TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.
Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in 2-3 sentences?
A pinch of white powder, a scorched paper, a community eager
to assign guilt, an apothecary’s imagination, a young girl’s first steps into
the tangles of revenge, a life waiting for her on the other side. Based on the
true story of Betsey Reed, who was accused of poisoning her husband in 1844, The Glassmaker’s Wife is a story of the
contradictions and imperfections of the human heart that lead people to choices
and the consequences they’d do anything to be able to escape.
Which character did you most enjoy creating? Why? And,
which character gave you the most trouble, and why?
I enjoyed the character of Eveline Deal, the hired girl who
told the coroner’s jury she saw Betsey Reed put a pinch of white powder into
her husband’s coffee. I liked finding the complicated layers of Eveline’s
character. She’s fifteen and caught up in Betsey’s glamor while at the same
time overly sensitive to her criticism. This relationship stands at the heart
of the book, and I was interested in what drew Betsey and Eveline together and
what threatened to break them apart. Eveline’s testimony is driven in part by vanity
even though she loves Betsey—dare I say she loves her to death. The challenge
with writing these characters lay in the fact that I was writing about people
who really lived, and I felt an obligation to strike a healthy balance between
what was factually known about them and what I wanted to imagine in the
interest of making a more compelling story.
Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s
road to publication.
This novel has gone through more drafts than probably any of
my other books partly because of how slowly the writing comes when doing a
historical novel—every detail must be authentic—and partly because it took me
awhile to successfully imagine the inner lives of the main characters. The book
was eight years in the making.
What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?
From Isak Dinesen, who said, “Write a little every day,
without hope, without despair.” I love this because it puts the emphasis on the
process rather than on the result. It reminds us to pay attention to what we
love, the moving of words about on the page. If we can do that, the journey
will take us to where we’re meant to be.
My favorite writing advice is “write until something
surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?
I guess what always surprises me: the resilience of love in
the face of all that threatens it, which is to say, Eveline and Betsey each
gets herself into a situation that comes with great consequences, but somehow
love survives. Not without a cost, of course, but Eveline knows, in spite of
the ugliness she wrought, there will always be “the fragile, beautiful charms
of a life.”
How did you find the title of your book?
Betsey Reed was a mysterious woman—a healer, and herbalist,
a great beauty who wore veiled bonnets, and, so some would said, a witch. One
of the liberties I took with fact was to have her married to a glassmaker. That
gave me my title.
Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any
food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)
Since we’re talking about a novel that features glassmaking,
how about I offer the following recipe for making what’s commonly called sugar
glass or candy glass, which is used to decorate sweet treats like Murdered
Cupcakes.
Sugar Glass:
Ingredients
- 2
cups granulated white sugar
- 3/4
cups of water
- 2/3
cups light corn syrup
- flavoring
oil, if desired
Instructions
- In
a medium saucepan add in the sugar, corn syrup, and water.
- Insert
the candy thermometer and bring to a boil. Stir constantly until the
thermometer reaches 300 degrees.
- Once
at 300 degrees, remove from heat and transfer immediately to a baking pan
(lined with parchment paper).
- Allow
it to sit until hardened (about 2 hours on the counter or 30 min in the
freezer). Make sure to cover it while it sits.
- Once
hardened lift the pan up and drop straight down to crack the glass. Repeat
until you have fragments at a desired size.
Murdered Cupcakes:
Ingredients
- ¼
cup Butter or Margarine, room temperature
- ¾
cup granulated Sugar
- 1
egg
- 1-1/4
cups gluten-free Flour mix...I used Bob's Red Mill
- 1-1/2
tsp Baking Powder
- ¼
tsp Salt
- 1
tspn white Vinegar
- ½
cup Milk
- 1
tsp strawberry flavoring
- 5-10
drops red food coloring...for effect
- Some
candy glass and cream cheese icing.
Instructions
- Make
candy glass. Set aside.
- Preheat
oven to 350⁰.
- Place
paper baking cups in 12 muffin tins.
- Cream
the Butter or Margarine and gradually add Sugar.
- Add
egg and beat well. Set aside.
- Combine
dry ingredients and stir.
- Add
⅓ of dry ingredient mixture to butter and sugar mixture, mix.
- Combine
Milk, Vinegar, Food Coloring and Flavoring, and add ⅓ of milk and
flavoring mixture to other mixture, mix well.
- Alternately
add ⅓ of dry ingredients and ⅓ of milk and flavoring, mixing well between
additions.
- Fill
cupcake cups about ½ to ⅔ full.
- Bake
for approximately 12 - 14 minutes.
- Once
cupcakes are baked set them aside to cool. While they cool make the
frosting.
- Frost
cupcakes leaving about 1/2 cup of frosting off to the side.
- In
a microwave safe bowl place the 1/2 cup of unused frosting into the
microwave for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and add in 3-5 drops of
red food dye. Stir smooth.
- Using
a butter knife drip the red frosting on top of the frosted cupcakes to
create blood splatter.
- Stick
in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to allow that to set.
- Remove
from the fridge and insert candy glass into the top of each cupcake. About
three slices fits nice without overwhelming the cupcake.
- Grab
edible blood and drip over the decorated cupcakes.
- Serve!
*****
READ MORE ABOUT THIS PUBLISHER: https://www.dzancbooks.org/
ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: https://www.dzancbooks.org/our-books/glassmakers-wife