Spotlight & Giveaway: The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale by Virginia Kantra

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Virginia Kantra to HJ!

Hi Virginia and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale!

 
Hi! Thanks so much for having me.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale is a contemporary novel inspired by The Wizard of Oz about a farm girl from Kansas (of course!) who is humiliated by her lover in his bestselling book. She runs away from the “storm” of bad publicity to attend the graduate writing program at Trinity College Dublin – the real life Emerald Isle filling in for the Emerald City of Oz.

My grownup, modern Dee is helped along her journey by new friends and TWO potential love interests, encounters a witch and a humbug, slays her dragons, and finds her voice.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“Women who tell the truth have always been called witches.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I’ve always loved the Land of Oz. My sister and I watched the classic 1939 movie on television every year. (When the Witch appeared on screen, I would run into the kitchen and hide.) When I was seven years old, I discovered a copy of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz on my parents’ bookshelves, a Christmas gift from “Aunt Hildy” to a remote uncle back in 1909. Hidden away on the floor of my room between the bed and the wall, I imagined myself as Dorothy, armed with nothing but a kind heart and kick-ass shoes, as she’s whisked away to another world and must learn to confront her fears.
• Fast forward to the pandemic when I was stuck at home at my computer. I wanted joy. I wanted magic. I wanted to recreate that iconic movie moment when Dorothy opens the door of her aunt and uncle’s gray farmhouse and finds herself in this whole new Technicolor world that welcomes and delights and challenges her. Because of the pandemic, I did most of my research online, painstakingly mapping out every step of Dorothy’s journey.
• What I didn’t expect—when I was finally able to visit Ireland, in the last stages of writing the book—was that I would experience that feeling myself. I retraced Dee’s footsteps, ducking into bookstores, poking into alleys, and wandering the Trinity College campus. I found my way around Dublin by a combination of memory and instinct, surprised by the thrill of discovery and the shock of coming home around every corner, helped along the way by generous strangers.
• “Look, look!” I’d say, grabbing my husband’s arm as we walked along the dark waters of the Grand Canal. “There’s the church Dee and Toni went to on Christmas.” And, “The bridge is that way.” A faculty member told me of the “secret entrance” to Oscar Wilde’s house (through the ground floor of the science building).
• You can see the map of Dee’s Dublin – with pictures and excerpts! – here:
  http://bit.ly/DorothysDublin
• You can also listen to my playlist for The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale
  http://apple.co/3GmaunS

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

I’ve been writing romance for 25 years, and this book has my very first love triangle!

There’s Sam Clery (no brain), who dropped out of Trinity College to run his family’s newsagents shop : “He was tall and skinny, dressed in black jeans and a rumpled gray T-shirt, his hair tied back from a narrow face. His long jaw was covered in stubble, like an incognito movie star or a dissolute poet after a three-day binge.”

And Tim Woodman (no heart), who left the British Army for the business program, “in a slim, dark, conservative suit and tie. Nice-looking in a stuffed shirt sort of way, his square jaw clean-shaven, his eyes half-hidden behind steely spectacles.”

And then there’s Dee herself, earnest and enthusiastic and kind, a catalyst for all their journeys.

Kindness is so important in this book. The main characters are all wounded in different ways and their kindness to one another is a big part of the attraction.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

Whew. Yes.
Since Christmas is coming, here’s a bit from Dee’s Christmas day dinner at the Clerys’ home.

This time I wasn’t going to let myself imagine what he felt. Or ignore how I felt. Or yearn for things he was unable or unwilling to give.
I swallowed. “Sam. Do you like me?”
“Sure, I like you fine,” he answered easily.
“But do you . . .” Like me, like me? My cheeks burned hotter. This was too humiliatingly like middle school. “Want to be with me?”
“Sex, do you mean?”
My mouth dropped open. “Yes. No. Maybe?”
“I’m willing. But I’m for fun, not for keeps. And you’re leaving at the end of the year.”
For fun.
My insides contracted. That didn’t sound very safe. Unless . . . What if going into a relationship knowing it would end was the best way to protect your heart?
“Maybe that makes us compatible?” I suggested. “Sharing an actual end date, I mean.”
“Might be. But I hate to lose a good customer over sex.” His gaze was steady on mine. “Or a friend, either.”
“We are friends.”
Sam’s eyes were warm. “Good friends. I’m not looking for anything beyond that.”
“You’re right.” I smiled. “Or . . . you’re honest, at least.”
He wasn’t leading me on, the way Gray had, saying what I wanted to hear, letting me imply the rest. I didn’t want to make this into something it was not. And maybe friendship would be enough.
Maybe friendship was better.
“So, if you want to be friends who have sex,” Sam said. “I’m here for that.”

Readers should read this book….

If you want to escape to Ireland. Or over the rainbow. Or you need an escape anywhere, really.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

In this book, Dee carries a book with her – Anne of Green Gables – as her “emergency read” on the plane. So that inspired the story I’m working on now, Anne of a Different Island, another contemporary reimagining of a classic.
 
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A signed print copy of THE FAIRYTALE LIFE OF DOROTHY GALE by Virginia Kantra and a “Passport to Oz” notebook from the Smithsonian Museum of American History. US only

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: One of the characters tells Dee, “You had the power inside you all along. You just had to find it.” What do you consider your power? When did you first realize it?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale:

Reeti banged the lid back on the pot, stalked through the apartment, and flung open the door. “What are you doing?”
A man’s voice came up the stairs. “The banister is loose.”
I stopped. That voice . . . Did I know that voice?
“Did you call maintenance?” Reeti asked.
“I did.” Cool. Clipped. Passionless. Tim Woodman.
“And?” Reeti prompted.
I edged to the doorway. Reeti was leaning over the landing rail. Below her I could see the top of Tim’s head, his thick, dark hair, and then his shoulders, filling out his dress shirt.
“Bernie tried installing a bracket, but there’s too much distance between the wall and the railing. It’s not secure. I made a standoff block to attach the bracket to the rim joist.”
“I just love it when you talk carpenter,” Reeti said. “I’m getting handyman fantasies.”
His face was wooden.
“You did it for her, didn’t you?” I said to Tim. “Your ninety-one-year-old neighbor.”
“Mrs. Kinsella,” Reeti said. “Aw, that’s so sweet. Come up when you’re done.”
“I don’t . . .” He hesitated, his gaze flickering to me. “Perhaps for a moment.”
While Reeti dished up, I set another place at the table. Five minutes later, Tim knocked politely on the open door.
“Come in,” Reeti called.
He stopped on the threshold, his gaze traveling over the table. One hand rubbed absently at his chest. “You’re having dinner.”
“We are having dinner. Consider it thanks for fixing the banister.”
“I don’t need to be rewarded for taking a simple safety precaution,” he said stiffly.
“It’s okay,” I assured him. “Reeti doesn’t believe in payback. But she does believe in friends doing nice things for one another.”
“We hardly know each other.”
“And we won’t as long as you have that giant stick up your arse,” Reeti said.
His breath gusted out, a huff of . . . amusement? Annoyance?
I smothered a grin. “Please stay. I promise I won’t put you in a book.”
“It would be a very boring story if you did,” he said dryly.
I wasn’t so sure. There were layers to this guy.
“Sit,” Reeti commanded.
“I need to wash my hands first,” he said.
She made an elaborate gesture toward the kitchen. “Be my guest.”
He washed his hands at the sink, drying them on a dish towel before rolling down his shirtsleeves. He had nice forearms, I noticed as he buttoned his cuffs.
“How long have you been neighbors?” I asked after we sat down. Smoothing things over. I was good at that.
“A year,” Tim said.
“Where did you live before?” Reeti asked.
He hesitated. “London, mostly.” No mention of his time in Afghanistan.
“I’ve been here five years.” She scrunched her nose. “My parents wanted me to live near the gurdwara. Plus, they thought a flat would be a good investment.”
“They’re right,” Tim said. “About the investment, at least. There’s a limited supply of housing in Dublin and continued growth, especially in the technology and financial sectors.”
“James says most of the new construction is offices and luxury apartments,” I offered.
“‘James’?” Reeti echoed.
“Glenda Norton’s husband.”
“Hm.”
“Who is Glenda Norton?” Tim asked.
“A professor at Trinity. She invited me to stay with her while I look for an apartment. I’m watching her kids.”
“The little blond girl at football practice.”
“Sophie, yes. And her sister, Lily. They’re very nice, and the house is gorgeous. It’s like living with the Banks family.”
“Who?” Reeti asked.
“Mary Poppins?”
“Blown in on the east wind,” Tim murmured.
“That’s the one with the neglectful mother and the shit dad, yeah?” Reeti said. “I heard there was a problem with the last au pair. I’d watch out if I were you. The last thing you need is some other fucker bothering you.”
I swallowed hard, conscious of Tim across the table, a heat rising in my cheeks that had nothing to do with the spice levels in the chicken. “It’s not like that. At all.” I was valued. I was needed. An integral part of the family. Temporarily.
“Don’t let them take advantage,” Reeti said.
“I won’t. I’m not. Glenda made it clear that once classes start, my first priority has to be school. I’m really lucky to be working for her.”
“Because of the room.”
“Because of the room and because she’s, like, an ally in the department now,” I said earnestly. Which I needed, since my writing instructor didn’t like me.
“Just be careful around the husband. Or you’ll not only be out of the house, you could be out of the program. Sucks, but there it is.” Her voice was sympathetic. “The girl always gets blamed.”
My throat went dry. The girl always gets blamed.
“I wouldn’t think being an au pair would leave you much time to study,” Tim said.
I took a gulp of water. “You work and go to school.”
“That’s different.” He ate neatly, knife in the right hand, fork in the left, tines down. “I have set hours.”
“And no social life,” Reeti said.
A faint flush stained his cheekbones.
“Tim coaches soccer,” I said. “Football, I mean.”
“Good for you. Where?” Reeti asked.
“We sponsor a team on the north side.”
“Reeti wants to teach English to at-risk girls in Southall,” I said, relieved at the turn in the conversation.
“I thought you were in the business school,” Tim said to her.
“I am. I’m going to work for my father after I get my diploma. Baljeet Singh, the chef.”
“Your father is Bobby Singh? I’ve eaten at his restaurant in London.”
“Daddy-ji’s very talented. I’m super proud of him. But I don’t want to be his accountant.”
Tim rubbed two fingers absently against his sternum. “I understand parental pressure. But you can work for your father and still volunteer. Our company partners with several nonprofits. Community service is good business practice.”
She gave him a feline grin. “Saving the world for investment bankers?”
He picked up his knife again. “If people with money don’t improve society, who will?”
“You do more than give money,” I said.
“It’s important to set an example,” he said stiffly. “Studies have shown that integrating volunteer programs with corporate giving improves employee satisfaction and retention, which ultimately saves the company money.”
“So, you volunteer to improve your bottom line,” Reeti said.
“My personal feelings aren’t relevant.” He set his knife and fork parallel in the center of his empty plate. “I’m not a very sentimental man,” he said almost apologetically.
“When someone tells you who they are, believe them,” Oprah said. Or maybe that was Maya Angelou. Or was it, when someone shows you who they are?
Because the heartless suit spouting corporate speak was not the Tim Woodman who coached football and repaired banisters for little old ladies.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

A woman learns to follow her own road in this heartwarming novel inspired by The Wizard of Oz by New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra.

Dorothy “Dee” Gale is searching for a place to belong. After their globe-trotting mother’s death, Dee and her sister Toni settled with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em in Kansas, where Dee attends graduate school. But when Dee’s relationship with a faculty member, a bestselling novelist, ends in heartbreak and humiliation, she’s caught in a tornado of negative publicity. Unable to face her colleagues—or her former lover—Dee applies to the writing program at Trinity College Dublin.

Dee’s journey to Ireland leads her to new companions: seemingly brainless Sam Clery—who dropped out of college and now runs a newsagent’s shop—is charming and hot, in a dissolute, Irish poet kind of way; allegedly heartless Tim Woodman—who stiffly refused to take back his ex-fiancée—seems stuck in his past; and fiercely loyal Reeti Kaur, who longs for the courage to tell her parents she wants to teach underprivileged girls rather than work in the family business.

In a year of opportunities and changes, love and loss, Dee is mentored by powerful women in the writing program, challenging her to see herself and her work with new eyes. With her friends, Dee finds the confidence to confront her biggest fears—including her intimidating graduate advisor, who may not be so wicked after all.

Faced with a choice with far-reaching consequences, Dee must apply the lessons she’s learned along the way about making a family, finding a home…and recognizing the power that’s been inside her all along.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra is the author of over thirty novels about strong women, messy families, and the search for a place to call home. Her stories have earned numerous awards including two Romance Writers of America’s RITA® Awards, and two National Readers’ Choice Awards.

Her most recent novels, Meg & Jo and Beth & Amy (inspired by the classic Little Women) received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and the American Library Association’s Booklist and praise from People Magazine.

Married to her college sweetheart, Virginia lives in North Carolina.Her favorite thing to make for dinner? Reservations.
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