Xlibris Publishing introduces Ruth C. Howard, author of Table For Eight.
My seventh novel, entitled Table For Eight, was particularly fun to write. Keeping track of the characters was a special challenge, but hopefully the challenge has been successfully met.
The central theme of the story is the examination of eight individuals’ actions and reactions to the same set of circumstances. We meet them as four couples of widely disparate backgrounds in their own vastly different home settings. Each couple, for various reasons, chooses to take a cruise offering them an opportunity to travel through the Panama Canal. They are assigned to the same table in the ship’s dining room and their individual personalities quickly result in the four couples becoming the eight main characters of the title, each of whose experiences forms a thread bringing the story to its almost inevitable conclusion.
Probably one of the few writers to begin a new career at the advanced age of nearly 80, I discovered a deep love of writing and have been unable since then to stay away from my computer for very long. A native of Woodstock, NY, longtime resident of New York City, interspersed with a couple of years in Europe and some time in central New York State and southwestern Virginia, I moved to Florida forty years ago and settled in Sarasota, finally putting down roots in Tampa, FL. I pursued many careers throughout my life, including classical singer, fabric store owner, medical secretary/transcriptionist, Director and developer of an Information and Referral Service, real estate broker/owner, bridge teacher, legal assistant and voice teacher–and probably some I’ve forgotten. Now known as a “Renaissance Woman,” I discovered that my wide experiences fueled my imagination, giving rise to endless ideas for the stories I write.
Table For Eight, my seventh novel, was inspired by my own exciting cruise through the Panama Canal. I do not generally make a point of using the same characters in my books, but I have found one couple who fits well into a number of situations and this is the third novel in which they make their appearance. During the six months I worked on the story, I became rather attached to them and assuming I have another novel in me, they may well turn up in the next story.
And yet, I am particularly proud of my one non-fiction book, entitled Long Time Passing: History of a Jewish Family, the story of my parents’ flight from Nazi Germany and their experiences settling in a new country. Originally written as a legacy for my grandchildren and extended family to give them a sense of their background, this book has turned out to be of much wider interest and non-family readers have given it excellent reviews.
Numerous hours of taped interviews with my mother before she died and additional research involving many relatives throughout the world made this a true joy to write. A book of this sort would probably be more difficult to compile in this technological age where the handwritten letter has taken a backseat to e-mails. Many photographs and documents from their youth saved by my parents over the years added to the depth of information available.
A surprising source of information came to light when, after my mother’s passing, a treasure trove of letters from my father was discovered, written while stationed in the Philippines during the Second World War. He wrote almost daily and described feelings and events about which he never spoke after he returned home. This book is being featured through Xlibris at the Miami Book Fair in November.
All of my novels have received accolades which are available for review on my Kindle Author Page [https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8RLIA]. Although I would have preferred having an agent represent me in finding a publisher, Xlibris has become an excellent substitute. Self-publishing was originally seen as a vanity method of making books available to the public, but over time, with the difficulty of interesting an agent to represent me, and convinced that my talents as an author should not be kept hidden (talk about vanity!), I scrimped and saved to publish my literary efforts. Table For Eight is the second publication with which Xlibris is helping me, and a third (written quite some time ago but never published) is in progress.
Despite almost constant appointments with various doctors and other activities common to those of us already in our 80’s, creative writing now takes precedence in my life and keeps me busier than I ever expected or hoped to be at an age when most people embrace retirement.
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