Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: The Girl From the Lighthouse by Willard Thompson

Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for The Girl From the Lighthouse by Willard Thompson. This tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt as well as a guest post. There's also a tour wide giveaway. Be sure to check out the other stops on the tour for more excerpts, guest posts, interviews, reviews, and more. Enjoy!

Title: The Girl From the Lighthouse

Author: Willard Thompson

Publication Date: March 20th 2019

Genre: Historical Literary Romance

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The Girl From the Lighthouse tells the compelling story of Emma Dobbins.

Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she was raised by her father, a lighthouse keeper at Point Conception in California, where early on she discovers her artistic talent. At the age of 17, Emma travels to Paris with a chaperone, to attend art school but is separated from the chaperone when the woman becomes ill. Emma arrives alone in Paris with no money, no language skills, and no friends. A chance meeting with a young working girl in the train station becomes her first Parisian friend.

The setting is Paris in the 1860s-70s, the start of the Belle Èpoque. France soon is involved in the Franco/Prussian War and the Commune Uprising; difficult times for Emma and all Frenchmen. Initially rejected by art schools, her determination keeps her moving toward her goal in the art world, where the Impressionists are starting to change the world. Frenchmen fall in love with her beautiful face and lustrous dark hair. Some wanted to paint her, others to court her, but either way, she does not abide by the rules they try to impose on her because she never learned them. She grows into an accomplished artist but never gives up her own principles... even when someone steals something precious to her and she fights to get it back.

The story is told in the first person, present tense, allowing the reader to enter the story and feel a part of it as it unfolds, sharing with Emma her highs and lows, loves and rejections, all focused in the art world of Paris. The novel is filled with vivid characters, both fictional and real people, and the story unfolds gracefully from the 1870s until 1912, just prior to the start of WWI.

Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Book Depository * IndieBound * Kobo

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EXCERPT:

"It's been several months," I tell Berthe Morisot, "and I still copy with pad and pencil and sometimes watercolors. I think I have learned a great deal, but I'm still not ready for oils."

"You should try," she encourages me. "Jacque-Louis David is a good artist for you to copy. His portraits are beautifully executed, especially the one of Madame Recamier you are working on. Portraits like that are the kind of commissions you are likely to get when you are ready."

"How so?"

"There is always demand for portraits of wives and children that are best done by women artists."

I study the wine in my glass, using the pause to consider Berthe's recommendation. "I hope to paint landscapes one day," I tell her.

"Difficult for a woman," she replies. "Traveling alone to paint a landscape is often..." She pauses, "How do I say, looked down upon? There are not many buyers for the work of a woman landscape artist.

"I want to be free to paint whatever I want."

She cuts a slice of cheese from the wedge on her plate and adds it to a piece of baguette before taking a sip from her glass. She looks at me with her doleful dark eyes the whole time. "That can be difficult," she says at last. "Consider your decision carefully. It is easier for us to paint in a boudoir than side-by-side in a world with men." She pauses again and picks at a piece of ham.

Feeling frustrated, and looking for a response that won't offend my friend, I stab my fork at a mushroom. "It seems to me women in Paris have only limited freedom. Do you find it that way, Berthe?"

"I have never thought much about it, but yes, I do. It's just the way life is for women.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Willard Thompson is an award-winning historical fiction and romance writer living in Montecito, California with his wife Jo. His newest historical romance, THE GIRL FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE was published in early 2019. His previously published three novels of historical fiction DREAM HELPER DELFINA'S GOLD, and THEIR GOLDEN DREAMS are part of his CHRONICLES OF CALIFORNIA trilogy. The Independent Publishers 2009 Book Awards selected DREAM HELPER for a gold medal as the best fiction in the Western/Pacific Region.

Thompson is a past president of the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. He is a native of Manhasset, New York and a graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

Website * Amazon * Blog * Goodreads

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GUEST POST:

- If you could visit any moment in history what would it be and why?

Writing The Girl from the Lighthouse, I became fascinated by the history of France. France has gone through so many different beautiful and difficult times. From the 16th and 17th century monarchs, wars and the persecutions of protestants, the reign of Louis XIV, the French Revolution, and Napoleon's conquest of Europe, there isn't a period of history that wasn't filled with drama and excitement. But I choose Paris in the second half of the 19th century as my favorite time. That's why I wrote my novel that takes a young woman from California and thrusts her into the exciting Parisian world of the 1870s.

The last quarter of the 1800s is often called the Belle Èpoque, the beautiful time. And beautiful it certainly was. Under Emperor Napoleon III, the original Napoleon's nephew, Paris was being rebuilt from a dirty, rat-infested city of slum dwellings into the beautiful modern city we know today. There was a lot of disruption, of course, poorer citizens were driven out of the heart of Paris, but in the end, Paris had wider streets with parks and handsome new buildings, tree-lined boulevards, hundreds of bistros and cafés, and better water and sewer systems. It also had a group of young artists that would soon capture the world's attention as the Impressionists.

But there was also a dark side to Paris at this same time. The miss-guided emperor declared war on Prussia in 1870, and was almost immediately soundly trounced, not to mention sent into exile by the Prussian army. That army didn't stop with a victory; it marched on Paris and strangled the city in a siege that starved the people. Horses and zoo animals were slaughtered for food, not to mention dogs and cats, and possibly many sewer rats. What followed after France surrendered was an even uglier conflict called the Paris Commune Uprising, when Frenchmen fought Frenchmen in bloody skirmishes, and as many as 20,000 were killed.

My protagonist, Emma Dobbins, experienced all this and more. In pursuit of an art education, she painted alongside many of the Impressionists and also posed for them. She modeled gorgeous evening gowns designed by Charles Frederick Worth, the leading fashion designer of the day. And she rode in a hot air balloon as a guest of Sarah Bernhardt, the world-famous actress. She attended L'Opera on the arm of handsome young men, went to theaters and restaurants with others, attended the horse races at Longchamp Racecourse, and was invited to many soirées and salons where she rubbed shoulders with the haute bourgeoisie of Paris. She was courted by several handsome young Frenchmen, one of whom was one of France's richest men. So why wouldn't I pick Paris in the 1870s as one of my favorite historical periods and write a novel about it?

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GIVEAWAY:

Willard Thompson will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter after the tour. Be sure to leave a comment on a different tour stop each day to increase your chance of winning. You can find a list of blogs participating in the tour here. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway