Guest post with Connie May Fowler, with a special message about the power of the written word

Friends, the day has arrived! Amidst the insanity of launching her newest (and most excellent) book, How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly, Connie May Fowler has graciously agreed to spend a little time with us today. What touched me more than anything, and proof of this lady's gigantic heart, is that in sharing her passion and mission with us, she forgot to promote Clarissa! I told her that she could leave that up to me. If you have not read my review of her most amazing work yet, please click on the link above! At this point, I will turn it over to Connie:


Tonight, I’m finally going to meet the fabulous Sandy Nawrot. She’s fabulous not because she’s a fan of my work (for that I deeply love her), but because she is a stalwart believer in books. She knows that books change lives and that reading is an essential component to being a happy, healthy, successful person. Through this blog and by getting involved in community literacy projects, Sandy backs up her belief with action.

So it is particularly apt that Sandy and I will—after a couple of years of email correspondence—meet in the flesh at Reading Between the Wines, an annual fundraiser for the Adult Literacy League of Central Florida. According to the League’s website, “One in every five Central Florida adults reads at or below the 5th grade level . . . Parents with low literacy skills have trouble reading to their children and many don’t even try. Sadly, the literacy levels of children are strongly linked to the educational levels of their parents.”

As a child no older than four, I understood the soul-saving properties of the written word. We were desperately poor and my parents, paralyzed by their failures and dashed dreams, fought every night. My sister and I huddled in our small bedroom and—in an effort to block out their angry voices—she read to me.

I escaped from my family’s violence by disappearing into books. In the fictive world, I found role models. I discovered that there was a different kind of life out there and it was one that I wanted. I perceived—even among the ruins that defined my childhood—something my parents’ had long lost: hope.

My father died when I was six. His death propelled my mother into a quagmire of depression and anger from which she would never recover. She turned on her children, spewing hate, filling us with shame, and leaving both physical and mental scars. Still, I am loathe to blame her; she came from a long line of battered women, and I believe that the generational abuse culminated with her, exacting its greatest toll yet: a penchant toward child abuse. My lingering regret is that when my mother was at her best, she was brimming with intelligence, humor, and potential. But it wasn’t enough to save her.

Through it all—the curses, the name-calling, the belittlement, the beatings—I sought refuge and found it, time and again, in tales told by authors I would never meet but always love. Without books, I do not believe I would be alive today.

And that is why I am taking this opportunity as a guest blogger on Sandy’s site, to ask each of you to put books into the hands of children. I urge you to buy everything from picture books to young adult novels and donate them to your local domestic violence shelter. The children in shelter have witnessed unspeakable acts of terror committed by a parent they love. They bear guilt that they could not stop the violence and heal the battered parent. Notions of safety and happiness—notions many of us take for granted—are skewed in children who come from this background. We need to help them because, simply put, they deserve better. And it’s so easy. One of our daily mantras should be "Give a kid a book".

I am living proof that a child whose family is wracked with violence can find her way out of the darkness one word, one paragraph, one page, one book at a time.

~~~Connie May Fowler


I am not ashamed to admit that Connie's message brought tears to my eyes. As someone who has read her memoir, and read the nearly autobiographical "Before Women Had Wings", I was aware of Connie's childhood. But knowing how books became her motivation for a better life, and how she gives back by sharing her gift with us, I'm so deeply touched.

So here is my promise to myself and to you. Every time I buy a book for myself, my kids or for someone else, I will match it with one for a child. In addition, in the purging of my kids' bookshelves (which is WAY overdue), all donations will find a home with the local battered women's shelter.

The story of how I initially happened upon Connie's books is a tale for another day, but suffice it to say that I believe she was put in my path for a reason. I believe THIS is the reason. There can be no more important mission.

How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly - Connie May Fowler

I doubt there is a living, breathing follower of my blog out there that doesn't know I am a huge fan of Connie May Fowler. In 2009, I consumed everything she had published, and delighted in watching her evolve as a writer...from some of the darker works of her earlier days (Sugar Cage, Before Women Had Wings), to her cathartic memoir When Katie Wakes, to the lighter, ethereal novels of Remembering Blue and The Problem with Murmur Lee.

You will understand then, why I was indescribably excited when Connie contacted me late in 2009 and offered me the opportunity to review her upcoming book, How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly. The only downside in the whole scenario was that I would have to sit on it for three months, squirming to let the cat out of the bag! This book isn't just brilliant, it is a wild ride a mile above the ground that takes us flying right along beside Clarissa. It is also obvious to me that Connie is having one heck of a lot of fun.

Clarissa Burden is a woman on the edge. She is an acclaimed author, but has a bad case of writer's block. She is married to a detestable, chauvinistic artist that shamelessly draws (and sleeps with) nude models. In fact, Clarissa has frequent fantasies of the various ways she might kill the bastard. Pulled down by insecurities instilled in her childhood, she assumes all bad things in life are her fault. But deep down in Clarissa, there is a slow burn that is about to erupt.

On the summer solstice of 2006 (coincidentally my 40th birthday - how cool is that?) we hang with Clarissa, and watch her journey of self-discovery and awakening. She doesn't travel down what we would consider the expected, traditional path however. She almost haplessly wanders around her rural, northern Florida town, receiving subtle inspiration from a housefly, her internal voices (called the ovarian shadow women, assuming the personalities of Bea Arthur, Christiane Amanpour, the Wicked Witch of the West and Ethel Merman), a soft-hearted, one-eyed, slightly dude-ish fisherman, a handsome writing colleague, a used car salesman, a fallen angel, an abandoned cemetery full of forgotten women's souls, and the spirits of a murdered family who once lived in Clarissa's house.

Ha! Did you do a double take? I did too. One might assume this is your typical "woman busting out of her chains and becoming empowered" kind of yarn, but it's not. She does an uncanny job of taking you to a place where Everywoman has been. You know, down in the muck that threatens never to let go, where you question yourself and are scared to let yourself be beautiful. But at the same time, Connie takes it to a spiritual, other-worldly place, introducing a very unexpected and precious supernatural element.

As if I thought Connie May Fowler couldn't get any better, or move me any more than she already has! She doesn't just fly, she soars, and she took me with her.

5 out of 5 stars

The Adult Literacy League needs your help!

Because of my love for books, it's probably not surprising to hear that when I volunteer my hours for a cause, it is usually is linked to literature in some form or fashion. I think most of us bibliophiles are like this. I have run the Scholastic Book Fair for the last two years at the kids' school, I work in the school library once a week, and there is my latest project, The Adult Literacy League.

The Adult Literacy League will be hosting their annual fundraiser in early April. It is called "Reading Between the Wines" (how perfect is that?), where there will be wine tasting, a silent auction, and two featured authors. You want to guess the name of one of the authors? Connie May Fowler! Did this event have my name on it, or what? Connie will obviously be promoting her new book, which will be officially released on April 2, "How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly" (which I have read by the way, and loved with all my heart). I hope I don't make a fool of myself when I meet her, because as you know, she is at the top of my list.

But I digress. So where am I going with this? Why do I need your help? Well, I've been charged with collecting as many author-signed books as I can for the silent auction. Any books are welcome...young adult, children's books, adult books, cookbooks. If anyone reading this post has an author-signed book, or knows of someone who has access to author-signed books, a donation would be so greatly appreciated for this worthy cause. The Adult Literacy League and I would be forever in your debt. If you can help, please contact me at rnawrot@cfl.rr.com, or leave me a comment with a contact.

Thank you all in advance for your help and contribution to the love of reading!

A Bountiful Friday!

It is Black Friday, and I have no intention of getting anywhere near a shopping mall. My plans today were to drop my daughter off at a friend's, then clean my house (my son is thrilled). I just happened to stop by my mailbox on my way out, and I found it FULL of stuff. A few bills, some flyers, but most importantly, three books. Normally I don't participate in mailbox memes, but people, I just couldn't help myself. Here is what I received:



From my friend C.B. James @ Ready When You Are, C.B. sent me his copy of "The Drinker" by Hans Fallada, which he recently reviewed. We both read and loved Fallada's Every Man Dies Alone (my review here and his review here), and he graciously offered me this book as a result. James you are the absolute best.

Then! I opened this package and found an advanced copy of Connie May Fowler's "How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly", sent by Connie herself with a little note asking about a possible guest post. OMG!!!!! I had seen Kathy @ Bermuda Onion mention receiving this earlier this week, and I about lost my mind. I wanted a copy of this book so bad, but I knew that Connie had promised me a copy and I just had to be patient. Have I told you lately how much I love Connie May Fowler? Not in a week or two?

And the goodies just kept coming. I had a mysterious Amazon package in the pile, and it was from my secret santa from the holiday book swap, Trisha @ Eclectic-Eccentric. Taking the lead from my wish list on Amazon, she sent me Stone's Fall by Iain Pears, a highly recommended book from Jackie @ Farm Lane Books (her review is here). In addition, Trisha sent me a beautiful bookmark that says "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", and a set of 8 magnetic page markers that are marked with "Dream", "Love", "Laugh" and "Energy". Thank you so much Trisha!!!

So my big question is this...how the hell am I am going to settle myself down enough to clean my house?

The Problem With Murmur Lee - Connie May Fowler (Kindle)

Back yet again with my absolute favorite author. I'm running out of her material though...I believe there is only one other book of Connie's that I have not read. I hope she is working on something. I cannot get enough of her.

Connie May has brought us yet again a beautiful, lyrical tale set in old Florida, this time on a fictional island near St. Augustine called Iris Haven. The island has few inhabitants, but a colorful cast of characters that interact as an enclosed ecosystem. An angry, frigid artist. A talented and eccentric doctor, recently widowed, who cares for the nearby immigrants. An 62-year-old ex-marine who is now a woman, thanks to a recent sex change. A few other old fishermen, farmers, etc. that spend most of their time at the local bar, Salty's. Then there is Murmur Lee. Salt of the earth, lover of all living things, music and literature. Recently divorced and having lost her 5 year-old to leukemia, she refuses to let life get her down. She is a friend to all and the center of the small universe of Iris Haven.

One New Year's Eve, however, something unimaginable happens...Murmur drowns in a freak accident while relaxing with her boyfriend on the river. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but they all have their suspicions. In Iris Haven, lives are destroyed at the loss of their best friend, "her generosity, her chestnut laugh, her humor, her desire to see the best in people, her insistence on making green things grow" that leaves a hole in the heart of everyone that knew her.

The story is told in a way that is classic Connie May Fowler, and in a way not many authors could pull off. We learn about Murmur's life through her grocery lists, diary entries, letters written from Murmur to her best friend Charlee at a young age, letters written by the local priest to the archdiocese about Murmur, Murmur's last will and testament. We are privy to musings and recollections about Murmur from each of her friends, all in the first person. But what is most poignant is when we hear from Murmur's spirit after she has died:

"Here I am, still dead as rain, floating along, scattered one moment, gathered the next. Sometimes I'm hard and tight and fast-moving. But there are other moments when I feel as if the universe has tossed me like a handful of salt just to see how far I'll fly. I'm a little scared. I mean, can this be all there is for all of eternity? Is this what spirits do? Forever? Blow about like pollen in a dimension composed solely of wind, watching from time to time film clips of their lives? Where's God?..."

This is in fact what happens. Murmur's spirit watches portions of her life and the lives of her ancestors, sometimes revealing secrets she never knew when she was living. She learns lessons, only now understanding the big picture. Through these snippets, and the musings from her friends, we learn exactly what happened to Murmur on the night she lost her life.

I cannot even begin to verbalize the beauty of this book. It literally swept me away, similar to my reaction to Fowler's "Remembering Blue". Although the plot may seem dark, you will not find yourself closing this book with a heavy heart. Instead you will feel like you have been reborn, with a fresh outlook on what it means to live life to the fullest, the spirituality of the earth, the community of friendship that helps you heal, and the prose of the author that reads like a song. I will leave you with this quote. It was a line from Murmur's diary as a cure for the blues, and was read while her ashes were being scattered at the beach:

"Find a fern with new growth. Cut the young curled tendril with a knife that has been dipped in lemon water. Place the tendril against your heart. Tape it if you have to. And say these words...I am a gift to the universe. I am loved unconditionally by at least one person on this earth (say their name). No matter this current sorrow, my heart's ease will be the knowledge that, just like the ancient ferns, I am always emerging, growing."

5 out of 5 stars

When Katie Wakes: A Memoir - Connie May Fowler (Kindle)

Have I told you lately that I love Connie May Fowler? I suppose I have. Are you tired of hearing it yet? Are you going to break down and read something she has written? As my civic duty, I must link you back to some of my reviews of her novels that you may have missed…Sugar Cage, Remembering Blue, and Before Women Had Wings. You may be surprised to hear that after I waded my way through the dark hallows of “Sashenka” and “Say You’re One of Them”, I reached for Connie’s memoir about her life as a battered woman as an uplifting change of pace. This was no mistake though. Everything this woman writes, even the dark stuff, is a special treat.

Her prose is amazingly easy to read. At times, she brings the real Florida, the one beyond the walls of Disney, to life. She describes it almost to the point where you can smell the humidity, the sea air, and the local fish camp. Other times she will tell heartbreaking tales of prejudice, abuse, spirituality, and of a phoenix-like rising up from the ashes of dysfunction. She is able to give us these gifts because of her own personal ghosts and demons, combined with her humility, creativity and goodness of heart.

As with most memoirs, this one must have taken a huge amount of courage to write. Her first stab at finding closure was her early novel “Before Woman Had Wings”, which was very close to being autobiographical. But through the support of a loving spouse and her loyal dog, Katie, and years of healing, she has bared her soul to us with this novel.

Connie is the third generation of battered women in her family, a difficult pattern of enabling behavior from which to break free. Connie suffered physical and mental abuses from her mother and father that have instilled her belief that she can never be worthy of love, never be a good enough daughter/friend/wife, never be beautiful. Predictably, as a young adult, she enters into a relationship with a local celebrity has-been, thirty years her senior, who is addicted to alcohol, abusive, jobless, and a complete ass and waste of skin. The description of this toad’s character made my skin crawl. I also wanted to personally beat the crap out of him:

“His method of schooling me is harsh, unkind even. And though I resent it, I cannot dissolve the feeling that I have brought this curse on myself, that I was born helpless and ignorant, and that he is simply fulfilling a cosmic will. For instance, just last night he accused me again of being a stupid, ungrateful c***. My mind, as it always does in the heat of this accusation, split in half. In a single instant, one side of my brain thought ‘Yes, you’re absolutely right. I deserve your wrath. Go ahead. Beat me. Please. Lay bare my shame.’ But the other side shouted, ‘Ungrateful for what? Doing your laundry? Paying your bills? Cooking your meals?’”

Through the adoption of her lab Katie, a new, empowering editorial job, new friends, getting braces to fix her buck teeth, and meeting Mika, the love of her life, she begins to gain the self-confidence to walk away:

“When Katie wakes, the night will have vanished. And we will leave.”

I found myself cheering for this lovable, human woman. You want the best for her, and you know she’s going to get it. Today she, with her beautiful teeth, lives with Mika and her various pets up in the panhandle in Paradise (at least until hurricane season) near my favorite vacationing spot, St. George Island. I follow her blog, on which occasionally she will post. Just recently, she wrote a very touching tribute to her dog Katie, now in doggie heaven, for being her lifeline in the worst time of her life. The dog that slept by her side, even on the nights when they were on the kitchen floor, locked in to avoid a beating. The dog that even accompanied Connie and Mika on their honeymoon. As she says in the book, “How does one repay the loyalty, the goodness, the love of a dog?”

5 out of 5 stars

Before Women Had Wings - Connie May Fowler

Are you sick of hearing about Connie May Fowler yet? I hope not, because I'm not close to being done with her. My latest experience with Connie is the book that put her on the literary map. Before Women Had Wings, a semi-autobiographical novel, apparently made a noticeable splash early in Connie's career, so much that the story was made into a TV movie for Oprah (please don't hold it against her!). I have chosen this book for both my TBR Reading Challenge, and my Southern Reading Challenge. In case you are new to the blog, you may reflect, if you wish, on my earlier ravings with Connie's debut novel Sugar Cage, and my personal favorite so far, Remembering Blue.

The story revolves around Avocet Jackson, nicknamed Bird. She lives in poverty in rural Florida with her older sister Pheobe and her parents. She is a spirited nine year old who loves animals, and loves Jesus. She prays to him often, hoping that He will help her parents stop drinking, her dad from beating up her mom, and her mom from beating up the kids. Her dad is known for his boyish charm and wasted country singer potential, and her mom is a dark-haired beauty with a hair-trigger temper. When Bird's father kills himself, her mom moves the three of them to Tampa, where things progress from bad to worse. Aggravated by drink and loss, Bird's mother descends into the depths of hell, putting herself and her daughters in mortal danger.

Bird has lost her childlike innocence. Jesus has failed her. She feels completely responsible for her father's death and for the beatings she receives. Until she meets Miss Zora, a gentle, wise soul that lives around the corner. Miss Zora is a spiritual healer who provides friendship, guidance and a warm embrace to Bird when she needs it the most.

I know it sounds dire. At times it is painful to read about the abuses suffered by these children. It is not for the faint of heart. But there is hope in the form of a little old black lady that pulls the reader out of the muck, with references to birds, wings and angels throughout. What makes this book about domestic abuse any different than the thousands of others out there? Because Connie May Fowler is a brilliant writer. How else can you explain reading about such atrocities and still not being able to put the book down? Adding more distance between this novel and the competition is the knowledge that this story is coming from a very personal and painful place in Connie's heart. I know that she spends a great deal of time touring through the US, speaking to groups about domestic abuse and donating her time to help those in dead end situations. Since penning "Before Women Had Wings", she has written her own memoir, titled "When Katie Wakes", about her harrowing experiences with domestic abuse, and the unconditional love of her dog Kateland. This will be one of my next purchases on my Kindle. Stay tuned!

4 out of 5 stars

Sugar Cage by Connie May Fowler

I believe I said this when I reviewed "Remembering Blue" by Connie May Fowler. But I simply love this author. I adore her. If I could just bottle up the feelings that run through me when I read her books, I could hire a yard guy and a cleaning lady and read all day. Her writing is hypnotic, melodic, smooth and familiar. She is a Florida girl, and she expertly yet subtly weaves the essence of my home state into everything she writes, which makes her very special to me. She seems to have had quite a difficult life in her early years, which adds to the depth of her words. Sugar Cage is Connie's debut novel, a work of art that launched her career. Let me tell you about it.

We are introduced to Inez Temple, the heart and hub of the story. Inez grew up a poor black girl in Eatonville, and now lives just south of Saint Augustine and works as a hotel maid. She is a regal, wise and gentle soul. She meets and befriends the Jewels and the Looneys who are both honeymooning at the hotel, and over time become neighbors and support systems for each other. With these central characters, we take a journey over two decades. Tales are told from the perspective of Inez, Rose Looney and her husband Charlie, Eudora Jewell and her husband Junior, the Looney's son Emory, Emory's girlfriend Soleil Marie Beauvoir, the Jewell's daughter Luella, and even the local mortician Patrick Lackley. Each has their own unique, colorful voice.

This novel is a not just words on a page. It is a sometimes comical, sometimes wistful, sometimes brutal slice of humanity that comes alive as you read. We experience death, adultery, miscarriage, familial estrangement, first loves, blind devotion, friendship and reconciliation. Which is truly, when you think about it, Everyman's life.

Fowler entwines these personal struggles with themes of spirituality. Inez was raised with a general healing spiritualism, Junior worships nature, Eudora gravitates to mystical communication with the dead, and Soleil Marie, an illiterate Haitian who works in the cane fields, is a mambo with a missionary's influence of Catholicism.

In the not-so-distant backdrop of the story looms events and attitudes that shaped modern America. The Jewels and Looneys were married on the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Fear and confusion hovers over all of them like a dark cloud after the assassination of Kennedy. Hope motivates Inez's activism with the prominence of Martin Luther King Jr., and paralyzes her when he is assassinated. Charlie Looney participates in a protest march against blacks. Emory and Soleil Marie struggle to keep their relationship a secret from a society that abhors mixed couples. Emory enlists to fight in Vietnam.

And through it all, Fowler folds in intimate details of the graveyards and the fort in St. Augustine, eating at an authentic fish camp, a carnival in Clewiston, the beauty of driving down A1A with the windows down, the concrete jungle of Miami, the baptismal cleansing of a dip in the ocean, and the culture of the sugar cane industry in southern Florida. These are all pieces of life down here for me. I've even been to the carnival in Clewiston. This is the side of Florida that is real and raw, and what makes Fowler's stories so emotional for me, and why I wish I could send this book for each and every one of you to read!

"Remembering Blue" by Connie May Fowler

Have you ever read a book where you felt afterward that your heart has been wrung out? Or that you have been hypnotized with some mysterious essence that has crept into your soul? These are the emotions I am experiencing after reading this book (my first book in my TBR Challenge). I am smitten. Perhaps for different reasons than the average reader, but my guess is that this novel would work its magic on you too. Many of you may have heard me wax fondly about a little corner of Florida (just tell me to shut up if you have heard this too many times), in the panhandle, that is nearly untouched by the loud, garish development and consumerism that has taken over much of my state. It is a place where there are thousands of species of birds living peacefully, the smell of salt water that permeates everything, roads lined with little seafood shacks and docks, and any local would be happy to stop and pass the time chatting with you about why their corner of the world is special. This is the setting for Remembering Blue.

At its heart, this is a love story. It is also a testament, as we learn from page one, to the life and legacy of the late Nick Blue by his grieving wife.


The story begins with a young woman named Mattie, whose father abandoned her as a child, and whose emotionally unavailable mother recently died. Mattie has few ambitions, and although she is very self-aware and well-read, has been beaten down to the point where she no longer believes she is intelligent or beautiful. Then one day Nick Blue walks into the handy mart where Mattie works, and they immediately form a connection and thus begins their whirlwind love affair. Nick is a salt-of-the-earth guy, a romantic, who sees the beauty and potential in Mattie that the rest of the world has ignored. He has recently left the island where his family lives and works, for reasons I'm not sure I ever fully understood. Did he want to escape the fate of his forefathers...premature deaths on the shrimp boats that provide the Blue family their livelihood...or did he just want to see what else was out there? Nick cannot stay away from the sea for long, however, and he and Mattie move back to the island.

The island was founded by Nick's ancestors, and is not accessible by car. It resides off the coast of Carrabelle, and actually exists in real life, but the name has been changed (probably to keep tourists from storming it). It is here that Mattie begins blossoming. She discovers the meaning of family, of maternal bonds, of tradition. She learns to identify bird species, shell species, how to garden, how to cook, and how to build things with her sweat and her own two hands (freedom by carpentry, she calls it). She becomes her husband's fishmonger, selling his shrimp to seafood wholesalers, making friends on the mainland, and goes to college. She rides out a large hurricane on the island with the Blue family. She is transformed into a butterfly, and you can't help but love her.

This story is a gift. Fowler's writing has a mesmerizing cadence that washes over you. I liken the experience of reading this book to swinging lazily in a hammock on the back porch on a warm summer day, with a gentle breeze blowing. Fowler captures every wonderful detail of this niche of the panhandle, every quirk and nuance, even the insane experience of preparing for and surviving a hurricane. It includes references to the little shops and historic inn in Apalachicola, Highway 98, and the oysters that make this part of the world famous. My little slice of heaven. But, we know from the beginning that Nick is going to die, and as the book progresses, it weighs heavily upon the reader. You will fall in love with Nick just like Mattie did (although I have some doubts as to whether a man such as this truly exists!) and you don't want to see him go. It is heartbreaking, but at the same time, heartwarming. I shall very much look forward to reading two other books by Fowler that I received for Christmas. She is truly a talented writer.