The Lavender House in Meuse

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Pub Date 15 Aug 2015 | Archive Date 06 Sep 2016
Gemelli Press | Green Darner Press

Description

Marie Durant Chagall, the well-educated daughter of a wealthy shipping merchant, is living a privileged childhood with her half-sister, Solange, in Marseille when their cultured world is shocked into change with the chaos of World War I.

Feeling restless and a desire to contribute, Marie volunteers as a nurse with the French Red Cross and quickly finds herself embroiled in the brutal, bloody battlefield of Verdun.

Injured both mentally and physically and suffering a severe crise de tristesse sombre, a crisis of black melancholy, Marie eventually returns to life through the unexpected gift from her mother, who had died a few weeks after giving birth to Marie: a house among the lavender fields on the Meuse River, which Marie reluctantly opens up to care for fellow wounded souls.

The Lavender House in Meuse presents an emotional, intriguing, and sensitive account of the crises of World War I and one woman’s journey towards recovery and growth.

Marie Durant Chagall, the well-educated daughter of a wealthy shipping merchant, is living a privileged childhood with her half-sister, Solange, in Marseille when their cultured world is shocked into...


A Note From the Publisher

Book 2 is in the making and hopefully released by the end of 2016

Book 2 is in the making and hopefully released by the end of 2016


Marketing Plan

Green Darner Press Announces Plan for October Release of WWI Nurse’s Trauma Memoir “The Lavender House in Meuse” by Gail Noble-Sanderson


Summary: Kari Hock, Managing Editor of Seattle’s Green Darner Press, has announced plans to release Gail Noble-Sanderson’s “The Lavender House in Meuse” in October of this year. The “past-life-remembered memoir” charts the post-war course of healing taken by a young nurse traumatized by her tragic experiences at the Front during World War I.


Title: The Lavender House in Meuse
Author: Gail Noble-Sanderson
Publisher: Green Darner Press
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: October 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9864390-2-5


Kari Hock, Managing Editor of Seattle’s Green Darner Press, has announced plans to release Gail Noble-Sanderson’s “The Lavender House in Meuse” in October of this year. The novel charts the post-war course of healing taken by a young nurse traumatized by her tragic experiences at the Front during World War I.

“This book will fill an important niche often overlooked in fiction and non-fiction: how Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder affected nurses in our First World War,” said Hock. “Military nurses still suffer this syndrome, making the topic more relevant than ever.”


“Freedom seldom takes us where we thought we were going.”
—The Lavender House in Meuse


Set in France, “The Lavender House in Meuse” traces the journey of Marie Durant Chagall from girlhood to adulthood; from her comfortable home in Marseille with her father and sister to the Front where she pursues her need for independence and service as a young woman; and finally to an inherited, rather isolated, country home by the Meuse River (surrounded by soothing lavender fields) where she seeks to heal, through solitude and nature, from trauma suffered in a bomb attack on her medical facility at The Front. She is not alone for long and soon finds herself caring for recovering soldiers in her new home while trying to process their pain and her own in this post-war setting.


Although the novel will be categorized as “Historical Fiction,” Noble-Sanderson has reason to believe the events actually happened, and the characters portrayed once lived. During a recent interview with book news blogger Marlan Warren (Roadmap Girl’s Book Buzz), Noble-Sanderson stated: “I believe all the characters, settings, dialogue and details are memories.”


Noble-Sanderson went on to explain that she can be in the middle of traffic, watering her garden, doing laundry or fishing on a lake, and “I will remember events, clearly ‘hear’ dialogue, and see the setting vividly in my mind.”


The Seattle-based author added: “I take advantage of those times when the flow of the story—the memories—are most vivid. Then I edit and hone the writing.”


When asked if she intended the story to be “anti-war,” Noble-Sanderson replied that acts of wartime atrocities always result in “wounds and deaths of many sorts, and scars that continue to fester and alter the character of our lives in countless ways.”


“Ultimately I hope readers will come away with an expanded understanding of what life was like for nurses in World War I,” said Noble-Sanderson. “And what the trauma of war can do to an individual, and to a nation, both culturally and emotionally.”


For more info and the full interview: http://roadmapgirlsbookbuzz.blogspot.com


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Sanderson-Noble will present and sign “Lavender House in Meuse” at Village Books in Bellingham, Wash. in early November.


Author Website | http://gailnoblesanderson.com
Contact | Publicist | Marlan Warren | memoircity@gmail.com
Author Facebook | gailnoblesandersonauthor
Goodreads Author Page | Gail Noble Sanderson

Author Event Info:
Village Books
1200 11th Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
Tel: 360.671.2626
800.392.BOOK
www.villagebooks.com

Green Darner Press
9600 Stone Avenue North
Seattle, Washington 98103
www.greendarnerpress.com

Green Darner Press Announces Plan for October Release of WWI Nurse’s Trauma Memoir “The Lavender House in Meuse” by Gail Noble-Sanderson


Summary: Kari Hock, Managing Editor of Seattle’s Green Darner...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9780986439025
PRICE $19.95 (USD)

Average rating from 32 members


Featured Reviews

From the start, I found that I liked the central characters of the story. Marie Durant Chagall and her half- sister, Solange are moving through childhood. They live with their twice widowed father, who is a shipping merchant who works out of Marseilles.

Marie has a lot of respect for both her father and Solange, six years her senior. She is a feisty character and knows her own mind. At the same time she shows a deep family loyalty. This is apparent as she contemplates volunteering as a nurse for the Red Cross during the Great War.

I like the flowing dialogue and the crafting of the personalities. "Let me approach Papa first. You have no chance of winning favor if you storm in and make demands. This requires tact and diplomacy rather than a clash of two strong wills…"

Marie's experience of war and nursing are well written. The physical and emotional scars with which she is left, shape her future. 'No one mentioned Dr. Bisset, Annette or Jeanne. If I did not ask, they would not be obliged to answer.'

The story moves to the post war era and Marie remains troubled by the things she has experienced.
'I later learned that this was…referred to as une crise de tristesse'. The scene moves to her inherited house on the Meuse, near Verdun. "Your mother, Marie. She left you her family's summer home".

I do not wish to spoil the narrative for others. Suffice to say that the voyage of re-discovery for Marie is beautifully described. Although full of self-doubt, she slowly develops a place in the community around the Lavender House.

'The suffocating paralysis I had known lifted fully, replaced by the knowledge that I still had much to offer and much to receive. The seeds had been planted-seeds of abiding friendship and a renewal of self- worth'.

Is the ending a surprise? I'm still not sure. I rate this book very highly. A sensitively written piece of prose.

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