Last year we reviewed and LOVED The Cresswell Plot, a dark debut that kept us engaged through the end. This year we are back with author Eliza Wess as The Cresswell Plot releases in paperback with it’s all new stunning over. Check out our interview below and be sure to enter the giveaway!
Cults. Sibling marriage (or the mandate of such). Mysterious death of a brother who has been reincarnated. This book has everything!
INTERVIEW WITH ELIZA WASS
Okay, so, I am prefacing all my posts with saying I am currently hiking the Santiago Trail in Spain with my parents, 570 miles over 30 days, firstly because it’s so cool and secondly because my thoughts might be a bit scattered!
You created a relatable story where the main character explores the love she has of her family versus the things happening that challenge that emotion. As a reader, there were some tough to read parts (in a good way). What pieces of the book most challenged you as a writer?
I think for me the hardest part was getting to that point where I stopped judging what I was writing. I think sometimes the harder I try to do something, the more I fail at it because I overthink it or I lack confidence, so with this book in particular I had already tried it so many ways that I really just ‘gave up’ in a way that I was just having fun with it without judgments and I think that’s the best way to write because no matter what happens next, you’ve had a good time and escaped reality for a bit.
The paperback edition has a new (very lovely!) cover. Tell us what each of your covers portray in relation to the story.
I know I love the new cover!!! I think that they’re both just variations on the same elements, which are that the story takes place in rural upstate New York and the MC is a girl with her hair in a braid! But I was really excited by this new cover! How lucky am I to get TWO beautiful covers?
Is there a specific Cresswell sibling that you most identify with?
When I was younger I guess I was a Caspar but now I’m probably more of a Mortimer unfortunately! I can be pretty cynical but I have a sense of humor about it.
Tell us about your year as a debut.
So I’m going to be quite frank about this is saying it was a really difficult year because I had just lost my husband right after I got my book deal, so the two events became linked in my mind in a way that made it really difficult for me to ‘enjoy’ it. And the reason I say this is because, for other people who are dealing with grief, there is this really long period where everything is going to feel really dark but you will get out of it, so I’m just really grateful now to be at the point where I can appreciate these things.
What can we expect in The Life and Death Parade?
So this is a really special book but also just a really crazy one. I had pitched a book about death 6 months before my husband died so it became just this crazy thing of exploring the attempt to find meaning after death. Like, after someone dies (and people who have been through it really understand it) there are so many freaky coincidences and strange things that happen, that you really start to question everything, and I wanted to look at that through a really dangerous teenage medium.
Thank you so much for having me!
THE CRESSWELL PLOT Paperback
by Eliza Wass
Pub. Date: October 10, 2017
Publisher: Disney Press
Find it: Amazon, B&N, TBD, Goodreads
The woods were insane in the dark, terrifying and magical at the same time. But best of all were the stars, which trumpeted their light into the misty dark.Castella Cresswell and her five siblings-Hannan, Caspar, Mortimer, Delvive, and Jerusalem- know what it’s like to be different. For years, their world has been confined to their ramshackle family home deep in the woods of upstate New York. They abide by the strict rule of God, whose messages come directly from their father.
Slowly, Castley and her siblings start to test the boundaries of the laws that bind them. But, at school, they’re still the freaks they’ve always been to the outside world. Marked by their plain clothing. Unexplained bruising. Utter isolation from their classmates. That is, until Castley is forced to partner with the totally irritating, totally normal George Gray, who offers her a glimpse of a life filled with freedom and choice.
Castley’s world rapidly expands beyond the woods she knows so well and the beliefs she once thought were the only truths. There is a future waiting for her if she can escape her father’s grasp, but Castley refuses to leave her siblings behind. Just as she begins to form a plan, her father makes a chilling announcement: the Cresswells will soon return to their home in heaven. With time running out on all of their lives, Castley must expose the depth of her father’s lies. The forest has buried the truth in darkness for far too long. Castley might be their last hope for salvation.
Eliza Wass is an author, journalist and the wife of the late musician Alan Wass. Her debut novel, The Cresswell Plot, was published in 2016 to critical acclaim by Disney-Hyperion. She has contributed articles to The Guardian, Grazia, NME, Shortlist and THE FALL.
Her second book with Disney-Hyperion, The Life and Death Parade, will be published in June 2018.
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FOLLOW THE TOUR
Week One:
10/2/2017- Tales of the Ravenous Reader– Interview
10/2/2017- The Book Nut– Review
10/3/2017- Novel Novice– Guest Post
10/3/2017- Eli to nth– Review
10/4/2017- Sugar Dusted Pages– Interview
10/4/2017- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review
10/5/2017- The Hardcover Lover– Excerpt
10/5/2017- Kourtni Reads- Review
10/6/2017- BookHounds YA– Guest Post
10/6/2017- Lattes & Paperbacks– Review
Week Two:
10/9/2017- Tez Says– Guest Post
10/9/2017- JustAddaWord– Review
10/10/2017- Rainy Days and Pajamas– Excerpt
10/10/2017- RhiReading– Review
10/11/2017- Blushing Bibliophile– Interview
10/11/2017- Savings in Seconds– Review
10/12/2017- Omg Books and More Books– Guest Post
10/12/2017- Jena Brown Writes– Review
10/13/2017- For the Love of KidLit– Interview
10/13/2017- Bibliobakes– Review
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