When we were getting ready to release Bryony back in 2011, my daughter Sarah (who did a lot of the marketing for me) suggested I pull thirty teaser quotes from the book that she could post on Facebook, one each day.
JOHN SIMONS
CHAPTER
1: ONE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS
With a grim smile and involuntary shudder, Lucetta lined up the leftovers for the ice box The rest of the country avoided Granny, and the girls had made her the wicked witch in every childhood story they ever invented, the crone from which every jealous suitor solicited potions to claim the heart of his beloved. Still, for all of her eccentricities, no abode matched Granny's in cleanliness. No scraps of any kind. Everything went into the garden.
CHAPTER
2: TASTING IMMORTALITY
Long before John approached his father's height, he had learned the secret of his father's influence and prominence: money and plenty of it. One decided advantage to perceiving Abbot as God the Father was it made John the beloved son, with each servant underneath the roof of the Beaux Arts structure catering to John's every quirk and caprice.
CHAPTER
3: KEYS TO HEAVEN
"Your family is perfectly divine. So is this inn...and the food! I can't recall the last time I supped so well. How do you leave such paradise?"
John snapped off a low-hanging branch and dragged it through the weeds. "Connecticut is a passing amusement, nothing more."
"Well, Master John, perhaps growing up with such delights makes you numb to them."
"You need to get out more, Helsby."
CHAPTER
4: MAID TO ORDER
Nora's eyes met John's; her despairing tears begged for mercy and absolution. Impervious to her plight, John once again turned to the main staircase, hoping Janie had prepared a decent lunch before his father had discarded her.
Yet, as John partook of the steak
and kidney pie and contemplated his sonata in progress, the image of the
disgraced Nora kept breaking into his concentration and spoiling his meal. The
parlor maid received what she deserved, yet sharp claws picked at his
conscience, spoiling the serenity of the sunny afternoon. One good thing
resulted, however, and in this John took immense satisfaction.
Nora wasn’t laughing anymore.
CHAPTER
5: POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
She rambled on how her husband manipulated the inner workings of the railroad system to his financial advantage, while John admired her animation, made all the brighter each time she uttered, "Warren," and Savannah uttered it often.
CHAPTER
6: SHEDDING THE COCOON
Herbert broke the silence by saying, "Mr. Smythe, I believe it's your turn."
The short and shrunken Bartholomew
Smythe grasped his sheet with shaking hands, and read in a raspy voice,
"Describe Mrs. Rutherford's wedding gown."
A murmur spread through the room,
and all feminine eyes turned on Herbert, who accepted another cocktail from the
tray as his butler made the rounds, and took a sip.
"I never noticed the
gown," Herbert said smoothly. "Only her radiance."
CHAPTER
7: MUSIC HALLS AND GARBAGE CANS
The first lesson was inside another tenement apartment, not far from Hewes Music Hall. The children, a girl and two boys, along with their parents, were busy rolling cigarettes. This was no small operation; as a group, they turned out thousands each week, which the oldest boy sold on the streets as fast as the rest of the crew made them. It was this boy, Jake Haunch, about thirteen, who was John's pupil. When John entered the room, Jake dropped his work like a hot potato and hurried to the ancient piano, the family's most treasured possession.
CHAPTER 8: ONE FOR THE MEMORY BOOKS
"How
did you glean my style from a short burst of questions?"
"I didn't," Henry's eyes
twinkled as he tasted his own drink. "I was in the audience last
night."
"You never mentioned that was
your plan."
"It wasn't my plan," Henry
coolly returned. "And you didn't ask."
CHAPTER
9: THE CONTRACT
"Who is it?" John called out.
A pair of red eyes stared back. A
form took shape in the gloom. Out stepped a man, his sleek hair and goatee
blacker than his top hat and cloak.
"I am the devil," the stranger
replied with a faint German accent.
He was simply an eccentric and John had met plenty of that type during these last years. With a tip of his hat, John sarcastically said, "A pleasant evening to you, sir," and turned toward the fire escape, but the stranger was now walking down the stairs in John's direction and examining him with a studious air. John stopped short, wondering how the man had moved so quickly, until the stranger stood before him, leaned closed, and sniffed his neck.
"Do you not fear me?" the stranger murmured, his gaze flitting over John's face.
"No.
"My very sight doesn't chill your blood?"
John attempted to move past, but the
stranger grasped the rail, barring John's way. "Mr. Simons, do you know
who I am?"
"No and don't really
care."
CHAPTER
10: CROSSING THE RUBICON
On Sunday, John climbed to the choir loft of that Federal-style edifice and took his seat at the organ, one of the earliest sources of music from John's long-ago childhood, and John's first experience at awe, for the organ had cost fifteen thousand dollars at the time of its purchase in eighteen sixty-eight. As the Latin hymns reverberated off the plaster walls, John's spirit soared higher than the ceilings, knowing his father was facing the gold-leaf screen behind the altar, standing as proud as the marble statues, and loathing every note.
No comments:
Post a Comment