The Latina
Book Club is proud to name CONEY ISLAND SIREN by Theresa Varela as Book of the
Month. It’s an amazing book on a hard
topic with a surprising ending. Readers
will be captivated.
Theresa
invites everyone to her book launch on Wednesday, June 12, 6-8 pm at the
Nuyorican Poets Café on 236 East Third Street, NYC. All readers welcomed. Books will be on sale. Get your signed copy there!
“If I pen
my thoughts on paper, are they no longer my secret?” --Ellen
“If you stay silent because of fear, you are
forever voiceless.” –Maggie
 |
| Pollen Press Publishing LLC |
Theresa Varela
cleverly weaves fact and fiction, suspense and magical realism in her new
captivating novel set against the backdrop of the joyful, chaotic, wondrous
world of Coney Island.
Domestic
violence is not pretty. It’s an endless
nightmarish roller coaster ride; a vicious cycle not easily recognized from
within or without until it’s too late. Readers
will sympathize with Maggie, even as they want to shake her into opening her
eyes and doing anything, everything to get out from under a monster’s thumb. However, that’s easier said than done. Nothing will change for Maggie, or any woman,
until they take a stand. Gods, Goddesses, friends, counselors, lawyers and cops
can help, but the victim herself has
to take that first step towards a new life, a new self.
CONEY ISLAND SIREN keeps readers on the edge of their seat, lost in Maggie’s despair, then elated at her rebirth, and finally stunned at her shot at freedom.
CONEY ISLAND SIREN keeps readers on the edge of their seat, lost in Maggie’s despair, then elated at her rebirth, and finally stunned at her shot at freedom.
BOOK
SUMMARY: Maggie Fuentes is a lucky
woman. She has a great life: she lives by Coney Island, has a fancy apartment,
is a well-liked nurse at a leading hospital, and her handsome boyfriend Police
Officer Frank Ramirez is up for detective.
She is so happy. In public.
In
private, Maggie’s life is hell. She mistook Frank’s destructive possessiveness
for love, and now she is a prisoner to his dark needs. Cops can’t, won’t help. She suffers in silence and “adjusts” her
attitude after each insult, each blow. Drugs
are her favorite escape and soon she is hooked on opioids, which she steals from
her patients. Journaling is another
escape, but she stops because she can’t be honest with herself.
However,
she loses herself in a journal she found at a Coney Island flea market about a
turn of the century servant named Ellen; who also fell for a sweet talking
monster. The more she reads Ellen’s
story, the more it echoes her own. “I’m
every woman,” thinks Maggie; every woman who has ever been abused -- her Mom,
her best friend, Ellen and even Frank’s mother.
She dreams of being a siren and walking into the sea, of being free, of
controlling her destiny, but she is stuck in an endless rollercoaster of
violence. Her job is at risk, her
addiction growing out of control, Frank’s violence is escalating, all men turn
out to be pigs, and her one friend turns her back on her. Maggie’s chasing the dragon and the dragon is
chasing her. But, when her one chance at
freedom arrives, a fearful but determined Maggie makes the most startling
decision of her life.
Check out our February / Valentine's Day interview with Theresa by clicking here.
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