Katherine Hill's "The Violet Hour"

Katherine Hill is the author of The Violet Hour, a novel first published by Scribner in July 2013.

Her short fiction has been published by AGNI, Colorado Review, The Common, n+1, Philadelphia Stories, and Word Riot, and has been honored with the Nelligan Prize, the Marguerite McGlinn Prize, and fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including The Believer, Bookforum, The Paris Review Daily, Philadelphia City Paper, Poets & Writers, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Currently an assistant editor at Barrelhouse, she is a former speechwriter at the University of Pennsylvania, and has taught writing at Philadelphia University, Mighty Writers in South Philadelphia, and the PEN Prison Writing Program in New England. She holds a BA from Yale and an MFA from Bennington College.

Here Hill dreamcasts an adaptation of The Violet Hour:

My husband and I recently spent the better part of a drive home from the airport dreaming up a new movie adaptation of As You Like It. We got as far as Channing Tatum for Charles the Wrestler and stopped—because it was too perfect a choice and no other decision could top it. I have a similar problem with my novel. I watch a lot of movies and I like to think about their approaches to storytelling, so I can certainly see parts of The Violet Hour cinematically—Cassandra and Abe’s explosive fight on their sailboat, for instance, or Cassandra’s first corpse, or Elizabeth’s adventure at an outdoor movie. But other aspects of my American family in disarray are perhaps too interior, more rooted in the words and thought of fiction than in the sights and sounds of the screen.

Which is not to say I’m opposed to The Violet Hour movie. Not at all. Not in the slightest. Do not get me wrong. I’d love to talk with you further. Because let’s be honest: having your book made into a movie is right up there with the double rainbow as one of the all-time coolest things that can happen to a person.

The common complaint is that movie adaptations ruin books by getting them wrong or changing too much (for instance, Martin Scorsese’s casting of blonde Michelle Pfeiffer as Madame Olenska and brunette Winona Ryder as May Welland in the otherwise masterful The Age of Innocence, when it should’ve been the other way around). I’m of the opposite school: I’d actually love to see a director riff on the book a little, create something new that only cinema can make. Forget literal adaptations. After all, most of my favorite recent movies, from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s L’Enfant to Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, rely on the unique tools of cinema—faces, spaces, and sound—to tell stories very differently from me.

All right then, so who would I pick? Directors come to mind first. I really admire what Derek Cianfrance did with Cindy and Dean’s marriage in Blue Valentine, cutting back and forth between courtship and breakup; he’d be a top contender. So would Sofia Coppola, who is exceptional at framing the angst of privilege, making it look at once abhorrent and achingly fun.

Actors are harder for me to envision, because I’ve lived with these characters so long I can no longer see their faces. With two exceptions: Julianne Moore for Cassandra, and Russell Brand for Vince.

Learn more about the book and author at Katherine Hill's website and blog.

Writers Read: Katherine Hill.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jincy Willett's "Winner of the National Book Award"

Jincy Willett is the author of Jenny and the Jaws of Life, Winner of the National Book Award, The Writing Class, and Amy Falls Down. Her stories have been published in Cosmopolitan, McSweeney's Quarterly and other magazines.

Here Willett shares some insight into casting an adaptation of Winner of the National Book Award:

I'd love to see Winner of the National Book Award as a movie.

Abigail and Dorcas Mather are fraternal twins living in Rhode Island. Dorcas is virginal, slender, acerbic; she's the head librarian at Squanto. Her sister is plump, sexually voracious, amoral; she kills her husband and becomes a feminist icon. Dorcas narrates the novel as she waits for an imminent hurricane and reads a bestseller her sister has written, a largely false memoir about her travails as an abused wife.

I know Abigail better than anyone else in the world, and if I were asked to explain this or that particular thing, I could probably give a fairly accurate account of her motivations. I can report that duty has never played an even minor part in her decisions; that she is moved solely by the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain; that she derives pleasure from an astonishing variety of sources, and pain from astonishingly few; and so on. I can even predict her behavior, with a respectable success rate.

"But I don't understand her at all. To understand you have to do more than predict and explain. You must feel some degree of empathy. I have a greater understanding of cats and internal combustion engines and Iranians than I do of my twin sister Abigail.

Abigail would ideally be played by Cynthia Ettinger, who can definitely play bawds. She was particularly wonderful in Carnivàle.

Learn more about the book and author at Jincy Willett's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Andrea Lochen's "The Repeat Year"

Andrea Lochen earned her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. While there, she won a Hopwood Novel Award for a draft of The Repeat Year, her first novel. She currently lives in suburban Milwaukee with her husband and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha.

Here Lochen dreamcasts an adaptation of The Repeat Year:

Casting actors for The Repeat Year is actually a lot more challenging than I thought it would be, but what a fun challenge and a great excuse to pore over the Internet Movie Database for a few hours!

My protagonist, Olive Watson, the young ICU nurse who finds herself reliving the previous year, was the hardest one for me to cast because she’s so dear to me, and I feel like I would need to entrust her to someone really beautiful and talented. I think she’d be in good hands portrayed by the lovely Kate Mara because of the depth, intelligence, and sensitivity she brings to every role she plays.

Her best friend, Kerrigan Morland, would have to be played by Kirsten Dunst because they share fun, party-girl personalities with a slight edge to them and blond good looks—“Her face was strikingly pretty, pretty in the way of prom queens and girls in skin cleanser commercials, but her dressed-down appearance tempered the effect” (39).

Olive’s love interest, Phil Russell, is “that rare and refreshing combination of a person who is both drop-dead gorgeous and completely unaware of it” (76). I think Jake Gyllenhaal or Zac Efron would both be good picks, although they have blue eyes, while Phil is supposed to have eyes that are a “brilliant shade of green…with a kaleidoscope pattern of amber overlaying his irises” (76). Colored contacts, perhaps?

Lastly, Kathy Bates would make a phenomenal Sherry Witan (an experienced “repeater” who becomes Olive’s mentor) with her frank, bold attitude and fierce sense of humor. Every character Bates portrays is larger than life and legendary from Fried Green Tomatoes to Titanic, and Sherry Witan is definitely one of those characters.

Learn more about the book and author at Andrea Lochen's website and Facebook page.

Writers Read: Andrea Lochen.

The Page 69 Test: The Repeat Year.

--Marshal Zeringue

Aric Davis's "The Fort"

Born in Ithaca, New York, Aric Davis has lived most his life in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the author of A Good and Useful Hurt and the acclaimed YA novel Nickel Plated, called by Gillian Flynn a “dark but humane, chilling and sometimes heart-breaking work of noir” and given a “Top 10” Booklist designation in 2011. A punk-music and tattoo aficionado, Davis has been a professional body piercer for sixteen years.

Here Davis dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, The Fort:

I have to admit, though I frequently have fantasies of one of my novels being made into a movie, rarely do I go through with actually casting my imaginary production. That said, making this list might just have turned this task into a new hobby. My new novel, The Fort, with its youthful heroes and absolutely deplorable antagonist, seems to me like it would work as a feature film. As fun as writing about this stuff is, imagining actors fleshing out these roles is a freaking riot. Now then, onto the casting call.

Matt Hooper: Who best to play the damaged and insane Vietnam Veteran? As The Fort is set firmly in the year 1987, someone younger than you might immediately think is in order. To me, Michael Fassbender seems a good fit. I think he could do crazy well, and his growing resume in films like Prometheus and Inglourious Basterds more than speaks for itself.

Detective Dick Van Endel: This is a toughie, mostly because I normally picture the grizzled, older version of Van Endel that has graced some of my books set in a more modern setting. Casting The Fort, I need someone who looks like they could grow up to be grizzled, but also has the sort of wet-behind-the-ears jerkiness that helps to define this younger detective. I think Ben Affleck would be a perfect fit for this role, and as he would also be one of my first picks when it comes to choosing directors, he seems to be an ideal choice.

Scott, Tim, and Luke: These are the make it or break it characters, the lynchpin that holds the whole thing together. After all, we’re talking about casting 3 twelve year old boys here, and as anyone who has seen both The Phantom Menace and The Sixth Sense can tell you, casting the wrong kid can define the way an audience reacts to the film. For these three twelve year olds my pick would be to avoid the waiting stable of manufactured Disney Channel fluff, and go with three unknown would be actors.

Andrea Martinez: Dick Van Endel’s butt kicking partner for the mission, judo loving child psyche Andrea Martinez needs to be cast in a way that makes her more than just a shell of a person. Andrea carries weight in The Fort, and I want her to on film as well. I think her shoes would be well filled by Gina Carano.

Molly Peterson: Molly, the unfortunate kidnapping victim of Matt Hooper needs to be strong in a performance that will likely see her suffering for art. I think Demi Lovato might be a good fit for Molly. The X-Factor judge has yet to break out as an adult actress, and I think this could be the role that would do it.

The rest of the casting would have a lot to do with finding people that matched the appearances of the three boys cast as the 12 year old antagonists, but otherwise, I think we have a good group. I’ll probably find some role for me as well, man in bar, homeless person, or guy getting arrested. It’s good to have options!

Learn more about the book and author at the official Aric Davis website.

The Page 69 Test: The Fort.

--Marshal Zeringue

Clare Mulley's "The Spy Who Loved"

Clare Mulley is the award-winning author of two biographies. The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville (2013) is 'scrumptuously researched and expertly rendered... outstanding', according to The Daily Beast, ‘assiduously researched, passionately written and highly atmospheric’ says The Economist, and ‘compulsively readable… thrilling’ in the words of Britain's Telegraph.

Mulley's other biography, The Woman Who Saved the Children is about Eglantyne Jebb (2009), the founder of Save the Children who did not care for individual children, won the British Daily Mail Biographers’ Club prize. All royalties from this book are donated to the charity.

Mulley also contributed to The Arvon Book of Life Writing (2010). She is a regular radio contributor, speaks at leading international literary and history events, and writes and reviews for various papers and journals including The Spectator and History Today. She lives in Essex, England, with her husband and three daughters.

Here Mulley dreamcasts an adaptation of The Spy Who Loved:

The eponymous Spy Who Loved was Krystyna Skarbek, aka Christine Granville, Britain’s first female special agent of WWII. This Polish, part-Jewish, Countess and pre-war beauty queen would become one of the most successful and highly decorated agents of the war. The book title is not only an oblique reference to James Bond – Christine was an inspiration for Bond’s creator Ian Fleming – but also a reference to Christine’s huge appetite for life, which she loved in its widest sense. She loved danger, adventure and adrenalin. She loved men – she had two husbands and numerous lovers. But most of all she loved freedom; freedom for her country, Poland, and the Allies, and freedom for herself. Who on earth could play such a woman and bring to life not only her magnetism, but her great patriotism, courage, determination, occasional cruelty and deep generosity?

The tempting answer is Rachel Weisz, not just a dark-haired beauty and action actress, but in real life Mrs James Bond, in that she is married to Daniel Craig. Or what about the stunning Eva Green who played Vesper Lynd, the Bond beauty reputedly inspired by Christine, in the 2006 film of Casino Royale? I would have to resist both, great actresses though both may be. The link to Bond is just too close for comfort. Christine’s life and achievements, even her looks, may have inspired Fleming, but she herself was much more Bond that Bond-girl. She demands an actress who will keep her centre stage.

Whether there will be a film of Krystyna’s remarkable life is yet to be seen, but it seems that casting her is already a popular game. In the 1950s a screenplay was written by Bill Stanley Moss, author of Ill Met By Moonlight (about his and Paddy Leigh Fermor’s WWII work as special agents in Crete). Moss knew Krystyna well, and also wrote a series of articles about her for Picture Post, but the film project was finally shelved. Had it not have been, we might have enjoyed watching Sarah Churchill, the actress daughter of British war-time leader Sir Winston Churchill, in the role that she was apparently keen to play. More recently Agnieszka Holland was rumoured to be interested in a biopic of Krystyna, and leading ladies mooted included Kate Winslet and Tilda Swinton. And only this week Jezebel.com considered the same thing, with Franka Potente, Noomi Rapace, Anna Chancellor and Sharleen Spiteri all being flagged up.

Personally I would plump for the excellent Agnieszka Grochowska, a charismatic actress who could bring Polish insight as well as the acting skill and great beauty required to really give depth to this extraordinary and complex woman. But whether any actress could capture Krystyna completely I doubt, and perhaps that is how she would have preferred things; to be known, admired, emulated even, but ultimately - still free.

Learn more about the book and author at Clare Mulley's website, and view a short video of the author talking about the book.

--Marshal Zeringue

Em Garner's "Contaminated"

Em Garner has been writing stories since she learned to spell and watching movies for longer than that. Her favorite stories and films are the ones that feature things that go bump in the night. Ghosts, vampires, monsters of all sorts and of course, zombies.

Garner’s dream cast for the movie adaptation of her new novel, Contaminated:

Contaminated isn’t about zombies. Not really. Connies aren’t the risen undead, but rather our neighbors, teachers, friends and family who had the bad luck to drink contaminated protein water that’s now left them incapable of controlling their violent impulses. Connies don’t feel pain or feel like uncontaminated people, but they’re still human. So, Contaminated is really about how we take care of the people we love, even when they’ve become different from how we knew them.

Velvet Ellis at seventeen is in charge of taking care of her younger sister Opal, and also her mother Malinda, who’s been contaminated but is now released into her daughter’s care. Fitted with a shocking collar that keeps her from becoming violent, Malinda is not supposed to be able to take care of herself in many ways, but she proves otherwise.

For Velvet, I’d love to see Emma Watson. I think she’s got the perfect combination of vulnerability and strength that Velvet has.

Opal’s a little tougher to cast. Willow Shields was so excellent as Prim in The Hunger Games, I think she’d be a great Opal! Smart, sassy and strong.

And, though it might not seem like an obvious choice, Angelina Jolie would be my dream Malinda. Beautiful but with the capability of looking frail and strong at the same time. Jolie’s also an actress who’s not afraid to look ugly. She’d be a great Malinda.

Dillon, the nice boy who befriends Velvet and her family, should be played by One Direction’s Harry Styles. Why? Because my daughter loves him!

Going one step further, I’d like Ed Sheeran to write the movie’s theme song.

Learn more about the book and author at Em Garner's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Contaminated.

--Marshal Zeringue

J. M. Sidorova's "The Age of Ice"

J.M. Sidorova was born in Moscow when it was the capital of the USSR, to the family of an official of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. She attended Moscow State University and the graduate school of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1990 and works as a research professor at the University of Washington, where she studies cellular biology of aging and carcinogenesis.

Here Sidorova dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Age of Ice:

This exercise of imagination could be called an author’s guilty pleasure. What fancy… Heck, why not let it soar? The imaginary, eight hour-long movie The Age of Ice that sometimes plays in my head, is probably directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, whose work had made an indelible impression on me as a teenager, and who would have to come back from the dead to make this one. In this imaginary movie, the main character, Prince Alexander Velitzyn, is occasionally played by Alexander Skarsgård and other times by Benedict Cumberbatch. And Alexander’s brother Andrei —

Here I realize that the task of assigning actors to my characters is more difficult than I thought. I’ve now spent hours poking around IMDB, googling Russian-American actors, and the casts of True Blood and Game of Thrones (because their headshots are lined up so conveniently and there are so many to choose from), and still I’ve made virtually no progress. All I know is that Martin Sawyer is definitely Richard Hammond of the BBC show Top Gear; and other than that, Dr. Merck looks somewhat like the last Russian Emperor Nikolai Romanov, only younger and without a beard; and Anna Velitzyn is close to Princess de Broglie as painted by Ingres. This makes it possible, I guess, for her to be played by Carice van Hoyten who could also play Anna von Welleren, if she’d like. And Elizabeth Goretsky? Hmm, maybe Ellen Page. Or Rachel Weisz. Like I said, it’s not easy.

Learn more about the book and author at J.M. Sidorova's website, blog and the Scribner website.

The Page 69 Test: The Age of Ice.

Writers Read: J. M. Sidorova.

--Marshal Zeringue

Scott Britz-Cunningham's "Code White"

Scott Britz-Cunningham was born and raised in the Chicago area. An MD and a PhD, he works as a staff radiologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and is an assistant professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his debut thriller, Code White:

For me, this is an easy question to answer, since at an early stage I adopted Rachel Weisz as a model for my protagonist, Ali O’Day.

Ali is a young neurosurgeon (as young as one can be after four years of college, four years of medical school, six years of neurosurgery residency and a couple years of research fellowship). She’s struggling to establish herself in one of the last bastions of male chauvinism in medicine, but her heaviest challenges come from within. Born in Egypt (her maiden name is Aliyah Sabra Al-Sharawi), she suffered a profound trauma as a young girl, which has left her with a condition called thymophobia — an extreme, at times physically disabling, aversion to any expression of strong emotion. She tries to escape into the almost monastically calm world of the operating room and laboratory, and uses yoga to keep her thoughts in check. But it’s all in vain. Underneath her surgeon’s mask she hides a volcano of feeling, all the stronger for having been repressed.

During the eleven hours in which the book takes place, a bomb threat to Ali’s hospital progressively strips away all of her emotional defenses. In the end, she discovers that the bomb plot in question is no random event. She herself is its true target, and her emotional disability is precisely what caused it. She can only save her hospital and patients if she is willing to confront the horror that lurks in her past.

It would take a special actress to play this role. First of all, she has to project intelligence and iron determination. She cuts into people’s brains for a living. She makes half a dozen life-or-death decisions before breakfast. She’s a key player in a revolutionary experiment that could restore eyesight to a blind boy.

Because of her thymophobia, Ali is outwardly very tightly controlled. So, an actress playing her is limited in the gestures and voice inflections she can use. And yet, she has to show that there are chinks in this emotional armor. Flashes of deep, even violent feeling must break through. And then, in the final scenes, with all her inhibitions gone, something of the reverse must occur. Amid her raging emotions, Ali is sustained by a core of inner strength and determination that keeps her from losing her grip on reality. As a writer, I have the advantage of tapping into Ali’s inner monologues to convey all this. But for an actress, with nothing but face, voice and body language at her disposal, it would be quite a task. Unusual emotional range is needed, along with exquisite subtlety, and, at times, restraint. She has to project both hardness and vulnerability — sometimes together.

Forget The Mummy and The Bourne Legacy. Anyone who has seen Rachel Weisz in Agora or The Constant Gardener or The Shape of Things knows that she has the chops to do this. Physically, too, she would be right to play a woman of middle eastern descent, who for years has passed as typically American. Because I deliberately patterned Ali after her, the descriptions of Ali’s appearance in the book are a perfect match.

Bottom line: none but Rachel Weisz for me.

As for the other characters, I could see someone like Tom Wilkinson as Ali’s cerebral Chief of Neurosurgery and Ms. Weisz’ real-life husband Daniel Craig as Security Chief Harry Lewton. Although he runs against the physical description in the book, I would love to see Adrien Brody as Ali’s estranged-and-deranged genius husband. It’s a part that needs to evoke sympathy as well as chilling fear.

View the graphic trailer for Code White, and learn more about the book and author at Scott Britz-Cunningham's website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

Stephanie Hepburn & Rita Simon's "Human Trafficking Around the World"

Stephanie Hepburn was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Scottish and Colombian immigrants, and grew up in Columbia, Maryland. She is an independent journalist whose work has been published in Americas Quarterly, USA Today U-Wire, and Gender Issues. She is a weekly and monthly contributing writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Her book with Rita J. Simon, Women’s Roles and Statuses the World Over, was named an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice.

Rita J. Simon is University Professor at American University in Washington, DC. Her research interests and primary areas of concentration in academic work are law and society; the jury system; immigration policies and public opinion; trans-racial adoption; women and the criminal justice system; women's issues; and Israeli society. She has published over sixty books in these fields.

Here Hepburn shares some ideas for adapting their new book, Human Trafficking Around the World: Hidden in Plain Sight, for the cinema:

Human Trafficking Around the World: Hidden in Plain Sight is non-fiction, but in addition to critical statistics that are necessary for giving as close to an accurate image as possible of the extent of human trafficking in the world, the book is packed full of stories, which to me are the glue and heart of the book. It isn’t just one person’s story that is told. There are many and so I view the book -- in part -- as a compilation of stories of the human trafficking experience all over the world.

Below is a true story that I believe is compelling, heart wrenching and illustrates the strength of the human spirit:

Mani was born a slave in Niger. Traditional slavery (a form of human trafficking) is not uncommon in Niger among minority ethnic groups such as the Toureg, Maure and Peule. At the age of 12 Mani’s master sold her to Naroua as a fifth wife (sadaka), which meant that she was acquired to work as both servant and concubine. She was raped and beaten any time Naroua found her disobedient. Mani, with the help of local attorneys and human rights organizations, exhausted her options in Niger. In fact, one Nigerien judge ruled, improperly, that a freed slave girl is the de facto wife of her master. This illustrates the strength of customary practices, which often prevails over law. Instead of backing down Mani brought a case against the Nigerien government before the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice for failure to implement laws against slavery.

The verdict was groundbreaking. The court held that Niger had the opportunity and obligation to protect Mani when she came before them and awarded her $22,626.94 in restitution. Although discrimination against women and traditional slavery continue in Niger, the Mani case opened up a much-needed national dialogue on the practice of slavery. After the decision Mani said:

It was very difficult to challenge my former master and to speak out when people see you as nothing more than a slave. But I knew that this was the only way to protect my child from suffering the same fate as myself. Nobody deserves to be enslaved. We are all equal and deserve to be treated the same. I hope that everybody in slavery today can find their freedom. No woman should suffer the way I did. With the compensation I will be able to build a house, raise animals, and farmland to support my family. I will also be able to send my children to school so they can have the education I was never allowed as a slave.

The decision is enormously significant, but what is striking is the will and endurance of a person who has been told from her first breath that she is not equal and that she has no rights. She withstood rape, mental and physical abuse and improper arrest and still maintained the willpower to push forward with cases against the person who enslaved her and also the government that failed her.

Thandie Newton would be a good fit for Mani. To me the character needs to show vulnerability and an internal strength of spirit that will endure and stand up to an entire nation that ignores her plight.

For Narou – the man who enslaved Mani – I think of Don Cheadle. The viewer needs to be able to see his struggle with understanding the concept of freedom, and his struggle to let go of his ownership and possession of Mani. His character will be understandably disliked, but he needs to be presented in a complex – not flat – fashion.

Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund (City of God/Cidade de Deus) would be excellent choices for directors.

Visit Stephanie Hepburn's website, and learn more about Human Trafficking Around the World at the Columbia University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Human Trafficking Around the World.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jessica Brockmole's "Letters from Skye"

Jessica Brockmole's new novel is Letters from Skye. When she's not writing, Brockmole can be found reviewing historical fiction as part of the Historical Novels Review's editorial team.

Here she shares some ideas about how to adapt the novel for the big screen:

I always find this a difficult question. “Who would play your characters in the movie version of your book?” I know many authors who write with actors already cast, soundtracks already orchestrated, directors already hidden between the pages, calling for close-ups. I’ve never been able to do that. While writing Letters from Skye, David and Elspeth, my American college student and my Scottish poet, appeared with faces and mannerisms and personalities all their own.

To me, a more interesting question to ponder is the how rather than the who. Letters from Skye is an epistolary novel. Apart from the odd poem or fairy tale or newspaper clipping, the whole story is told through letters. How might that be presented on the screen?

It would be easy to use letters to segue between scenes. Elspeth standing in front of her cottage, the panorama of Skye behind her, reading a letter as her chores go undone. David—who volunteers as an ambulance driver in the midst of WWI—folded into the driver’s seat of an ambulance, scribbling a response against the steering wheel as the shells of the trenches whine in the background. Reading and writing as a transition into the landscapes of Skye and of war. Excerpts could be read in voiceovers, or the envelopes could remain props.

Words are vital to the novel, as each character weighs them before picking up their pens to write a reply, but place also plays a big role. And the casting for that role is easy. Nothing less than the breath-held beauty of the Isle of Skye would do for filming. Built sets could fill in for Illinois and the trenches of the Western Front, but in this movie, Skye would play herself.

Letters from Skye is a story told in reminisces and frustrations and crossed-fingered wishes. It’s a story that, to me at least, begins with a hopefully penned “Dear Madame” rather than with a director’s cry of “action”. But against such a backdrop, both of history and of place, with characters determined and yearning to see what lies beyond the shore, any film would shine.

Learn more about the book and author at Jessica Brockmole's website, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

The Page 69 Test: Letters from Skye.

Writers Read: Jessica Brockmole.

--Marshal Zeringue