Author Bio:
Mari was “raised up” in journalism (mostly raising her glass at the Denver Press Club bar) after the advent of the web press, but before the desktop computer. She has since plied her trade as a writer, editor, and designer across many different fields, and currently works as a technical writer and editor. Blind Tribute is her first mainstream historical novel. In 2018, she expects to release the first book in a new family saga, The Lion’s Club, set in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn.
Under the name Mari Christie, she has released a book-length epic poem, Saqil pa Q'equ'mal: Light in Darkness: Poetry of the Mayan Underworld, and under pen name Mariana Gabrielle, she has written several Regency romances, including the Sailing Home Series and La Déesse Noire: The Black Goddess.
She holds a BA in Writing, summa cum laude and With Distinction, from the University of Colorado Denver, and has been published in numerous magazines, newspapers, boardrooms, and creative collections. She is a member of the Paper Lantern Writers, the Speakeasy Scribes, the Denver Press Club, and the Historical Novel Society.
Book Blurb:
Every newspaper editor owes tribute to the devil... Harry Wentworth's bill just came due.
Freedom of the press is in peril. Families are torn apart by politics and principle. Opposing political parties manipulate the public in speeches, public meetings, and the media, grasping for votes and consolidating power. Foreign nations peddle influence in all directions to achieve their own ends. The struggle between citizens and government tugs at the threads of the American Constitution… and democracy itself. In a matter of moments, the United States will shatter, beginning the long march of the American Civil War.
Harry Wentworth, gentleman of distinction and journalist of renown, spends a lifetime of social and financial capital, exploiting his position as Executive Editor of the Philadelphia Daily Standard to try to arrest the momentum of both Union and Confederacy. To his sorrow and disgust, his calls for a peaceful resolution are worth no more than the ink he buys to print them.
As such, he must finally resolve his own moral quandary: comment on the war from his influential position in Northern Society or make a news story and a target of himself in a Southern city he has long since left behind. His choices, from the first day of the war to the last, will irrevocably alter his mind, his body, his spirit, and his purpose as an honorable man.
Blind Tribute has been honored with multiple awards, including:
* Solo Medalist: 2017 New Apple Literary Awards, E-book General Fiction
* B.R.A.G. Medallion Winner
* BooksGoSocial Gold Quality Mark
* "Highly Recommended" Award of Excellence from The Historical Fiction Company
Book Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3JjMcKJ
Editorial Review:
Every newspaper editor owes tribute to the devil... Harry Wentworth's bill just came due.
This opening line from the book blurb is enough to capture anyone’s attention, and if it was the only reason, then that would be enough... however, it is not the only reason. Far from it.
Set during a time in American history when the freedom of the press is in jeopardy, and families are ripped apart by politics and principle, this book excels in illuminating this shattering episode spanning the years of the American Civil War. Manipulation by political parties, Lincoln and Davis, by use of the media and speeches in attempt to garner favor and votes, not to mention power, lends to the ultimate struggle between the ordinary citizen and the ruling powers of the land. In truth, all these elements, along with the explosion of the war, mix together in this heated crucible of a book.
Harry Wentworth. His name is linked in no coincidental way to the author’s own grandfather, P. H. Whaley, a journalist of distinction, and as Ms Christie puts it ‘he was an internationally known journalist—before journalists were known internationally—recognized worldwide for the contributions of the Whaley-Eaton Business Service (W-E), an international news gathering organization based in Washington, D.C, an entrepreneurial venture started with partner Henry M. Eaton.’
This bit of information gleaned while reading Blind Tribute truly fleshed out the main character in an incredible way... and again, if that was the only thing that fleshed him out, that was enough. Fortunately, the prolific world-building prose, and character development is beyond anything the simple words in this review can relay. From page one to the last, the author pumped blood and breathed life into Harry Wentworth in the most exceptional way.
As she describes him: he is a gentleman of distinction, a journalist of renown, who spends a lifetime of social and financial capital, while exploiting his position as Executive Editor of the Philadelphia Daily Standard to reel back the charge of the Union and the Confederacy. His attempts fall on deaf ears, and is not worth the paper they are printed on.
This is a spotlight and a link of how history repeats itself, and the very real issues of the past which brought about the Civil War shine on present history unfolding before us. Harry advocates freedom of speech, and the rich prose and spellbinding articles written by this journalist throughout the storyline show the artistic genius of the author. Anytime a book compels a reader to look up the actual history, this is a book for me. Her real grandfather, P. H. Whaley, I daresay, would smile with approval at his granddaughter’s writing skills.
Like so many during those days who had roots in the South but lived in the North, inner conflicts wrestled within Harry, and the choices he makes change everything in his life – his mind, his body, his spirit, and his purpose. And the story resonates to the conflicts presented to a modern reader today. Harry, like so many journalist today who seek to find the truth amid the chaos, sets himself as close to the war as possible after the first shots are fired at Fort Sumter. He heads for Charleston where he has to deal with a father disappointed in his son, and ultimately, he must deal with the most tragic and painful experience of his life. In more ways than one, he sheds his former life and re-emerges on the other side.
There are so many elements to this book, so many resonating themes – such as family ties, friendships, extended family relationships, personal decisions and their outcomes, physical pain, and mental struggles, on top of the war which divided a country and families. And Harry used his career to speak his mind about the war while maintaining a journalistic neutral stand, and also as a way to escape his home life. His wife, Anne, is not a endearing character as both she and their son slam Harry for not displaying enough loyalty to the North, while Harry’s Southern family in Charleston demands the same from their side. This book is a brilliant fictional exposé on truth, loyalty, neutrality, pride, conscience, family, and personal integrity.
As far as the struggles Harry goes through in this epic novel, one which overshadows books like Gone With the Wind or North and South, there were times my heart broke for the savagery he suffers, and yet, his growth as a person is simply astounding. You get to know him and the personal battles he faces, with the Civil War as a backdrop instead of the main feature. He is as real as a book character can be, and should be a real live historical figure with his own Wikipedia page, with all of his flawed nuances smoothed by his inner kindness while scuffed up by his gruff exterior.
This book is one to savor, one to take a few weeks to read and not rush through, along with a pot of coffee and a roaring fire because once you start, you are not going to want to put it down; and since it is a rather voluminous book, the extra caffeine along with the entrancing and eloquent style of writing will keep you reading late into the night.
Some of my favorite books of all time lean towards the historical literary subgenre, such as Les Miserables and East of Eden, so I am not amiss to say that this is right up there with them, and has earned a spot on my shelf for go-to books when I am wanting to immerse myself into a particular time period in history or to saturate my need for deep intellectual and elegant prose. Ms Christie’s writing style and word usage is reminiscent of classic historical and literary writers from ages ago. She was born in another time and takes the reader on the journey with her into the past. After taking a week to read this one, even after closing the last page, the words and the characters have burrowed into my heart, and I know I won’t forget this one for a long long time. Without a doubt, this is an exquisite masterpiece, one that leaves you breathlessly staring out the window ruminating over the words long after you close the book.
I will leave you with a just a slice of her words only, and beg the reader of this review to add this to your list immediately. These kinds of books or authors don’t come along every day.
There were times – right now being one – Harry could smell the sweet pluff mud of the spartina grass marshes and the stink of an alligator rising up out of the water to snap its jaws through some unwary animal. He missed the huge live oak by the Stono River as though its limbs were his own, spreading out over the water, rooted in dark, Lowcountry dirt. He remembered every hour spent climbing that tree, the rough bark and the scratchy threads of the rope swing hidden among the Spanish moss. The initials he and his friend Edward had carved, when given their first pocketknives. Once older, he’d stolen his first kiss hidden under the sweeping branches with Alexandra Porcher. He transcribed a line from his notebook he had written more than a fortnight ago. ‘There is no inch of the fields and woods where I played growing up that hadn’t been discovered first by an earlier Wentworth child’
Or this one:
“I have heard Harry called coward and traitor and snake in the grass, malingerer, conspirator, speculator, and turncoat. Filthy Rebel and Dirty Yankee. Judas. I have heard Judas a thousand times. They are all wrong. I will never again have it said by any man in my hearing that Harry Wentworth is any less than heroic or short of astounding. One of the most remarkable journalists of our time; the purest example of a true American I have ever seen.” - quote from John Hoyt, managing editor of the Philadelphia Daily Standard
*****
“Blind Tribute” by Mari Ann Christie receives five stars from The Historical Fiction Company and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence.
