about the book
Today is Christmas Eve and my fifteenth birthday. Today I buried Gene and Izzy, my unwed drug addicted da and boozer ma, in a shallow grave in the backyard. Gene died on the sofa, smothered. Who did it? Your guess is as good as mine. Izzy hung herself in the garden shed with a dirty sheet. Couldn’t cope, I suppose. Neither will be missed.
My name is Marnie, and since I was five, I’ve been changing my sister’s nappies, doing the cleaning, laundry, and shopping. Nellie, who is now twelve, is a wee bit touched. Not retarded, but different. Though totally brainy in science and a violin prodigy, she constantly babbles random rabid chitchat about the oddest things. If Welfare gets a whiff of the buried parents, we’ll be sent to separate foster homes…and that definitely will not bode well for Nellie.
In a year I’ll be sixteen. Legal then, I’ll be able to take care of both of us. Till that time if anyone here at Glasgow’s Hazelhurst Housing asks, we’ll just tell them that Gene and Izzy have taken off again, this time to Turkey. Notoriously neglectful, they have left us plenty before.
But things go from tragic to worse and our problems spiral out of control. People are asking questions I can’t answer. Finding money for food and rent is near impossible. Da owed a drug lord big time and he’s getting nasty. Nellie’s nightmares and screaming fits have worsened. I got involved with a married ice cream cart vendor and have taken to nippin’ Vodka to cope. And worst of all, our creepy Grandpa MacDonald insists on taking over our care. We have just one alternative—turning to our pervy old gay neighbor, Lennie!
If Lennie learns the truth, can we trust him to keep our secret…umm, buried? It’s a dark and grim comic tale told alternately by me, by Nellie, and by Lennie. You’ll have to read it to find out what happens to all three of us…and the dead bodies!
about the author
Today, when Lisa O’Donnell wakes, she’ll grab a cup of coffee, get her family off to their daily activities, cruise around a little on Facebook, and then get serious about her goal: writing 1000 words every day. At the end of the afternoon, she may have a 1000 words, or she may have deleted most to rewrite it all again. Lisa is a writer, but she took a long and round-about route to becoming an award-winning author and over-night sensation!
Lisa earned a degree from Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland, and for a while worked in marketing and for the BBC. In 2000, Lisa won the Orange Prize for Screenwriting for The Wedding Gift, a quirky gangster script. She promptly moved her family from their Scottish home to Los Angeles, California, anticipating a great career in the entertainment industry.
A decade later, she was still waiting for her big break, but it was not time wasted. She learned quite a lot, especially how to write snappy dialogue, the use of humor, and how to capture an audience with the first 20 words of a story. Inspired by all the children who are denied their childhood by neglectful parents, Lisa took that writing knowledge and pounded out her first published novel, The Death of Bees. She knew she had finally made it big the day she sauntered into a Barnes and Nobles with her son, and he spotted her book on display. He exclaimed, “Wow mommy, you’re a writer!”
Lisa is currently busy working on her third novel, The Charmer. She says it is far more challenging than the first two. She is also teaching and working on the Women Mentoring Program, supporting new female voices. Lisa’s best advice to rookie writers: “Stop your moaning and get on with it!”
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Goodreads
Author interview: Huffington Post
Author biography: Lit Lovers
Author interview: Curtis Brown Creative
Also by Lisa O’Donnell:
Closed Doors. Harper Collins. 2014.
read more!
Closed Doors by Lisa O’Donnell
In the early 1980s in the small town of Rothesay, Scotland, everyone knows everyone else and secrets are a way of life. Michael, a pre-teen boy, is just discovering his sexuality. When his mother is attacked, the family tries to hide the rape in half-truths and secrets. Searching for what really happened, Michael uncovers too much for his pre-adolescent conscious to bear. It all nearly tears the family apart, until the attacker strikes again and the awful truth is revealed!
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch
Carey and her sister, Jenessa, live in a dilapidated trailer deep in a Tennessee forest with their often absent, meth-addicted mother. When their mother fails to return home, Carey and Jenessa are rescued by their estranged father and brought to his home. They must now assimilate to their new environment, complete with school and boys. But more frightening, Carey is forced to confront the truth about her past.
There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake
Shelby is frustrated by her overprotective single mother. After Shelby is hit by a car, her mother steals her away from the hospital and takes them on the run in a journey toward the Grand Canyon. Along the way, Shelby encounters a Coyote who leads her into the world of The Dreaming. He warns her to watch out for two lies. Now her mother claims that Shelby’s violent father is not dead and is hunting them. Who can she trust and what is real?