One of the problems – or, perhaps, the best things – about Gothic Horror is that it does tend to be sad. Usually, there are at least one or two characters who don’t deserve whatever is happening to them, or who have done something which is being punished in a way which does not in any way fit the crime. M.R. James’s writing is perhaps a constant reiteration of the old proverb, “curiosity killed the cat”, but curiosity in itself isn’t a bad thing; while Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula finds himself in the initial dangerous situation through no fault of his own. Perhaps the saddest story in this anthology is The Lady Who Dances in the Ashes , which was first published by Sley House in Tales of Sley House 2022 . Here is the story of a man who is facing professional and financial ruin as a result of suggesting that mental health patients can be treated in the community rather than institutionalised. He is one of the most sympathetic narrators you will find in the book, but he bad...
This week for #HistFicThursdays, I'm delighted to be teaming up with The Coffee Pot Book Club to shine a spotlight on Jerry Madden's fabulous book, Steel Valley: Coming of Age in the Ohio Valley in the 1960s!
So, let's meet the book...
For readers of The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni
and Last Summer Boys by Bill Rivers
Love is never easy...even in easier times, like the 1950s
and 1960s in the Ohio Valley with the steel industry booming.
Second-generation immigrant families were reaching for
the American middle class. And Catholic schools-made feasible by selfless
Catholic nuns-promised bigger lives for everyone, including Jack Clark and
Laurie Carmine. As they spent years searching for their separate futures,
though, they were also stumbling toward love just as their world came crashing
down.
Steel Valley depicts a story of love longed for, lost, and perhaps still within reach, just as our nation's mythic yesterday became our troubled today, our last summer of innocence.
You can buy Steel Valley via this Universal Link!
Now, let's meet the author:
Jerry Madden grew up in the Upper Ohio Valley in the 1960s. He holds a B.A. from the College of Steubenville and law degrees from the University of Dayton School of Law and the Georgetown University Law Center. After law school, Jerry served as the sole law clerk to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio, C. William O'Neill. He served in the United States Marine Corps (R) between 1970 and 1976.
Jerry has practiced law in Washington, D.C., since 1979, including fourteen years at the Department of Justice as a trial and appellate attorney. He is the principal of The Madden Law Group PLLC in Washington, D.C.
He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Cyndi, a retired educator. They have two children, Kelsey and Jack, both of whom hold M.Ed. degrees. They have one grandchild, Jamie Maclennan.
You can find Jerry on these links:
To follow the rest of the Steel Valley tour, click on the banner below:
Thank you very much for hosting Jerry Madden with his novel, Steel Valley, today.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club