THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PRISSY
By
Barbara Casey
BLURB:
Three Army veteran misfits, a college dropout,
an unmotivated high school graduate accused of murder, a controversial warden
of a women's prison, and a little girl with the gift of prophesy – these are
the people 31-year-old Lara Kruger invites into her life after suffering a
miscarriage, a divorce from an abusive husband, and unemployment.
EXCERPT:
Miriam
walked away from her desk and paused in front of the unframed full-length
mirror she had salvaged from the recent renovations in the women’s shower
rooms. The edges were chipped and
blackened, and there was a fairly large crack that ran vertically from one
corner to the other. The condition of
the mirror was the result, no doubt, of one of many displays of frustration and
anger within the prison walls before she took over. Still, the mirror served its purpose. On those rare occasions when Warden Miriam
Temple of the Braden Women’s Correctional Institution needed to be sure she
looked her best, at least she could do so in the privacy of her own office.
Studying
her reflection, she saw a tall, aging fifty-nine-year-old woman with dark hair
streaked with gray cut in a simple shag, myopic brown eyes made evident by the
wire-framed glasses, and a raw-boned body that could be considered
well-proportioned if it weren’t for the fact that it was about twenty pounds on
the heavy side, fifteen of which had settled around her thighs and buttocks. “Pear shaped, as opposed to apple shaped,”
she frequently reminded herself, “so that means at least I won’t die of a heart
attack.” The fact that her ear lobes
were also plump and didn’t have the diagonal creases indicating some type of
heart disease seemed to confirm that fact.
She didn’t know if these old-wives’ tales she had grown up with were
really true, but she liked to keep an open mind, especially when they worked to
her benefit.
She
normally didn’t wear make-up, but this morning before leaving for work, she had
dug out her small tapestry bag that held what few cosmetics she owned and
applied a little blush and a touch of lipstick.
She rubbed one cheek with her hand now, thinking that maybe she
shouldn’t have bothered. She didn’t need
to impress anyone. Even if there had
been the awkwardness that sometimes comes with being a large woman, it had been
replaced years ago by the confidence born from a privileged background and the
level of acceptance and comfort from which she viewed herself.
Her
dark gray suit and crisp white blouse were clean and unwrinkled, thanks to the
prison laundry facilities. The plain
black pumps she wore looked both practical and appropriate to complete the
over-all appearance of discipline, control, strength, and above all, a positive
attitude. It was the attitude within the
prison that Miriam had worked the hardest on when she took over as head warden
six years earlier. There had been a
stifling wave of hopelessness and despair among the female inmates so thick it
made it difficult to breathe. This was
manifested daily in brawls, food fights, and a behavior of non-compliance in
general. “Animals get treated better
than we do,” had been the mantra at the prison.
For
six years Miriam had been working fourteen-hour days, overseeing the operations
of the facility, staying on top of problems, writing reports, and talking to
every person she could reach about helping to set up programs for “her girls”
as she referred to them. Each of
Miriam’s programs offered something to a few of her girls, but not to all,
something she struggled with daily. She
constantly researched what other correctional institutions were doing not only
in this country but other countries as well, trying to come up with new ways to
stimulate her girls and help them feel enthusiastic about their lives.
It had worked.
She started getting noticed after the first year of her tenure. Complaints from the prisoners dropped, a
State audit confirmed that for the first time in over a decade the prison
budget would be in the black, and the over-all appearance of the facility was
vastly improved. Government officials
who previously had been reluctant to show interest now started to open doors
for this hard-working, persistent, and obviously dedicated woman.
And
then Prissy had been born.
AUTHOR INFORMATION:
Barbara Casey is president of the Barbara Casey Agency,
representing adult fiction and nonfiction for authors throughout the United
States, Great Britain, and Japan. She is
also the author of numerous articles, poems, and short stories. Her award-winning novels have received
national recognition, including the Independent Publishers Book Award, the Dana
Award for Best Novel, and the Publisher’s Best Seller Award. Her novel, The House of Kane, released in 2008, was considered for a Pulitzer
nomination, and her novel Just Like
Family received special recognition by the 7-Eleven Corporation. Her latest young adult novel, The Cadence of Gypsies, was reviewed by
the Smithsonian for its list of 2011 Best Books. The Gospel According to Prissy, a contemporary adult novel, was
released in the spring of 2013.
In addition to being a frequent guest lecturer at
universities and writers’ conferences, Ms. Casey served as judge for the
Pathfinder Literary Awards in Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Florida, and was
the Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of Children's Book Writers and
Illustrators from 1991 through 2003.
LINKS:
www.barnesandnoble.com
PRIZE:
Be sure to follow Barbara's blog tour. She will be giving away a $25 Amazon or BN.com gift card to one randomly chosen person who leaves comments during the tour. You can follow the tour by checking out the stops at: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/03/blurb-blitz-tour-gospel-according-to.html .
Thank you for joining us today, Barbara, and good luck with your book. It sounds fascinating!
