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Who is the Enigmatic Renia and Her Sister?
Hi everyone, as we get closer to the release of The Forgetting Flower, I thought it would be fun to do an introduction for a few of the characters. First up is my protagonist, Renia, and her sister Estera.
Renia Baranczka is a young woman who grew up on the outskirts of Kraków in Poland. She comes from an intact family, albeit a working class one, and has one sibling, a twin sister. Renia’s mother named Renia the Polish word for “queen” and her sister Estera the word for “star” because she’s old fashioned but aspires for her daughters to be special. Plus, she believes that God blessed her twice with the birth of twins. When her daughters were young, she raised them with a stern, religious hand. There was no misbehaving, no loud rude voices, no fighting, and lots of chores and hard work. Plus, mass every Sunday. Also, because the family lacked money, the two were expected to earn good grades so they could grow up and find sufficient jobs.
Twin Girls, Different Personalities
While Renia was obedient and learned at an early age that bickering with her parents wasn’t fruitful, her sister, Estera, did not. She was more extroverted and emotional. While Renia was shy and examined each move she made in life, Estera often dove in on impulse. These two approaches followed them through their schooling and sometimes got Estera into trouble with her teachers. Then, at age 18, Renia applied to earn an art history degree at a university and Estera went to vocational school for horticulture. This led to Estera later landing a job on an estate as a gardener and Renia essentially being unemployed. She worked at odd jobs in a museum, as a gardener, and an office assistant at the hospital where her mother worked.
While growing up, both Renia and Estera heard stories about Paris and France from their uncle Feliks. As a young man, he’d met a French student in Kraków who he’d followed back to France and eventually married. Nanette. She was the daughter of a farmer and Uncle Feliks helped her father by working on his farm for a few years before he started selling vegetables and flowers on the side. He soon started a wholesale plant nursery, growing vegetables, perennials, and annuals. After another five years, he and Nanette inherited a small bit of money and bought a few acres in the countryside outside of Paris. There, they grew their nursery into a large business.
The Dream of Paris
At hearing the stories of Paris and Uncle Feliks’s success in France, both Renia and Estera longed to go there. Paris captured their imagination. Later, as teenagers, they visited their Uncle and Aunt on their small farm during a few summers. Renia fell in love with the art and culture of Paris, Estera fell in love with the worldliness and vibrancy of the city. At that point, they made a plan to move there someday. Renia would work in some capacity related to art and Estera would work somehow with plants.
Unfortunately, by the time their mid-twenties rolled around, both women were working but with their parents’ lack of funds and opportunities, much of their money went to keeping the family afloat. Their father, Feodor, worked in construction management but would sometimes be let go when the economy weakened and building suffered. He had long bouts of unemployment. Though their mother worked as a nurse steadily in a hospital, the family didn’t have enough money to pay for a broken car or plumbing around the home and so Estera and Renia had to financially help with those emergencies. They didn’t have much money to help their parents buy groceries, let alone move to Paris.
An Unexpected Gift
In their late twenties, life changed drastically for both sisters. Estera was given a special plant by the old estate owner that she worked for. It was a unique hybrid he’d made that was both ugly and beautiful at the same time. Estera adored this plant. She loved that the owner had made it for his wife and she loved that she, a nobody in the horticulture world, was given the opportunity to care for the plant while she worked on the estate. But that gift ended up complicating both women’s lives. Those complications are what form the story, The Forgetting Flower.
If you’d like to read about what happened to Renia and Estera, click here. Thanks!
Photo by Daiga Ellaby
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The Characters and Their Music in The Forgetting Flower, Part 2
Last week, I wrote about the music that’s heard or played when the characters Alain and Madame Palomer are “on stage” in The Forgetting Flower. In this post, I’ll talk about the music of my main character, Renia, and her parents. Renia’s choices are about her moods and about what she sees as best for the shop’s atmosphere. Her parents, still in Kraków, listen to more classic Polish composers.
Renia’s Music
When Renia’s by herself and feeling happy, oftentimes in her apartment, she listens to Chopin. This mazurka is one of several the Polish composer wrote. Unlike the dramatic études or soulful nocturnes, the mazurkas (named for a Polish folk dance) are brighter and usually feature a repeating melody or phrase.
Here’s the famed Vladimir Horowitz playing Chopin’s Mazurka in B minor Op. 33 No. 4. Horowitz was a master. You might recognize the melody.
For a high-quality CD/MP3 of Chopin’s Mazurkas, I recommend Vladimir Ashkenazy’s recording. It’s lovely and full of heart.
For reasons I don’t want to pinpoint lest I reveal spoilers, Renia listens to Satie’s “Je Te Veux” waltz when she’s feeling a bit sad but ready to move on and overall feels content. I thought the music’s playfulness and the French title, which translates to “I want you,” was appropriate for her feelings about Paris and all else.
This video shows the Russian pianist Anatoly Sheludyakov playing Satie’s “Je Te Veux” at the University of Georgia.
For a recording, see The Magic of Satie by Jean-Yves Thibaudet. It’s lovely music for Sunday morning tea or coffee. You can hear the influence of Chopin all over the place. Link below.
CD/MP3: Satie Piano Works, The Magic of Satie
Music of Le Sanctuaire
As a plant shop owner, Renia needs to create an inviting mood for her customers. First, unlike Minh who favors pop, Renia chooses classical music, Mozart and Vivaldi, in an effort to create a sophisticated atmosphere. She chooses Classical Era composers whose uniformly rhythmic and rapid melodies sound cheery and optimistic to listeners.
Here’s the Emerson String Quartet, who I adore, playing Mozart’s String Quartet No. 14 K. 387.
They also have an album of Mozart’s string quartets, which is beautiful. It’s also a go-to CD for Sunday mornings.
CD/MP3: Mozart’s String Quartets
I don’t think there’s any composer who captures fancy joy better than Vivaldi. (Haydn may come close.) His Concerto for Two Trumpets is brassy and pronounced. It embodies the skipping delight and danceable rhythms so archetypal in the Classical Era of music.
Here’s a concert in Japan. I have no idea who the orchestra is so if you know, please tell me!
You can always rely on Decca for excellent recordings. The 2-CD set below captures all of the vibrancy and delight of Vivaldi. And the trumpet concerto is included.
CD/MP3: Vivaldi Concerto for Two Trumpets and More
Renia’s Mother’s Music
In The Forgetting Flower, there’s a short scene where Renia’s mother is knitting in the family home’s living room and ‘Chant du Voyager’ by Paderewski (pronounced Pah-dah-rev-ski) is playing on the radio. Paderewski is like the Bach of Poland, having written concertos, symphonies, sonatas, opera, and solo works. Every older Polish person knows him because he was involved in Polish politics in the early 20th Century and then heavily toured in America. He also lived in California and became a vintner! In his youth, he was a star and quite the hottie. So it wouldn’t be uncommon for his work to be often played on Polish radio.
Sang Mi Chung plays Paderewski’s ‘Chant du voyageur’ on her album of Paderewski’s works. It’s a clear, crisp recording and wonderful interpretation. You can buy it here. It doesn’t seem to be available as a CD.
MP3: Ignacy Jan Paderewski: Piano Music
Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of youtube videos of Paderewski’s music being played live but here is a precious old video of Liberace playing Paderewski’s famous Minuet. Despite the hiss, it’s awesome.
Feodor’s Music
Finally, Renia’s father, Feodor, plays Chopin at home for recreation. I refer to him playing Chopin’s Études (or “studies”) in one scene. Chopin wrote several brilliant études but Étude in A flat major Op. 25 No. 1 particularly soars so I thought I’d share it here. I’m a lucky woman because my husband often practices Chopin études at home.
Szymon Nehring plays this brilliantly at the Fryderyk Chopin institute.
Here’s a different étude but another favorite, Op. 10. No. 3, a classic, played by Evgeny Kissin. The video should be cued at 3:32 when the song begins.
Finally, Chopin’s “Revolutionary” étude, inspired by the attack on Warsaw by the Russians, is such a wild vigorous piece I have to include it. It blows a hole in your heart. Again, Evgeny Kissin plays as the wonder he is. Check out what his left hand is starting at the 17 second mark.
For a recording, check out Murray Perahia’s Chopin: Études Op. 10 and Op. 25. It’s a rapturous recording. And Perahia looks like a bad ass on the cover.
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The Characters and Their Music in The Forgetting Flower, Part 1
I have always loved music. When I was little, I loved pop music for its catchy hooks. Then when I was a teenager, I loved rock music for its cool riffs. As a young adult, I was into alternative before my love later deepened into jazz and classical music. I was a musician myself for a while (drummer) and worked as a music editor. So, I guess it’s no surprise that as I wrote my novel, I unconsciously included music in The Forgetting Flower. It appears on the first page and then several times throughout the narrative until the final paragraph.
I thought it’d be fun to take readers on a journey of the music of The Forgetting Flower. I love all of the pieces in the book and they reflect each of the characters and situations they are attached to. But after collecting the pieces, I realized I had about 10 to share, so here’s the first part of my two blog posts on The Classical Music of The Forgetting Flower.
Alain’s Rachmaninoff Concerto
The main character, Renia, has a friend who was a classical violinist and became an event organizer. He’s a savvy, charming man who favors the Romantic period. He loves the stormy drama of the Russian composers, specifically Rachmaninoff. So as the book opens we hear Rachmaninoff’s famous Concerto No. 2 Op. 18.
I’ve queued the video to the mark where pianist Evgeny Kissin begins the dark, foreboding introduction that portends the entire piece before the violins swirl through their melody, creating a tense moody rapture. Whenever I listen, I imagine a spy running through Red Square in Moscow.
Of course, in The Forgetting Flower, a different dramatic event has happened. It’s specifically at about 35:00 mark that I imagine the concerto blasting from Alain’s apartment as Renia stares up at his balcony. This musical climax is so lush and bold, I can barely watch without shedding tears. You can hear where Gershwin might have been influenced, you can hear a melody that may be familiar. Check it out.
Here’s the YouTube clip:
Evgeny Kissin performs Rachmaninoff If you want a CD/MP3 of the Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 Op. 18, I recommend the Van Cliburn recording. His performance blew away the world when he was young and this is a later performance with better sound quality (photo above).
CD/MP3: Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 Op. 18 Recording
Madame Palomer’s Music
Renia’s boss is an old-fashioned fancy lady. She and Alain had first met when he organized a classical music concert reception that she created the flower arrangements for. They were friends for years. Palomer, a woman who aspires to be wealthier than she is, has sophisticated, if sometimes rococo, tastes. There are a few scenes where she’s playing classical music in The Forgetting Flower. Her choices are always romantic and grand. Here are the three clips that reflect her.
She would love Berlioz. One, because he was French, and two, because he was frilly and dreamy. The Symphonie Fantastique was supposedly about an artist and his unrequited love.
Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique
For a good recording, check out this one by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Colin Davis.
CD/MP3: Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique
Schumann’s Piano Concerto would be a favorite because of its lamenting opening and sweeping piano rise. It’s also a timelessly popular piece with recognizable melodies. Palomer would be attracted to those familiar phrases and the light-on-its-feet quality. In this video, check out the kick ass Martha Argerich as she dives straight into the heart of it, then lightly dances on the keys. Soon, the violins rise up (1:25) in a brilliant passage that makes it hard to breathe for me. The crescendo rushes and drops into a very recognizable, descending piano line around the 2:30 mark.
Schumann Piano Concerto, in A minor, Op. 54
Martha Argerich blasts into Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 And here’s a recording of her playing it (with a different orchestra but of fine quality).
CD/MP3: Schumann Piano Concerto, in A minor, Op. 54
Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite
Finally, at Christmas time, there’s no other piece that Madame Palomer would play than of course the classic Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite. How beautiful is this?
The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra Plays Tchaikovsky And a decent CD/MP3: Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite
Are you as exhausted as I am? Listening to music, especially music like this, always makes me emotional. I get so lost in it. And we haven’t even gotten to my favorite composer yet: Chopin. He’s one of Renia’s favorites too. In my next post, I’ll be talking about the music she plays, music both for herself and what she thinks is best for optimal shopping in Le Sanctuaire. Plus, a couple of pieces heard in her childhood home.
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How to Get Your Free Wildflower Seeds
Good morning, all! I’ve finished the form for those who preordered The Forgetting Flower. The packets of wildflower seeds are ready! These organic, non-GMO seeds, from the reputable Renee’s Garden, will go to the first 25 people who preorder. And by the way, I’ll be sending the seeds right away. You don’t have to wait until June when the book’s released.
You can plant the seeds easily in your backyard or in a container. They will form a beautiful riot of color and bloom at varying times. Here’s a list of the seeds you’ll get:
- Ammi majus, Bishop’s Weed
- Calendula officinalis, Pot Marigold
- Centaurea, Cornflower
- Collinsia, Chinese Houses
- Coreopsis tinctoria dwarf, Dwarf Plains Coreopsis
- Cosmos bipinnatus dwarf, Dwarf White Cosmos
- Dimorphotheca aurantiaca, African Daisy
- Dracocephalum moldavica, Moldavian Dragonhead
- Echium plantagineu, Purple viper’s bugloss
- Eschscholzia californica, California poppy
- Gilia capitata,Blue thimble flower
- Godetia grandiflora, Clarkia
- Gypsophila elegans, Baby’s Breath
- Iberis umbellatum, Candytuft
- Layia platyglossa,Coastal Tidytips
- Linum rubrum, Scarlet Flax
- Malcolmia maritima, Virginia Stock
- Nemophila insignis, Baby Blue eyes
- Papaver rhoeas, Red Poppy
- Rudbeckia hirta, Black-eyed Susan
- Salvia horminum, Blue Monday
- Saponaria vaccaria rosea Pink Beauty Vaccaria
- Silene armeria. Sweet William Catchfly
Some of these seed packets have been claimed so I hope you order soon! Here’s the link to the form. You may need to copy and paste it in your browser:
https://forms.gle/GmmD8hLaHvcnpZr8A
Photo by Eva Waardenburg on Unsplash
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What Does The Forgetting Flower Look Like?
Good morning, everyone! I’m thrilled to answer the question of what The Forgetting Flower looks like! And in more ways than one. The cover of the novel is now live and it’s a dream come true. In some ways, I can’t believe it’s actually happening.
You can now see what my speculative flower resembles in real life. I don’t want to give too much away but the flower is part African violet. And this cover makes it so beautiful yet menacing! I love the dark background, which makes the flower seem like it’s rising from a dangerous unknown place. And the scent streams from the blossom in that spooky way, evoking danger. In the story, that vapor isn’t anything you’d want to inhale accidentally.
Pre-orders Are Now Open
Free Seeds for Bees! The other thing to know is that preorders for the book are now open! At the moment, you can order the ebook at Amazon. It will soon be available at several online retailers. The paperback is coming within days. And as a thank you, I’m giving away a seed packet of wildflowers that helps bees thrive to the first 25 people who preorder. I wrote about the bees recently. What’s happening to the declining bee population is serious and it’s so important we do something about it. I’ll be talking about the flowers in those seed packets in the next few days.
Oh, and the release date for The Forgetting Flower is June 18, 2019.
Expressing a Story in an Image
I’m so excited about the spooky danger of this cover. How the letters fade (and weave) in and out of the smoke. How the bloom rises up into the viewer’s consciousness from somewhere below. And how the words come at you with more force, expanding as they scroll down the cover.
Who’s behind this alluring artwork? Magnolia Press‘s book designer Dionne Abouelela, a talented entrepreneur in her own right. She’s not only a book cover designer, she’s an author as well. She really captured the spirit of the book and has done that for several authors. If you check out my fellow Magnolia Press author, Autumn Lindsey’s novel, Remaining Aileen, or Dionne’s portfolio, you’ll see what I mean.
So there it is, the beginning of this journey. If you are a book blogger or know of anyone who’d like to receive an advance reader’s copy (ARC) for review, please let me know! The book is a literary thriller about a woman who hides a dangerous plant and finds herself in difficult circumstances. You can read the description here. You can also mark it as Want-to-Read on Goodreads here! Lastly, you can preorder it here. Thanks for your time, everyone!
