Welcome to my tour stop with Rockstar Book Tours! Read an excerpt and enter the giveaway below...
The Time Keepers
By Alyson Richman
Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction
Paperback, eBook, Audiobook, 336 Pages
October 15, 2024 by Union Square Co.
Summary
An unforgettable novel that captures the power of longing, loss, and love, The Time Keepers transports us from 1979 suburban New York to war-torn Vietnam, revealing that sometimes the most unexpected friendships can save us.
Two women from different worlds, Grace and Anh, are indelibly changed when a runaway boy is found on a street in their small Long Island town. Brought together by the love of this child displaced by war, the women find friendship and healing from their own painful pasts when their lives intersect with a mysterious wounded Vietnam vet. The vet, Jack, works at the Golden Hours, a watch store that mends timepieces—and might even mend damaged souls.
Richman interweaves the journeys of these wonderfully diverse characters who will grip, fill, and break your heart—only to bring them together with the care and precision of an expert watchmaker, one piece at a time. Inspired by the true story of a Vietnamese refugee who entrusted the dramatic account of her escape from Vietnam to the author, and also that of a wounded veteran, Richman sheds light on those whose lives were forever impacted by the devastation of that war.
(Affiliate links included.)
Excerpt
PROLOGUE
Vietnam, 1978
They have been waiting all night by the river, the dark water smooth as glass. They carry nothing but a bundle filled with food and canteens of fresh water all tied in a square piece of cloth. A single tin pot. A sack of lemons and a box of sugar.
The boat is late. The children are hungry. The men and women who are with them are standing still as trees.
The moon cuts through the darkness like a scythe. As they wait, looking for the boat they were promised, the tide inches closer to their silhouettes. They walk backward, retreating into the marsh, tall spears of reeds behind them. The cicadas loud in the wet grass.
It is the youngest boy who first sees the flash of light. A small beacon from a torch pulsating atop the head of the fisherman. They walk into the river. Treading past the water hyacinth, a mass of green leaves and singular pink flowers. First, ankle-deep. Then, knee-deep. Finally, waist-deep. The children are afraid. Seaweed wraps around their legs, pulling them down. Still, they inch toward the boat. The weight of the river slowing them with each step until there is no sand or silt beneath their feet.
They reach their arms up toward the boat. The current flows against them. In the shadow of the ship’s hull, they see a woman extending her hand. A rope is thrown out to reach them, curling first on the surface of the water before sinking down.
PART I
CHAPTER 1
Long Island, 1979
Grace Golden would never know why, on that sunny afternoon in late May, she had chosen to walk down Gypsum Street after Mass instead of her usual route to the grocery store. Maple Avenue had always been the fastest way from Saint Bartholomew’s to Kepler’s Market.
Her husband, Tom, believed Grace picked Gypsum Street because the cherry blossoms there were at their peak. That was the thing about his wife, he explained. She’d always go out of her way to encounter something beautiful. But neither of them could have anticipated on that fine spring day, as Grace’s heels rhythmically struck the sidewalk, her shopping list tucked inside her leather purse, that she would notice a little boy curled up against the side of a building. Sleeping on the hard cement, his body was tucked so tightly, he reminded Grace of a small whelk nestled into its shell.
She stopped and hovered over him. Then she leaned down to nudge him.
“Are you lost, love?” The lilt of her Irish accent, still detectable after years of living in New York, floated through the air. “Let me help you up,” she offered her hand.
But the boy remained fixed in a fetal position, his arms locked even tighter around himself and his feet inched closer to his bottom. One of his tennis shoes had a hole in its rubber sole. The other was missing its laces.
She still could not see his face, only the tiny edge of his ear and the shock of straight black hair.
“Please.”
His head rose slightly, revealing his dark eyes, heart-shaped lips, and small nose.
It was the face of a child, frightened and alone.
About the Author
Tour Schedule
Week One:
10/14/2024 | Excerpt/IG Post | |
10/15/2024 | Excerpt/IG Post | |
10/16/2024 | Excerpt/IG Post | |
10/17/2024 | Excerpt/IG Post | |
10/18/2024 | Review/IG Post |
Week Two:
10/21/2024 | Review/IG Post | |
10/22/2024 | Review/IG Post | |
10/23/2024 | IG Review/LFL Drop Pic/TikTok Post | |
10/24/2024 | Review/IG Post | |
10/25/2024 | IG Review |
Tour-Wide Giveaway
1 winner will receive a finished copy of THE TIME KEEPERS, US Only.
Ends October 29th, midnight EST.
Ends October 29th, midnight EST.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
What did you think of the excerpt? Have you read any other books set in Vietnam?
No comments
Post a Comment
I love comments! I try to read and reply to them all. Feel free to agree or disagree and generally share your thoughts with me.