Monday, April 09, 2012

What is James Reese reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: James Reese, author of The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mademoiselle Odile.

His entry begins:
What am I reading? Hmm. Let me look at the stack next to my comfy chair. Oh, yeah…

There’s The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan, which I finished two days ago. Decided to explore a few literary takes on “out there” subjects – may get to Colson Whitehead’s Zone One soon, too – and decided to tackle the Duncan after Anne’s Rice’s The Wolf Gift (in keeping with a four-legged theme, I suppose). I loved the originality of the Duncan and eagerly await this summer’s sequel, Talulla Rising. Props, too, to Mr. Duncan for...[read on]
About The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mademoiselle Odile, from the publisher:
Paris. 1870. A young woman named Odile is fighting to survive on the blood-soaked streets in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War. Luckily, Odile finds an advantage in a bizarre birthright. She is descended from the Cagots, a much-despised race of peasants whose women were reputed to be witches. Were they, in fact?

This is the question Odile must answer about both her ancestors and herself. Meanwhile, a young Doctor Henry Jekyll, trapped in Paris himself, becomes very interested in the strange, transformative salts Odile is using to save her sickly brother. She needs the doctor’s help if she and her brother are to survive, but what price will she be forced to pay for it?

The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mademoiselle Odile is a prequel of sorts to Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novella, imaging how a young Henry Jekyll first became Edward Hyde, the horror who has haunted readers since his first appearance in print one hundred and twenty-five years ago.
Learn more about the book and author at James Reese's website.

Reese is also the New York Times bestselling author of The Dracula Dossier, The Book of Shadows, The Book of Spirits, and Witchery.

The Page 69 Test: The Dracula Dossier.

Writers Read: James Reese.

--Marshal Zeringue