much seeking family, which is also pretty much a Vermont story as well, too.”
For more information on Stanciu’s previous works, “Hidden View” and “Unstitched,”,visit regalhousepublishing.com
Raymonda Parchment is a Hardwick Gazette reporter. She recently graduated from Vermont State University - Castleton with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She is a strong supporter of freedom of speech, and the right to publish information, opinions, and ideas without censorship or restraint. She is a lifelong lover of the written word, and is excited to join the team as a staff member.
