Vera Violet: A Novel by Melissa Anne Peterson (English) Paperback Book

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Set against the backdrop of a decaying Pacific Northwest lumber town, Vera Violet is a debut that explores themes of poverty, violence, and environmental degradation as played out in the young lives of a group of close-knit friends. Melissa Anne Peterson's voice is powerful and poetic, her vision unflinching.Vera Violet recounts the dark story of a rough group of teenagers growing up in a twisted rural logging town. There are no jobs. There is no sense of safety. But there is a small group of loyal friends, a truck waiting with the engine running, a pair of boots covered in blood, and a hot 1911 pistol with a pearl grip.Vera Violet O'Neel's home is in the Pacific Northwest-not the glamorous scene of coffee bars and craft beers, but the hardscrabble region of busted pickups and broken dreams. Vera's mother has left, her father is unstable, and her brother is deeply troubled. Against this gritty background, Vera struggles to establish a life of her own, a life fortified by her friends and her hard-won love. But the relentless poverty coupled with the twin lures of crystal meth and easy money soon shatter fragile alliances.Her world violently torn apart, Vera flees to St. Louis, Missouri. There, alone in a small apartment, she grieves for her broken family, her buried friends, and her beloved, Jimmy James Blood. In this brilliant, explosive debut, Melissa Anne Peterson establishes herself as a fresh, raw voice, a writer to be reckoned with.""Vera Violet is the most authentic and exciting debut I've read in a long time. At once gritty and jaw-droppingly lyrical, Peterson's voice is a clarion call for the downtrodden and disenchanted. Reading Vera Violet is nothing less than a visceral and stirring experience."" -Jonathan Evison, author of Lawn Boy

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Author Biography

Melissa Anne Peterson grew up in a rainy working-class logging town in Washington State. She received a BA and BS in writing and biology from The Evergreen State College and an MS from the University of Montana. She has worked in endangered species recovery in Washington and Montana for twelve years. Her writing has been published by Camas Magazine, Flyway- Journal of Writing & Environment, Oregon Quarterly, and Seal Press. Find out more at melissaannepeterson.com.

Review

One of CrimeReads's Most Anticipated Books of the Year "A tragic love story and a gritty drama." —Siobhan Jones, The New York Times Book Review"Poetic in its description of how capitalist society fails the poor . . . The sense of place in the novel is palpable, the treatment of its characters empathetic and complex . . . Vera Violet is a compelling read from a potent new voice." —Sarah Neilson, The Seattle Times"Thematically Vera Violet isn't a happy, or easy, read. But as literature it is beautiful, for all its grit and sorrow. Peterson snaps off sharp, rapid–fire sentences, then contrasts them with longer, poetic phrases that catch the reader's breath. For those of us who have grown up on the fringes of the more celebrated aspects of this part of the country, of the so–called 'American Dream,' the characters and their circumstances are all too familiar. Peterson honors those experiences, even as she makes no effort to glorify them. What she does is humanize the experience in a way that only someone who has lived them can do." —Chris LaTray, Missoulian"A coming-of-age story rife with drama, lyricism, and grit." —Audrey Barbakoff, 425 Magazine"Powerful . . . In the way incessant rainfall can be a mesmerizing and devastating force, Vera Violet is too." —Barbara Lloyd McMichael, Coast Weekend"The writing is lyrical and airy, the subject matter heavy and visceral. This is another quick read, and a rough one, demanding that the reader not look away from the realities of how capitalism fails rural America (and really, all of us)." —Electric Literature, 1 of 15 New Books for Your Winter Mood"Vera Violet possesses the kind of energy that only comes from experience . . . Raw and important." —Bethanne Patrick, Literary Hub"Dark and explosive . . . The novel offers no easy solutions but rather delves into the psychology of poverty and the vicious cycles that come with trying to survive. There's no preaching. Instead, Peterson brings life to a host of memorable characters whose struggles are seared into readers' brains. Vera Violet announces the arrival of a new writer who is comfortable with her craft and knows how to relay a story in vivid and affecting detail. Vera Violet packs a powerful punch." —Scott Neuffer, Shelf Awareness"Early on in Melissa Anne Peterson's Vera Violet, Vera says, 'An ocean of writhing, living blood surged between us. It enveloped the parking lot. It discolored the moon . . . It was dangerous and confusing. But there was no choice.' Gripped by Vera's dark world, you may feel exactly the same thing, pulled in as these kids are themselves, swept along despite the danger, wanting only to feel alive. Like Niall Griffith's Grits or Kelly + Victor, Vera Violet will leave you hoping against hope for these lost lives." —Pete Fromm, author of A Job You Mostly Won't Know How to Do"Vera Violet is raw, unflinching, and above all necessary. As the storyline spans the country and scoops up those both broken and beautiful, Peterson gives voice to the unheard and overlooked with an honesty few writers come close to achieving. This is writing that is lyrical in the way a caged animal is lyrical: fierce with a soleness of purpose, distilled, unadorned, and unapologetically alive." —Melissa Mylchreest, author of Waking the Bones"Vera Violet is the most authentic and exciting debut I've read in a long time. At once gritty and jaw–droppingly lyrical, Peterson's voice is a clarion call for the downtrodden and disenchanted. Reading Vera Violet is nothing less than a visceral and stirring experience." —Jonathan Evison, author of Lawn Boy"Mel Peterson is the literary voice of the dispossessed Pacific Northwest youth that we've come to know so well through song. Vera Violet is a fantastic debut." —Tobi Vail of Bikini Kill

Promotional

Publicity Plans:National media outreach to newspapers, NPR, podcasts, literary websites, literary publications Targeted coverage in national media with strong focus on women's magazines (pushing for profiles in Vogue, O, Marie Claire, and more) Pitching to all major applicable books clubs, including BOTM, Buzzfeed, HelloSunshine, Belletrist, SJP and more Placing essays or op-eds about the violent history of the timber industry and the secret power struggles happening in forests all around us Local media outreach in St. Louis and Montana (where the book is set) and in the Pacific Northwest (where the author resides) Author promotion through website at Event Schedule:Events throughout the Northwest, Montana, and Bay Area Portland Book Festival, Montana Book Festival, Bay Area Book FestivalTour Schedule:10/7/19 7:30am: Authors on the Map programming at PNBA, Portland, OR10/12/19 4:30–5:30pm: Books & Brews programming at MPIBA, Denver, CO2/4/20 6:00pm-7:00pm: Launch at Shelton Timberland Library, Shelton, WA2/6/20 7:00pm: Reading and book signing at Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA2/13/20 7:30pm: Reading and book signing at Powell's City of Books, Portland, OR2/18/20 7:00pm: Reading and book signing at the Chuckanut Radio Hour Recording at the Firehouse Arts and Events Center, Bellingham, WA2/19/20 7:00pm: Reading, in conversation with Jonathan Evison, and book signing at Third Place Books Lake Forest Park, Lake Forest Park, WA2/24/20 7:00pm: Reading, introduction by Chris Dombrowski, and book signing at Fact & Fiction Books, Missoula, MT2/27/20 6:00pm: Reading, in conversation with Grace Campbell, at Orca Books, Olympia, WA

Review Quote

Praise for Vera Violet " Vera Violet is the most authentic and exciting debut I've read in a long time. At once gritty and jaw-droppingly lyrical, Peterson's voice is a clarion call for the downtrodden and disenchanted. Reading Vera Violet is nothing less than a visceral and stirring experience." --Jonathan Evison, author of Lawn Boy "Mel Peterson is the literary voice of the dispossessed Pacific Northwest youth that we've come to know so well through song. Vera Violet is a fantastic debut." --Tobi Vail of Bikini Kill

Description for Sales People

In April 2018, Counterpoint employee Jenn Kovitz attended a reading with Jonathan Evison at The Book Catapult in San Diego, CA. During the q&a, Evison gushed about the singularity and grit of a self-published novel called "Jimmy James Blood" by a debut, self-taught, working-class writer Melissa Peterson, who was from the Pacific Northwest. Kovitz inquired about the manuscript after the reading, and Evison said he would reach out to Counterpoint editor at large, Harry Kirchner. Soon after, Kirchner circulated the manuscript of "Jimmy James Blood" to the Counterpoint staff. And it quickly received fierce and unanimous in-house support. There was only one change to be made: the novel was truly about the strong, unforgettable voice of the protagonist, Vera Violet. So Counterpoint, with Person''s blessing, changed the novel''s title, and to widely publish the book in an affordable, TPO format to best champion this incredible debut by a too-infrequently-heard American voice Vera Violet is a wonderful YA/new adult crossover option. It''s also a book club book, a book that people can use as a catalyst for conversations about American history, western states'' history, class, and women in the working class. There are ample opportunities to open up discussions about working-class feelings of powerlessness, lack of voice and space, and power dynamics of capitalism. Vera Violet doesn''t coddle a reader and does leave many things unanswered, but to great emotional effect One of the real strengths of this novel is the pace of the narration, which is both poetic at the sentence level and profound when considered more broadly. The reader is given clues to understanding the circumstances of Jimmy James''s arrest throughout, but these details are indistinguishable from other, more mundane observations. For the disenfranchised, anything and everything--what someone wears, how they speak, what they drive, how they form relationships, what kind of family they come from--is likely to incriminate them at some point in some form. At some level, the details don''t actually matter because they don''t matter to the people in power. As such, the non-sequential order of disclosure, especially about relationships between characters, is a wonderfully effective narrative technique Set in the Pacific Northwest (lower Salish Sea/Puget Sound), Montana, and Missouri, Vera Violet will have wide-ranging regional resonance and connections. The author herself is from Shelton, WA, and has worked jobs as a logger, an inner-city youth counselor in Missouri, a trail crew member and wildlands firefighter in South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida. She later began work in endangered species recovery in Washington and Montana, before receiving her Masters of Sciences from University of Montana. She is now a biologist and specializes in endangered species recovery and pollution monitoring. Don''t miss author Melissa Anne Peterson''s op-ed in The Missoulian immediately following Trump''s election: "We are not going to make America great again. We have to make America great for the first time since early European businessmen came here with their economic model that replaced culture. Now is not the time to lie down in despair. Lay down your body in protest. Lay down virtues you will live by, lines you will not cross. Create the world that didn''t exist." Author lives in Shelton, WA Lexile Measure: HL620L Bookseller Praise for Vera Violet "I devoured this book in two sittings. A gritty, poetic debut set in the rural Pacific Northwest--where jobs are few, drugs abound, and relationships are held together by tenuous threads. Melissa Anne Peterson has written a fantastic, unique debut--I hope this book gets the attention it deserves." --Julie Slavinsky, Warwick''s (La Jolla, CA) "In Melissa Anne Peterson''s stark literary debut, her love of all that is wild shines through the dark depiction of a Pacific Northwest that we don''t usually read about. For readers who like their novels to come filled with grit and desolation. Gorgeous imagery and use of language." --Buffy Cummins, Tattered Cover (Denver, CO) "Tough times have come to the Pacific Northwest timber towns, once thriving and filled with the bustle of families going about their daily lives to support the folks in the timber industry. Now buildings are dilapidated and the town is half empty. There''s not much for young people to look forward to or to do at all. When drugs get involved, there''s no turning back. As Vera flees the only home she has ever known, she moves to St. Louis and takes a job in the city at a school. But all she sees around her is a reminder of what she has lost. This is a poignant, sincere debut novel by a writer destined to make a name for herself. You should get in on the beginning!" --Linda Bond, Auntie''s Bookstore (Spokane, WA) "Melissa Anne Peterson''s lyrical debut about difficult lives and fraying bonds in rural Washington State is written with such a powerful immediacy that it holds readers in a perpetual present tense, even as the narrative switches between points in time. The tale is told in the singular voice of the title character, but the manner in which the cast grows--new characters don''t just enter; rather, they are layered into the story--feels like a choral work, or an epic poem. Vera Violet is the embodiment of the only way for an artist to capture overwhelming hardship and crushing poverty: with a beating heart, open eyes, and gritted teeth." --Keith Mosman, Powell''s Books (Portland, OR) " Vera Violet has the feeling of Jonathan Franzen''s Freedom. Peterson has a unique style of writing, and it was easy to get through." --Mary Ferris, Penguin Bookshop (Sewickley, PA) "I love so much about Vera Violet . I love the familiarity of its setting. I love its gritty story of people--my people--resigned to essentially having to choose from a forest of opportunities, most of which are bad. I love the voice of our narrator, for whom the book is named. I love the story of the book''s author, debut novelist Melissa Anne Peterson, and her path to publication with none of the bonafides of the ''typical'' debut author. That makes her one of my people too. Finally, I love knowing I''ve got a new book to recommend all through 2020 and a new writer to mention right up there with the likes of some of my other favorites of the style, people like Willy Vlautin, Daniel Woodrell, and Larry Brown. Melissa Anne Peterson more than holds her own against those dudes." --Chris La Tray, Fact & Fiction (Missoula, MT) "In a forested rural town by the Skokomish River, Vera Violet O''Neel lives in a community rampant with poverty and methamphetamines. If you''re from Cota Street, you know how to fight to stay alive. As she makes an escape to St. Louis, she gradually unveils the bits and pieces that make up the violence and tragedies among enemies and loved ones alike that drove her to make a run for it. Peterson''s descriptions of Pacific Northwest living and the struggles of addiction are accurate, capturing the roughness of difficult upbringings and the rustic surroundings where it all takes place. Grungy and gorgeously written." --Andrew King, University Book Store (Seattle, WA) "This novel balances grit and lyricism like very few can. Melissa Anne Peterson paints a detailed portrait of the Pacific Northwest that doesn''t come to mind for most. This is a story about teenagers coming of age in a rural logging town that is long past its prime. This is also a story about broken families, broken economies, and a broken environment versus the raw power of the human spirit." --Samantha Tovey, Tattered Cover (Denver, CO)

Details ISBN1640092323 Author Melissa Anne Peterson Pages 256 Publisher Counterpoint Year 2020 ISBN-10 1640092323 ISBN-13 9781640092327 Short Title Vera Violet Language English Format Paperback Imprint Counterpoint Subtitle A Novel Place of Publication Berkeley Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2020-02-04 NZ Release Date 2020-02-04 US Release Date 2020-02-04 Publication Date 2020-02-04 UK Release Date 2020-02-04 DEWEY 813.6 Audience General We've got this

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