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HFL Book Club April Selection ~ A Silent Ocean Away
In April, the Historical Fiction Lovers Book Club, the club I administer on Facebook, will be reading A Silent Ocean Away, the first part of the Colette Trilogy written by sister Deb and Val Gantt under the psydonym DeVa Gantt. I just finished A Silent Ocean Away: Colette’s Dominion
When I received my copy of A Silent Ocean Away, from HarperCollins the press kit contained information about the first installment as well as the story behind the trilogy. The following is the story. It’s so interesting to know how a book or a series came into being and I want to share it with you. I didn’t have an electronic copy, so I copied it from my paper only to find out afterwards that it is on the author’s website. Sometimes I just don’t think things through. 
Anyway, here is the story behind the story as written by Deb and Val Gantt (who I’d love to meet and have tea with someday):
“Published author” wasn’t on the career goal line of DeVa Gantt’s resume. The notion of writing a novel took root from an off-handed dare when the women were young adults. ‘We could write our own story.” Deb mused, “I can envision the main character already.” Val, who never shied away from a creative opportunity, jumped on the idea. Within a day, early plot ideas were hatched and scenes were drafted – the first, John Duvoisin’s stormy return from the States in A Silent Ocean Away.
The Colette Trilogy was conceived in late 1979 while the sisters were still living at home with their parents. Deb was a full-time student at Montclair State College in central New Jersey and Val, a third grade teacher in Suffern, New York. At the outset, they were writing just for the fun of it, working feverishly during their free time – in the evenings and on the weekends – writing scenes with pen and paper. To ensure their literary pastime remained a diversion from the daily doldrums, they chose an exotic island in the Caribbean for the primary setting of the story – a charmed oasis where they, and ultimately their readers, could escape without leaving their armchairs. They chose a time period that fascinated them – the early 19th century – and wrote about a wealthy family with shipping connections to both the North and the South. Their research on commerce pointed to Richmond, Virginia, so this became the Duvoisin homestead, lending plausibility to the family’s financial interests and the roots of their fortune and misfortune. Still, after a full year of writing, the work itself was a hodgepodge of hand-written scenes without a connective story thread or an overarching theme. Publishing the work was not seriously in their plans.
When Deb left home for six months to study abroad in France, Val, the organized, methodical half of the writing duo, decided it was time to weave the scenes into a sequential, coherent story with a real beginning leading to a real (albeit unknown) ending. She pulled out the family typewriter and spent hours at it, pounding new and existing scenes onto erasable typing paper. (Erasure shavings in the moving parts soon killed the typewriter and a new one had to be purchased.) The ocean that separated the sisters was far from silent. Val “read” the organized story, smattered with new material, to Deb via cassette tape sent by transatlantic mail. In France, Deb wrote more scenes while she ad her roommate waited for Val’s next installment of what they now dubbed “the Book.” When Val visited Deb in Europe over Easter break of 1981, she brought along a tome, which they read in London, railway stations, and trains across the French countryside. Deb’s roommate joked that the budding writers missed Europe with their heads buried in their magnum opus.
In 1983, real life intervened and the book languished. The young women had hit a creative roadblock. The compelling theme of the story that pointed the way to a powerful ending eluded them. The women moved, married, and started families. Deb was now working for a pharmaceutical company, and Val, who had always dabbled in art, opened her own retail craft store thirty miles away. In addition, they both had children: real-life families trumped their fictional one. And so, the Duvoisins were quietly tucked away in a box, silent until Thanksgiving weekend 2002.
The rejuvenating spark was strangely coincidental. Though the women had spent Thanksgiving together – the book never mentioned – a day later, while tidying up, each came across their copy of the unfinished manuscript and begun to read. The following week, Deb e-mailed Val to tell her she’d been reading “the Book.” It was a wonderful work begging to be finished, and she had some fresh ideas.
By January of 2003, the creative energies were flowing again. They discarded a key premise that was impeding logical progression of the novel; something that life experience allowed them to recognize. They mapped out an ending, and their approach to the writing changed. They divvied up the scenes that remained to be written and met at regular intervals to share their drafts.
During the twenty-year hiatus, technology had bridged the gap between the typewriter and the personal computer. The sisters could now share their work electronically, but there were different challenges. Completing the novel had to be worked into real life responsibilities: children, marriages, households, and jobs. The women stole every spare moment, working late at night, into the wee hours of morning, and on the weekends. Often, Deb packed up overnight bags, and headed to Val’s house with her son and daughter. The cousins played while the writers collaborated. Wherever they went, the women brought the Duvoisins along: from sporting events to dance practices, from doctors’ offices to school functions, from business trips to vacations. An opportunity to work on their “masterpiece” was never wasted.
As they closed in on the completion of the first draft, the sisters knew they were ready to take the next step: publish the novel. They had worked too hard; the story was provocative and emotional, the characters complex and credible; the book could not go back into a box. Cognizant of the challenge in convincing a traditional publisher to publish the work, Deb and Val were determined to offer a professional manuscript: historically accurate, with impeccable grammar and spelling.
Thus began a two-year period of extensive research, arduous editing, and painstaking proofreading. During the time, both authors read and revised the manuscript numerous times, an effort that ultimately melded their individual writing styles into a single literary voice. But query letters sent to agents and publishers met dead ends. The Colette Trilogy was a whopping 800+ pages, and no one in the publishing industry was interested in taking a chance on a manuscript of that length, especially by and unknown author.
They refused to be deterred. Self-publishing became the only option – a stepping-stone that would enable them to compile a portfolio of reviews and positive feedback. They published with an independent house in 2005 and learned how to effectively market their book, approaching booksellers and local media. They learned to accept rejection and move on; even so, the favorable reviews began to pour in. Stellar critiques were posted on Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com. Readers loved the story and were begging for more. Val and Deb finally had proof that size didn’t matter.
In 2006, an agent stepped forward and presented the novel to an editor at HarperCollins, and in 2007, HarperCollins agreed to publish the work as a trilogy.
Today, the women look back at their accomplishment, and concur that the experience has been rewarding and unexpectedly broad in scope. The benefits have been immeasurable. Perhaps the dearest is the bond of sisterhood that deepened; they have shared a unique journey. Their greatest satisfaction, however, is seeing their unfinished work come to fruition: the Duvoisin story has finally been told.
Check this out for even more about A Silent Ocean Away:
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March 28, 2009 | Filed Under Historical Fiction Lovers Book Club
Comments
8 Responses to “HFL Book Club April Selection ~ A Silent Ocean Away”
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Kathy
Posted: Mar 28th, 2009 at 7:02 pm1Reply to this comment.I love the story behind the book. They never gave up after all those years. Just proves that perseverance does pay off.
Kathy’s last blog post..Review: Laura Rider’s Masterpiece
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Rebbie Macintyre
Posted: Mar 28th, 2009 at 7:02 pm2Reply to this comment.Great article about a fascinating book. Thanks!
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Julie P.
Posted: Mar 28th, 2009 at 7:25 pm3Reply to this comment.Ooooh! I was thoroughly enjoyed the first book and can’t wait to read the next one! I didn’t realize it was out already!
Julie P.’s last blog post..Review: The Only True Genius in the Family
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Sheri
Posted: Mar 29th, 2009 at 12:30 am4Reply to this comment.You won an award at A Novel Menagerie – check the Sunday Salon post.
Sheri’s last blog post..Win a Book! LAURA RIDER’S MASTERPIECE… REMINDER
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pingback:
Posted: Mar 29th, 2009 at 1:11 pm5The Sunday Salon ~ Creativity : literatehousewife.comReply to this comment.[...] Witch of Langenburg by Thomas Robishaeux, Laura Rider’s Masterpiece by Jane Hamilton, and A Silent Ocean Away by DeVa Gantt. A Silent Ocean Away is the Historical Fiction Lovers’ selection for April. [...]
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Marg
Posted: Mar 29th, 2009 at 3:38 pm6Reply to this comment.I hadn’t heard of these books before, but they definitely sound interesting. It is on my library catalogue but unfortunately I won’t be able to access it for another couple of months because they are saving a lot of newer books for when they open the new branch. There are a load of books that I want to read that I just can’t access at this time.
Marg’s last blog post..French and Saunders and friends do Mamma Mia!
When is the new branch going to open? That would kill me! -
Darlene
Posted: Mar 30th, 2009 at 4:05 pm7Reply to this comment.This sounds like a wonderful book Jennifer. The cover is just lovely as well.
Darlene’s last blog post..Winner of Galway Bay!
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pingback:
Posted: Apr 21st, 2009 at 10:22 pm8#155 ~ A Silent Ocean Away : literatehousewife.comReply to this comment.[...] For a history of the Collette trilogy that I posted for the Historical Fiction Lovers Book Club, click here. [...]
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