Congratulations to Paul Tremblay, winner of last week's Friday Freebie, the double feature of Zombie by J. R. Angelella and Caring Is Creepy by David Zimmerman.
Tomboy Alice Bliss is heartbroken when she learns that her father, Matt, is being deployed to Iraq. Matt will miss seeing Alice blossom into a full-blown teenager: she'll learn to drive, join the track team, go to her first dance, and fall in love—all while trying to be strong for her mother, Angie, and her precocious little sister. But the phone calls from her father are never long enough. At once universal and very personal, Alice Bliss is a profoundly moving story about those who are left at home during wartime and a small-town teenage girl bravely facing the future.The novel has garnered high praise over the past year. Author Anne Roiphe called it "the Our Town of the twenty-first century" and Booklist gave it a starred review: "This is remarkably sensitive first novel, full of splendid characterizations....It's a heartbreaker--have tissues at hand--with promise shining through the pain."
If you'd like a chance to make Alice Bliss a permanent guest in your home, all you have to do is answer this question:
At her website, what does Laura Harrington call "the kingdom of my childhood"?
Email your answer to thequiveringpen@gmail.com
Put FRIDAY FREEBIE in the e-mail subject line. One entry per person, please. Please e-mail me the answer, rather than posting it in the comments section. Despite its name, the Friday Freebie runs all week long and remains open to entries until midnight on June 14--at which time I'll draw the winning name. I'll announce the lucky reader on June 15. If you'd like to join the mailing list for the once-a-week Quivering Pen newsletter, simply add the words "Sign me up for the newsletter" in the body of your email. Your email address and other personal information will never be sold or given to a third party (except in those instances where the publisher requires a mailing address for sending Friday Freebie winners copies of the book).
Want to double your odds of winning? Get an extra entry in the contest by posting a link to this webpage on your blog, your Facebook wall or by tweeting it on Twitter. Once you've done either or both of those, send me an additional e-mail saying "I've shared" and I'll put your name in the hat twice.
Alice Bliss is a heartbreaking and moving portrayal of a family trapped in a war that's both far from home and right at their front door. Laura Harrington has broken down the walls that separate those unaffected by war from those who live with it every day, by dropping every insecurity, every fear, every nightmare, and every hope in the laps of readers with Alice Bliss. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll yearn for closure that seems so out of reach, but you'll appreciate how each downfall leads to an ultimately uplifting end.
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