Bonny Gable
“The Martha Odyssey” by local author Bonny Gable is a fictional story that weaves local history and legend into its pages. The campus of Martha Washington College in Abingdon, Virginia, thriving today as The Martha Washington Inn & Spa, was once a vibrant scene of academic pursuit and social life for young women from myriad states in the American South. Gable’s book, to be released May 30, by Luminare Press, sweeps the reader into that world of early 20th-century college life in a mystery tale of one young woman’s complex journey of determination and bravery.
It’s 1915 and young Beatrice Damron burns to become a professional classical pianist. She leaves behind her meager mountain home and enters Martha Washington College to study at its well-regarded music conservatory, unaware of what lies in wait for her there. Thrilled to exhibit her prowess with Beethoven and Brahms, she wows students and professors alike. Yet a menacing presence lurks that bedevils her.
The campus is full of ghosts, they say. But are Beatrice’s demons from the past or the present?
Beatrice seeks solace beyond the college halls and discovers a simpler world with Jonah, the town outcast. Captivated with this new-found joy, she begins to lead two separate lives. But when tragedy strikes, her two worlds collide with life-threatening consequences—and Jonah is at the center of it all. To avert further disaster, Beatrice must take dangerous risks that may cost her everything.
“In a historical novel rich with vivid, meticulous detail,” says Ross Carter, author and playwright/composer of “Madame Buttermilk,” “Bonny Gable . . . shows us characters who are sharp, intrepid, bold, deceitful, fun-loving and just plain wicked, all entangled in a story that races to a page-turning climax like Beatrice Damron’s fingers sweeping over her piano keys.”
Rhonda Kindig, educator and author of “Glossary of Grace” and “Windows to the Word,” speaks to the book’s historical underpinning. “With a base of impeccable research, Bonny Gable has evoked characters and settings so vividly the reader is transported to 1915 Abingdon, Virginia, to experience the prejudices of the socioeconomic and racial divides that infected the Appalachian community.”
Mary Yolanda Trigiani, co-author of “Cooking with My Sisters,” says, “’The Martha Odyssey’ presents a daughter of the Appalachian Mountains—clear-headed, strong, resourceful, fearless — at the center of a story that entertains and intrigues.”
Gable’s love of storytelling is fueled by her career as a college theater professor, a performer and a keen observer of human nature. She is an arts journalist and a member of Dramatists Guild of America living near historic Abingdon, Virginia. See her other work at www.bonnygable.com.
Join the author for a book launch reception to be held at The Martha Washington Inn & Spa, The Edith Wilson Parlors, June 15 from 1-3 p.m. She will sign copies as well as display and discuss historical artifacts that inspired the story.
Books will be available for purchase from Amazon, Bookshop.org, Holston Mountain Artisans in Abingdon and at the book launch.
