Friday Freebie: A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash and Dolls Behaving Badly by Cinthia Ritchie

Congratulations to Carl Scott, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: The Book of Jonas by Stephen Dau, Black Flower by Young-ha Kim, and The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell.

This week's book giveaway is another plural prize offering.  One lucky reader will win copies of A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash and Dolls Behaving Badly by Cinthia Ritchie.

I've been touting the excellence of A Land More Kind Than Home quite a bit here at the blog.  There's a reason for that: it's excellent.  In his debut novel (set in North Carolina), Wiley Cash has a way of immediately sinking his readers into the lives of characters who range from sympathetic to terrifying.  Here's what the book is about:

For a curious boy like Jess Hall, growing up in Marshall means trouble when you get caught spying on grown-ups. Adventurous and precocious, Jess is protective of his older brother, Christopher, a mute whom everyone calls Stump. Though their mother has warned them not to snoop, Stump can't help sneaking a look at something he's not supposed to—an act that will have repercussions. It's a wrenching event that thrusts Jess into an adulthood for which he's not prepared. He now knows that a new understanding can bring not only danger and evil—but also the possibility of freedom and deliverance.  Told by resonant and evocative characters, A Land More Kind Than Home is a haunting tale of courage in the face of cruelty and the power of love to overcome the darkness that lives in us all.

“A Land More Kind Than Home is a powerfully moving debut that reads as if Cormac McCarthy decided to rewrite Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.” (Richmond Times-Dispatch )

Another author, Cinthia Ritchie, is making her debut this month with her novel Dolls Behaving Badly.  Ritchie's world is about as far away from that in A Land More Kind Than Home as you can get; it's set in Alaska, where the author also lives.  (Cinthia and I may or may not have taken a creative writing class together at the University of Alaska Anchorage--both of our memories are a little fuzzy; but I do remember reading her excellent reportage for the Anchorage Daily News during the time I lived in Alaska).  Here's what's in store for you inside Dolls Behaving Badly:

Carla Richards is a lot of things. She's a waitress at Anchorage's premier dining establishment, Mexico in an Igloo; an artist who secretly makes erotic dolls for extra income; a divorcée who can't quite detach from her ex-husband; and a single mom trying to support her gifted eight-year-old son, her pregnant sister, and her babysitter-turned-resident-teenager.  She's one overdue bill away from completely losing control-when inspiration strikes in the form of a TV personality. Now she's scribbling away in a diary, flirting with an anthropologist, and making appointments with a credit counselor.  Still, getting her life and dreams back on track is difficult. Is perfection really within reach? Or will she wind up with something even better?

"Reader, you hold in your hands a novel so true and heartfelt you'll want to buy it for everyone you know."  (Jo-Ann Mapson, author of Solomon's Oak and Finding Casey)

If you'd like a chance at winning a copy of A Land More Kind Than Home and Dolls Behaving Badly, all you have to do is email your name and mailing address to thequiveringpen@gmail.com

Put FRIDAY FREEBIE in the e-mail subject line.  One entry per person, please.  Despite its name, the Friday Freebie runs all week long and remains open to entries until midnight on Feb. 14—at which time I'll draw the winning name.  I'll announce the lucky reader on Feb. 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 any of those things, send me an additional e-mail saying "I've shared" and I'll put your name in the hat twice.