Last November I attended the Words and Music Literary Conference put on by the Faulkner-Wisdom Association as I had been chosen as a finalist for their Novel-In -Progress Competition. Mid-January I finished the rewrite and in early February I was contacted by Pat Walsh from MacAdam/Cage publishers to send my entire manuscript. Two weeks later they made an offer. The Coffee Diary will be the debut novel for their winter line-up. It should be in the bookstores by March of 2010.
Here is the synopsis of the story:
Two years after her father’s brutal murder, Veronica Villagran returns to Guatemala to decide whether to sell her family’s coffee farms to Moyuta’s corrupt mayor. While looking through the abandoned home she stumbles across her teen diary. The entries rekindle memories from the year she was fourteen including festivities, traditions, and in particular the day her illegitimate half-brother was thrust on her father by the boy’s grandmother, a poor villager. This event traumatized the family, forever linking them to the future Mayor Jaime.
Jaime Ramirez, born into a lower class, turned to illegal activities along with his buddies, Chico Negro and Montaña Ocho, as a way to break the endless cycle of poverty. Having gained wealth, he becomes mayor of the small town of Moyuta. Yearning for respectability in a classist society, he believes owning property will be the solution and is determined to have Veronica’s farm at any cost. Family and friends warn Veronica against him and advise her to carry a gun.
Veronica finds herself caught in a web of deceit. Her great-uncle Carlos, caretaker of her farms, has stolen profits from them. Chico Negro enlists him to inform on Veronica’s activities. She discovers her half-brother Juan José is Jaime’s nephew. Furious, she immediately thinks he conspires against her, but discovers that this link may be her opportunity to keep her properties.
In time, her relationship with Mayor Jaime changes as she discovers he is not the villain she believed him to be. Veronica’s half brother negotiates a plan to both enable Veronica to keep her farms and the mayor to shed his increasingly violent henchmen. Things go wrong during the enactment when the mayor’s men discover his motives and murder him. Ironically Jaime’s death saves Veronica from a terrible end.
Wish you good luck. Keep going.
Wow. It sure gives me a better understanding to the love and passion you have previously expressed to the farm, your family and the workers. I am very glad to be supporting your cause. If I can be of assistance to your family here in my state (you know where I am), please let me know. Warmest regards, Brian & Kathy
When you told me last week it has been about 10 years, since we first met and I have been purchasing your coffee, I couldn’t believe it. I am anxiously awaiting the novel. It is a privilege to know you! I hope you will make it to Canada for a book signing.
Wendy
Though the theme could take place in almost any local, it almost appears to be a proprietary condition of Moyuta. I am looking forward to reading the book and meeting the characters.