Fiction Archives - Over The River PR

June Virtual Tour for THE PALACE AT THE END OF THE SEA by Simon Tolkien!

A young man comes of age and crosses continents in search of an identity—and a cause—at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War in a thrilling, timely, and emotional historical saga.

“In epic fashion worthy of his namesake, Tolkien crafts a remarkable novel of an American boy swept up by love and circumstance and cast into the crucible of the Spanish Civil War. Intense, vivid, and moving.” ―Mark Sullivan, bestselling author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky and All the Glimmering Stars

Critically acclaimed author Simon Tolkien, grandson of literary legend J.R.R. Tolkien, will captivate readers with the release of his new historical saga, THE PALACE AT THE END OF THE SEA (Lake Union | June 1, 2025). The first installment in a two-part series, the novel introduces us to Theo Sterling, a young man who comes of age and crosses continents in search of an identity―and a cause―at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War. As Theo engages with political and religious beliefs, including Capitalism, Communism, Anarchism, Fascism, and Catholicism, this sweeping novel examines the effect they have on him and his ultimate disillusionment with their promises. Rich in details and beautifully told by the talented Simon Tolkien, THE PALACE AT THE END OF THE SEA is historical fiction at its best.

Theo’s story continues with THE ROOM OF LOST STEPS, which will be released on September 16, 2025 (Lake Union).

“Through intense research over many years,” Tolkien explains, “I have tried to bring the vanished world of America, England and Spain in the 1930s to life – a time that shares many similarities with the troubled world we live in today. I believe in the value of historical fiction. The past is another country just as rich as ours, and I want to bring it to life.”

New York City, 1929. Young Theo Sterling’s world begins to unravel as the Great Depression exerts its icy grip. He finds it hard to relate to his parents: His father, a Jewish self-made businessman, refuses to give up on the American dream, and his mother, a refugee from religious persecution in Mexico, holds fast to her Catholic faith. When disaster strikes the family, Theo must learn who he is. A charismatic school friend and a firebrand girl inspire him to believe he can fight Fascism and change the world, but each rebellion comes at a higher price, forcing Theo to question these ideologies too.

From New York’s Lower East Side to an English boarding school to an Andalusian village in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Theo’s harrowing journey from boy to man is set against a backdrop of societies torn apart from within, teetering on the edge of a terrible war to which Theo is compulsively drawn like a moth to a flame.

With historical depth and compelling storytelling, Tolkien weaves a stunning tale about how hope, courage, loss and disillusionment affect the formation of one’s character. Fans of historical fiction and literary fiction will devour THE PALACE AT THE END OF THE SEA.

To celebrate the publication of THE PALACE AT THE END OF THE SEA, we are hosting a virtual book tour throughout the month of June featuring this fantastic group of book influencers that will feature reviews, spotlights, excerpts and giveaways!

Sunday, June 1 Purrfect Pages

Monday, June 2 Books Coffee MX

Tuesday, June 3 Dive Into A Good Book

Wednesday, June 4 Bookalong

Thursday, June 5 Suzy Approved Book Reviews

Friday, June 6 Wuthering Vines

Monday, June 9 We Love Big Books And We Cannot Lie

Tuesday, June 10 Cassie’s Book Reviews

Wednesday, June 11 Lexijava

Thursday, June 12 Subakka Bookstuff

Friday, June 13 Sarah’s Bookish Reviews

Monday, June 16 Gym Girl Reads

Tuesday, June 17 The Maddie Hatter

Wednesday, June 18 Dana Mustard Reads

Thursday, June 19 Briana and Her Books

Friday, June 20 What Is That Book About

Friday, June 20 Linda’s Book Obsession

Sunday, June 22 Nissa The Bookworm

Monday, June 23 Bailey’s Book Recs

Tuesday, June 24 Book Girl Brown Reviews

Wednesday, June 25 Rebekah Dolmat Reads

Thursday, June 26 Gloriana Wong

Friday, June 27 Kim Reads and Reads

Sunday, June 29 Karen’s Library

Monday, June 30 Enjoying Books Again

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Summer Virtual Tour for DAUGHTER OF FIRE by Sofia Robleda

For a young woman coming of age in sixteenth-century Guatemala, safeguarding her people’s legacy is a dangerous pursuit in a mystical, empowering, and richly imagined historical novel.

“DAUGHTER OF FIRE is a gorgeous, gripping tale of one young woman’s struggle to find herself amid the terrors of colonialism and the desperate need to uphold the heritage of her people, bound up in her love for her mother.” – Booklist

“Gorgeous and atmospheric. A unique and compelling point of view. Legit one of my favorite books of all time.” – Xiran Jay Zhao, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Iron Widow

“A captivating odyssey of a novel from start to finish—Robleda vividly brings to life the world of sixteenth-century Guatemala, immersing you in Catalina’s brave fight to preserve her people’s history against all odds. Beautifully imagined, intimate, lush, evocatively written, DAUGHTER OF FIRE has firmly secured its place among my all-time favorites, narrated by a fresh and much-needed voice in historical fiction.” – Mariely Lares, Sunday Times bestselling author of Sun of Blood and Ruin

When Mexican writer Sofia Robleda embarked on a personal ancestral search, she discovered the history of an ancient Mayan sacred text with stories that were so enlightening, she knew she had to write about it. The result is DAUGHTER OF FIRE (Amazon Crossing; August 1, 2024), a moving and beautifully written historical fiction novel about a girl named Catalina, born in the 1530s to an Indigenous Guatemalan mother and a Spanish colonizer father.

The Popol Vuh is a little-known sacred text with invaluable insight into the Maya way of life before colonization, including their myths and stories and the history of the Kʼicheʼ people of Guatemala. The stories were mostly passed down orally, until around 1550, when they were written down in secret, by anonymous K’iche’ authors. But after the Spanish conquest of the Maya, missionaries and colonists destroyed many documents, and the original sacred text was lost. Only a translated copy made by a friar in the 18^th century remains.

“I grew up in Cancun, surrounded by the ancient Mayan culture, but when I found out I had Indigenous blood, I started studying our pre-Columbian history in a lot more detail,” explains Robleda. “When I read how many documents were destroyed, I had a visceral reaction. I couldn’t stop crying over this great loss to our heritage. But the Popol Vuh survived. Its story possessed me. I felt I’d gone out to look for my roots, and they’d taken a hold of me. The result was this novel, and I’m ecstatic that DAUGHTER OF FIRE will be published this summer.”

Catalina de Cerrato is being raised by her widowed father, Don Alonso, in 1551 Guatemala, scarcely thirty years since the Spanish invasion. A ruling member of the oppressive Spanish hierarchy, Don Alonso holds sway over the newly relegated lower class of Indigenous communities. Fiercely independent, Catalina struggles to honor her father and her late mother, a Maya noblewoman to whom Catalina made a vow that only she can keep: preserve the lost sacred text of the Popol Vuh, the treasured and now forbidden history of the K’iche’ people.

Urged on by her mother’s spirit voice and possessing the gift of committing the invaluable stories to memory, Catalina embarks on a secret and transcendent quest to rewrite them. Through ancient pyramids, Spanish villas, and caves of masked devils, she finds an ally in the captivating Juan de Rojas, a lord whose rule was compromised by the invasion. But as their love and trust unfold, and Don Alonso’s tyranny escalates, Catalina must confront her conflicted blood heritage―and its secrets―once and for all if she’s to follow her dangerous quest to its historic end.

DAUGHTER OF FIRE is an engrossing story about loyalty and prejudice, love and oppression, and embracing one’s identity. It’s a must-read for Summer 2024!

To help celebrate the release this new novel, we are hosting a virtual book tour with this wonderful list of book influencers who will post reviews, features, and giveaways. We hope you will follow along:

Monday, July 22 Jess N Books AND Amber Shelf

Tuesday, July 23 Tomes and Textiles AND Lauren’s Book Vibes

Wednesday, July 24 Totahly Booked

Thursday, July 25 Kera’s Always Reading

Friday, July 26 WBTB Book Reviews

Sunday, July 28 Purrfect Pages

Monday, July 29 Lit Wit Wine Dine

Tuesday, July 30 Angela Reads Books

Wednesday, July 31 Sue The Bookie

Thursday, August 1 Meg’s Book Club AND Love My Books 2020

Friday, August 2 Karen’s Library

Saturday, August 3 Books On My Mind

Sunday, August 4 Marisol Reads Books

Monday, August 5 Spookish Mommy

Tuesday, August 6 Mabel Journals

Wednesday, August 7 Bookalong

Thursday, August 8 Sarah And Her Bookshelves

Friday, August 9 Linda’s Book Obsession AND Michelle Loves Books

Saturday, August 10 Books and Coffee MX

Sunday, August 11 Secret Reading Life

Monday, August 12 We Love Big Books And We Cannot Lie

Tuesday, August 13 Books with Bethany

Wednesday, August 14 Paperbacks N Frybread

Thursday, August 15 – Lexijava

Friday, August 16 Subakka Bookstuff

By otrpr

July Virtual Tour For New Historical Fiction THE CURSE OF THE FLORES WOMEN by Angélica Lopes, Translated by Zoë Perry

In this haunting novel about the enduring bonds of womanhood, a young girl weaves together the truth behind her family history and the secrets that resonate through generations.

“With each page, Alice’s role as the guardian of an important piece of Brazilian folk art, itself a feminist symbol, becomes more clear. Lopes…makes it clear that sisterhood is integral to survival.” ―Booklist

Angélica Lopes is a celebrated script writer, journalist and YA author from Rio de Janeiro, who got her start writing Brazilian soap operas that attracted millions of viewers daily. THE CURSE OF THE FLORES WOMEN is her first adult novel, a beautifully written tale about women activists in the early 1910s in the fictional town of Bom Retiro, Brazil and in modern times in Rio de Janeiro. Foreign rights have already been sold to France, Italy, Poland, Turkey and Portugal, and now with the help of the talented translator, Zoë Perry, Amazon Crossing will publish it for the first time in English on July 1, 2024.

“I wanted to set the fictional story of the lacemakers in a period when the debate around women’s issues and their achievements was just beginning,” Angélica explains. “I also wanted to tell a story about the unity of women in the face of domestic violence. I wanted a story of women coming together, not in conflict or working against each other. I am overjoyed that it will now reach an English speaking audience.”

Eighteen-year-old Alice Ribeiro is constantly fighting―against the status quo, female oppression in Brazil, and even her own mother. But when a family veil is passed down to her, and she discovers it hides a secret coded tale of domestic violence that happened 100 years before, she is compelled to uncover the hidden history of the women in her family while also fighting for the rights of all womankind.

Seven generations ago, the small town of Bom Retiro shunned the Flores women because of a “curse” that rendered them unlucky in love. With no men on the horizon to take care of them, the women learned the art of lacemaking to build lives of their own. But their peace was soon threatened by forces beyond any woman’s control.

As Alice begins piecing together the tapestry that is her history, she discovers revelations about the past, connections to the present, and a resilience in her blood that will carry her toward the future her ancestors strove for. Filled with an eclectic cast of female characters, a colorful setting marked by feuding families and a ruling oligarch, and generational secrets, THE CURSE OF THE FLORES WOMEN is historical fiction at its best.

To celebrate the publication of this new release, we are hosting a virtual book tour with this fantastic lineup of book influencers. We hope you will follow along:

Monday, July 1 – Dive Into A Good Book AND Lauren’s Book Vibes

Tuesday, July 2 – Tomes And Textiles AND Jess N Books

Wednesday, July 3 – Amber Shelf

Thursday, July 4 – Kera’s Always Reading

Friday, July 5 – Linda’s Book Obsession AND Mabel Journals

Sunday, July 7 – Booking With Janelle AND Lit Wit Wine Dine

Monday, July 8 – Armed With a Book

Tuesday, July 9 – Sarah And Her Bookshelves

Wednesday, July 10 – Reading With Nicole

Thursday, July 11 – What’s Better Than A Book

Friday, July 12 – Books With Bethany

Saturday, July 13 – Books and Coffee MX AND Marisol Reads Books

Sunday, July 14 – Purrfect Pages

Monday, July 15 – Angela Reads Books

Tuesday, July 16 – Bathtub Bookworm

Wednesday, July 17 – We Love Big Books And We Cannot Lie

Thursday, July 18 – Spookish Mommy

Friday, July 19 – Sue The Bookie

Saturday, July 20 – Melann Rosenthal AND Meg’s Book Club

Sunday, July 21 – Subakka Bookstuff

Monday, July 22 – Love My Books 2020

Tuesday, July 23 – Paperbacks N Frybread

Wednesday, July 24 – Bookalong

Thursday, July 25 – Bookapotamus

Friday, July 26 – Suzy Approved Book Reviews AND What Is That Book About

Saturday, July 27 – Bookish Spren

Sunday, July 28 – Secret Reading Life

Monday, July 29 – Book Things With Brit

Tuesday, July 30 – Gloriana Wong

Wednesday, July 31 – We Break For Books

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Pub Week Virtual Book Tour for RAVAGE & SON by Jerome Charyn Aug 21 – 25

“Rollicking. . . . Ravage & Son brings New York City’s criminal underground to vibrant life.”

—Foreword Reviews

“Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights has nothing on Charyn’s Lower East Side. . . . A bold effort.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Charyn continues to deliver boisterous and flavorful prose.”

—Publishers Weekly

A master storyteller’s novel of crime, corruption, and antisemitism in early 20th-century Manhattan, available on August 22, 2023 from Bellevue Literary Press

Ravage & Son reflects the lost world of Manhattan’s Lower East Side—the cradle of Jewish immigration during the first years of the twentieth century—in a dark mirror.

Abraham Cahan, editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, serves as the conscience of the Jewish ghetto teeming with rogue cops and swindlers. He rescues Ben Ravage, an orphan, from a trade school and sends him off to Harvard to earn a law degree. But upon his return, Ben rejects the chance to escape his gritty origins and instead becomes a detective for the Kehilla, a quixotic gang backed by wealthy uptown patrons to help the police rid the Lower East Side of criminals. Charged with rooting out the Jewish “Mr. Hyde,” a half-mad villain who attacks the prostitutes of Allen Street, Ben discovers that his fate is irrevocably tied to that of this violent, sinister man.

A lurid tale of revenge, this wildly evocative, suspenseful noir is vintage Jerome Charyn.

Below is our stellar group of bloggers who will share reviews and features and offer giveaways during publication week of August 21st:

Monday, August 21 – We Love Big Books And We Cannot Lie AND The Book Connection

Tuesday, August 22 – Bookphile Belle

Wednesday, August 23 – Nurse Bookie AND What Is That Book About

Thursday, August 24 – Sue the Bookie AND Andrea C. Lowry Reads

Friday, August 25 – Lit by Lilli AND The Book Decoder

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September Virtual Tour for BIG RED: A Novel Starring Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles by Jerome Charyn

“Cinematic and bittersweet…[Charyn] subtly evokes F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ in telling his saga of star-crossed charismatics through the eyes of an all-seeing peripheral figure, an outsider-insider named Rusty Redburn…His novel, with its multiple layers of fiction and fact, resurrects the vanished world it celebrates and explicates it in all its grand illusion.” – Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

“If you love stories about Hollywood’s golden age, you’ll be swept up by this dazzling fictionalized account of a doomed Tinseltown marriage…Charyn’s obvious affection for his subjects lends humanity and depth to the depictions of personal drama…BIG RED is an unforgettable portrait of American film royalty” ―Apple Book Review, Best Books of August

“Charyn (The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King) plausibly recreates another chapter in American history in this affecting and searing portrait of Silver Screen superstars Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles…Charyn offers rapid-fire dialogue and slapstick action…along with affecting character development. It’s a rewarding paean to some of cinema’s greats.” ―Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Thanks to Charyn’s lifelong obsession with Welles’ Citizen Kane and fascination with Hayworth’s fragility, readers benefit from a probing analysis of their seminal films while being treated to an intimate, fly-on-the-wall look at a legendary, tumultuous romance.” ―Booklist

“The veteran author’s charm and easy sense of irony further lift this surprisingly affecting book. A novel that transcends concept with its human touches.” ―Kirkus Review

“Jerome Charyn is an American original. His prose is scintillant, seemingly without effort or strain, yet unfailingly brilliant & audacious. In BIG RED the characteristic virtuosity is present – but beneath, a tender, bruised heart.” ―Joyce Carol Oates, author of Blonde: A Novel

“BIG RED is the most entertaining book I’ve read all year. It’s as if Herman Wouk and James Ellroy had a love child, and that love child was given a typewriter at birth. This is a wise, hilarious and very deep look into Hollywood’s ambitions, dreams, and indulgences. I hope Jerome Charyn is already at work on its sequel” ―Brian Koppelman, co-creator and showrunner of Billions

“Jerome Charyn’s movie-love dances like a flame over every page of BIG RED. Like its gloriously outspoken narrator—who never existed but should have—the book is bewitched by cinema and also hard-headed about the crass, exploitative reality of the dream factory. It’s a dazzling romp through old Hollywood, and a fiercely loving effort to set the record straight.” —Sara Imogen Smith, film critic and author of In Lonely Places

It’s 1943. The Germans rule Europe, and the moguls rule Hollywood. Attendance is better than ever. Not even radio can compete with the Saturday matinee. The heart of America has become Hollywood Boulevard. And Rusty Redburn, a feisty lesbian visionary who works as a lowly servant to Harry Cohn at Columbia’s publicity department, lives right on the boulevard at the Hollywood Hotel.

Harry is worried about his biggest star, Rita Hayworth, who has moved in with the “Boy Genius” Orson Welles. He’s never had a star before Rita arrived. He schemes to have Rusty pretend to work as Rita’s private secretary while spying on her. Rusty is far more clever than Harry Cohn. She worships Orson and Citizen Kane. And thus the story begins.

Nothing will last, neither the war, nor Harry Cohn, nor the marriage of Rita and Orson. And it’s Rusty who tells their tale.

BIG RED: A Novel Starring Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles (Liveright/W.W. Norton; 8/23/22) is Jerome Charyn at his very best and promises to consume both Hollywood cinephiles and neophytes alike.

We have a fantastic schedule of bloggers who will share features, post reviews and offer giveaways throughout the month September. Follow along to learn more about the book and perhaps to win a free copy!

September 2 – Reading with Nicole, AND The Book Decoder

September 4 – The Caffeinated Reader

September 6 – Hot Cocoa Reads

September 7 – Rozie Reads and Wine AND Secret Reading Life

September 8 – Sara’s Book Stack

September 9 – The Bookish World of Yrralh

September 10 – The Real Momma Leighellen

September 12 – We Love Big Books and We Cannot Lie

September 13 – Momfluenster AND Bookalong

September 14 – Tina May Reads AND Celtic Lady’s Reviews

September 15 – Nurse Bookie

September 16 – What’s Better Than Books AND Well Read Traveler