Synopsis:
A socialite, a retired dermatologist, a hometown opera singer, and a bipolar ketchup heiress have dreams of turning the Hankey Opera House into Lincoln Center on the Schuylkill River. The reality is that the Hankey Opera Company stands on the brink of financial ruin. They think mounting an ambitious production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, a popular opera about history’s most legendary womanizer, will solve their problems. It only compounds them.
After the leading man pulls out of his contract, they wager their future on a rising star, an Argentine baritone with marquee-idol looks who is an incorrigible, untameable modern-day Don Juan. Will his constant need for sex drag the struggling opera company down with him?
DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA will have readers flying through its pages. Prior knowledge about opera is optional. Love of laughter is essential.
DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA was named a “Best Kindle Book of 2013” by Digital Book Today and was a Finalist in the 2012 National Indie Excellence Awards for New Fiction.
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Excerpt:
Like untold other mornings in Hankey, the day had broken like a farm-fresh egg cracked into a rusty skillet. After such a dreary start, devoid of possibility, Deanna Lundquist never dreamed she’d encounter someone who’d change the course of her life.
Needing make-ready time for each meeting she chaired, she’d arrived at the Hankey Opera House at 9:15 a.m., coffee and Danish in tow. She was forty-five minutes early—plenty of time to organize things just so. She leaned against the bank of glass doors at the entrance, expecting them to be locked. When one gave way, she teetered on patent-leather high heels into the foyer like a circus clown on stilts.
The coffee tumbled out of her hands and onto the carpet. A dark, wet ring began spreading at her feet. She needed paper towels—now.
She hurried around the corner and down the carpeted steps to the ladies’ room. More than anything else about the Hankey Opera House, it was the winding, downward trek to the restrooms that reminded her of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Hankey productions couldn’t approach Met quality. But Deanna did derive satisfaction from knowing their small-town opera house had more bathroom stalls.
She threw open the door and set her things on the tiled counter, surveying the sink. No towels anywhere. Just one of those turbo-powered hand dryers that sucked the flesh off your bones. She hated that dryer, needing no reminders that by age forty-two, her skin had lost its youthful elasticity.
What idiot had left the front door unlocked in the first place? Or was it the opera house ghost up to its tricks again?
The Hankey Opera House had served as a ghost motel for generations of spectral intruders. It had been built on the foundation of a jail used during the French and Indian War. Since then, operagoers claimed to have heard war whoops of massacred Lenape captives, most notably during Act I of a 1974 revival of Rose-Marie—right in the middle of the “Indian Love Call” number. The latest ghost—no war whooper—was more likely to open doors if your arms were loaded down, that is, when it wasn’t floating back and forth between the house and the green room.
Deanna knew she should forget about cleaning up that spill herself and just call Kleen Carpets. After all, she was supposed to be upstairs, preparing the room for the guild and those about to be interviewed. As she reached into her bag for her phone, she felt the air rustle around her. The acrid scent of sweat rushed into her nostrils, turning her empty stomach. Someone grabbed her around the waist and clamped a hand over her mouth.
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Trailer:
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Praise for Don Juan in Hankey, PA:
“Packed with comic misadventures, mystery, intrigue and opera lore, the book rollicks along to a satisfying conclusion….The details involved in putting on an important opera are fascinating and true, particularly the technical discussions about staging. Cognoscenti will especially appreciate the musical references, but readers need not be opera buffs to enjoy this novel.” – Kirkus Reviews
“A fast, fun read with wit, charm, and can-do optimism at its heart. Some authors write comedy with aplomb. Others excel at infusing stories with emotional warmth. Martin combines both in a debut novel that will have you doubled over, laughing, that deserves to be welcomed with a hearty brava.” – Kaylie Jones, author of LIES MY MOTHER NEVER TOLD ME
“Gale Martin has written a clever and enchanting story that sings from the first page to its last. Opera buffs and novices will enjoy the juicy drama and intrigue that happens both on and behind the stage. What a treat!” – Margo Candela, author of GOOD-BYE TO ALL THAT
“Like a fabulous production, DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA seethes with wild jealousies, convoluted mysteries, wry comic turns, resident ghosts, mysterious assailants, bold intrigues, longing, love, lust, and – of course – plenty of opera. Gale Martin’s novel is ‘meraviglioso!'” – Lenore Hart, author of BECKY
“Hold onto your libretti! Gale Martin takes opera, and mayhem, to new heights in her laugh-out-loud, rollicking, confection of a novel. One part romance, one part mystery, DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA will sweep you off your feet. You won’t want to put it down!” – Nina Solomon, author of THE SINGLE WIFE
“A lively romp about a dysfunctional, small-town opera guild. Martin writes about the Pennsylvania Dutch and opera fanatics with the same verve that Garrison Keillor writes about Minnesota Lutherans and public radio.” – Richard Fellinger, author of THEY HOVER OVER US
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From the Author:
Truth be told, I had a blast – opening night at the opera in my head (almost) every day – writing DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA, my backstage novel about a small-town opera guild and all the problems they encounter producing Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Seduction. Visits from ghosts. Murder. Comic intrigues. Convoluted mysteries. And, of course, lust, longing, lust, love. Have I mentioned unbridled lust?
After the baritone singing the title role pulls out of his contract, the guild hires a gifted gaucho from Argentina who won a fictional, international opera contest called Operatoonity. Hence, the name for my blog celebrating opera is also Operatoonity!
Here are some of my favorite review snippets from readers and reviewers just like YOU:
- “‘Don Juan’ perfectly captures our own faults, those of ambition, greed, lust and naivety, and makes us laugh at our own self-importance. This book strikes a human chord in such a comical way that I couldn’t put it down.”
- “Guess what? I want to learn more about opera now. What fun and how clever.”
- “I want more from this author. I will recommend this book to all my friends.”
- “What makes this novel so special is that are the many levels to discover and enjoy, as in every good novel.”
- “Now maybe I don’t know much about opera or Mozart but I’m pretty sure I know a good book when I read one and Don Juan in Hankey, PA is definitely a good book.”
- “I REALLY LOVED THE BOOK!!! Honestly, I wish there was a sequel already.”
- “Don Juan in Hankey, PA will help your own heart sing. And who among us doesn’t yearn for that?”
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Buy Don Juan in Hankey, PA:
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About the Author:
Gale Martin is an award-winning writer of contemporary fiction who plied her childhood penchant for telling tall tales into a legitimate literary pursuit once she hit midlife. She began writing her first novel at age eleven, finishing it three and a half decades later.
Her first novel, DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA, is a humorous homage to Don Giovanni, Mozart’s famous tragicomic opera about the last two days of Don Juan’s life. It was named a Finalist in the 2012 National Indie Excellence Awards for New Fiction. Her second novel GRACE UNEXPECTED is wryly witty women’s fiction featuring Grace Savage, a 30-something protagonist with a heart of gold, wrapped in lead.
Gale would commit a misdemeanor to score some Babybel cheese and goes weak-kneed for hummingbirds. She is a wife and mother of one and a communications director by profession.
She blogs about opera–the art form, not the platform and is an opera reviewer for Bachtrack, an online site featuring classical performance worldwide. She can name any aria in three notes. Okay, five notes, perfectly sung, with full orchestration.
She has a master of arts in creative writing from Wilkes University. She lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which serves as a rich source of inspiration for her writing.
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Connect with Gale Martin:
Websites: http://galemartin.me AND http://whokilledtomjones.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Gale_Martin (@Gale_Martin)
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/GaleMartinAuthor
Email: galemartin.writer@gmail.com
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