The Miracles, a
novel-in-progress and seventh in my Americana series, is moving along
slowly—by selfish design. I've discovered that writing novels is
far more enjoyable than publishing them, so I'm taking my sweet time
and wallowing in this one.
It
begins in 1910, features Angela Farmer—the nurse who aided Hank
Fenn in an earlier book—and tells how she went from orphan to nurse
to nanny for a young Abigail Farnsworth, who had helped deliver
quadruplets on a train in yet another novel.
Fortunes
turn sour for both young women, so much so that Angela must leave
Redding, Connecticut under an assumed name—that of her orphanage
friend, schoolmate and fellow nurse Brinda Miracle, who died
accidentally on their first day at City Hospital—and lead an orphan
train destined for St. Paul, Minnesota.
Orphans
not claimed along the route—and thus remaining in the new Brinda's
charge—include a 12-year-old Mongoloid, idiot savant (sorry,
but more polite terms had not been created by 1910) and pickpocket
named Nicholas, an 8-year-old Lizzie Borden fan named Maxine, and
6-year-old Zane with the amber eyes.
Brinda
Miracle and her wards move into an orphanage located between NinaClifford's brothel (pictured) and the Bucket of Blood Saloon (both actual
places, the orphanage was not). Real-life
historical characters besides Nina include two-term Mayor Laurence
“Larry Ho” Hodgson, boxers Mike and Tommy Gibbons, author F.
Scott Fitzgerald, and a very young Henry Fonda.
They're
a temperamental lot, so it's no wonder I must proceed carefully. To be completed by early 2019.
