I'm really excited to take part in the Landry Park Blog Tour!
Bethany Hagen is sharing some of the inspiration behind her debut novel as well as a playlist.
Check it out!
In a fragmented future United States ruled by the
lavish Gentry, sixteen year old Madeline Landry dreams of going off to
the University. Gentry decorum and her domineering father
won’t allow that. Madeline must marry, like a good Landry woman, and
run the family estate.
But her world is turned upside down when her childhood friend is attacked and she witnesses Gentry golden boy David Dana secretly helping a Rootless girl, in spite of the fact that the Rootless, who maintain the nuclear power the country relies on, are exposed to dangerous radiation.
As Madeline begins to question everything she has been taught her whole life, rumors of war and rebellion begin to swirl amidst Gentry courtships and extravagant debuts. Soon Madeline finds herself and David at the center of it all. Ultimately, she is forced to make a choice: to stay with the Gentry—her family, her charmed life, and the estate she loves dearly—or to join David in the fight for Rootless equality.
But her world is turned upside down when her childhood friend is attacked and she witnesses Gentry golden boy David Dana secretly helping a Rootless girl, in spite of the fact that the Rootless, who maintain the nuclear power the country relies on, are exposed to dangerous radiation.
As Madeline begins to question everything she has been taught her whole life, rumors of war and rebellion begin to swirl amidst Gentry courtships and extravagant debuts. Soon Madeline finds herself and David at the center of it all. Ultimately, she is forced to make a choice: to stay with the Gentry—her family, her charmed life, and the estate she loves dearly—or to join David in the fight for Rootless equality.
Landry Park is very much a tribute to all the things I loved in high school and college. I once read
a magnificent blog post by Amanda Palmer
where she compared input and creation to a blender. The artist puts
things into the blender and chooses a setting, and then out comes the
art, either
completely pureed or with recognizable slivers of the ingredients,
depending on the setting the author chose.
Landry Park has sizable slivers of Jane Austen (and the inevitable BBC Jane Austen movies,) of Mark Girouard’s
Life in an English Country House, of Science Channel documentaries and of too much downtime in a suburban museum reading about bomb shelters.
Specifically, I would credit
Downton Abbey, which came out while I was in the middle of a massive revision, both the 1995 and the 2005
Pride and Prejudice movies, Gone with the Wind (the movie and the book), Evelyn Waugh’s
Brideshead Revisited, and Ian McEwan’s Atonement, which I was reading just as I was beginning to think about large homes and the dysfunctional families inside of them.
As for music, I tend
to listen to mostly modern classical while I work on Landry Park, music
that I could imagine filling ballrooms and filtering in during summer
brunches on the lawn. Here are a few perennial
favorites:
Primavera by Ludovico Einaudi.
Comptine d'un Autre Eté by Yann Tierson
Postcard to Henry Purcell by Jean Yves-Thibaudet
Arrival of the Birds by the Cinematic Orchestra
Amy Abroad by Thomas Newman
You can find my full Landry Park playlist on Spotify!
About Bethany Hagen:
Bethany Hagen was born and raised in Kansas City, meaning she can tolerate jazz for brief amounts of time and is offended by dry rub barbecue. She grew up reading Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, and all things King Arthur. When she's not working at the library or running around with her kids and husband, she's writing or thinking about writing. Landry Park is her debut book.
Bethany Hagen was born and raised in Kansas City, meaning she can tolerate jazz for brief amounts of time and is offended by dry rub barbecue. She grew up reading Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, and all things King Arthur. When she's not working at the library or running around with her kids and husband, she's writing or thinking about writing. Landry Park is her debut book.
GIVEAWAY
1 Hard Cover Copy of LANDRY PARK by Bethany Hagen
U.S. Only/Must be 13 years old to enter/Void where prohibited.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Tough question! There aren't any dystopian worlds I would REALLY want to live in, but if I had to pick, I'd go with one where I could tag along with a strong character. I'm thinking Allie from the Blood of Eden series would be up to the task.
ReplyDeleteStephanie @ Inspiring Insomnia
I don't know that I would want to live in any dystopian world at all. But if I had to? Hmmmm....does All Our Yesterdays count as dystopian? Because I don't remember the society itself being the worst ever - although only one book in the series has been released, so I guess I don't really know the full story about that world yet :) But it was an awesome book! As for a few I would NOT want to live in - Inhuman by Kat Falls, Legend by Marie Lu, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Eve by Anna Carey, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, etc. etc. You get the point :) Anyway thank you SO much for offering this giveaway, I want to read this SO FREAKING BAD!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway! Hmmmm...all dystopian worlds are bad...but if I had to pick, I'd probably pick the world in Under the Never Sky. I'm not really sure why... it just really intrigues me!
ReplyDeleteI would like to live in a dystopian world that is similar to The Divergent. I think it's unique how the world is divided into factions by their virtues. Thank you so much for this amazing giveaway! :)
ReplyDeleteNone of them... but if I had to choose one probably Divergent. Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDelete