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Cynthia G. Neale

Goodreads Author

Born

in Albany, NY, The United States

January 07

Website

http://www.cynthianeale.com

Twitter

cynthiagneale.bsky.social

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Children's Books

Member Since

June 2009

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/cynthianeale

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I grew up in the Finger Lakes region of New York state where I climbed trees and sat on their wide welcoming branches to read. I dreamed of word making in a magical and lush landscape. The many waterfalls throughout the area sang stories of the original natives. The Chilean poet, Gabriela Mistral wrote, "No, I don't believe that I will be lost after death. Why should You have made me fruitful, if I must be emptied and left like the crushed sugar canes? Why should You spill the light across my forehead and my heart every morning if You will not come to pick me, as one picks the dark grapes that sweeten in the sun, in the middle of autumn?"

Our ancestors cheer us on...the Celtic mind believes there is a thin line between life and death. I want I grew up in the Finger Lakes region of New York state where I climbed trees and sat on their wide welcoming branches to read. I dreamed of word making in a magical and lush landscape. The many waterfalls throughout the area sang stories of the original natives. The Chilean poet, Gabriela Mistral wrote, "No, I don't believe that I will be lost after death. Why should You have made me fruitful, if I must be emptied and left like the crushed sugar canes? Why should You spill the light across my forehead and my heart every morning if You will not come to pick me, as one picks the dark grapes that sweeten in the sun, in the middle of autumn?"

Our ancestors cheer us on...the Celtic mind believes there is a thin line between life and death. I want to cheer on our ancestors and make them known through my writing. We are the sum of our ancestors and we heal and become empowered with compassion when we tell stories.

We can't sanitize and remake history, nor should we become stuck in the rage of the past, but remembrance through stories that are threaded with truth is redemptive and inspirational.

I have four historical novels about the Irish Famine and immigration.The Irish Dresser series begins with 'The Irish Dresser, A Story of Hope during The Great Hunger (An Gorta Mor, 1845-1850)' published by White Mane Publishers. The second book is 'Hope in New York City, the Continuing Story of The Irish Dresser,' also published by White Mane Publishers. The third book in the series is 'Norah, The Making of an Irish-American Woman in 18th-Century New York' published by Fireship Press. My last book in the series is 'The Irish Milliner,' also published by Fireship Press. Beginning with the Famine right through to the end of the Civil War, this is historical fiction that breaks the lock on the vault of history's stereotypical agitprop about Irish women. It is historical fiction that is a vivid sketch of one woman in the 1850s becoming liberated from impossible circumstances.

My fifth historical fiction is 'Catharine, Queen of the Tumbling Waters,' that is being published by Bedazzled Ink Publishers in spring of 2023. A story of another strong woman, a real life Native American with French blood who lived in the 1700s in Pennsylvania and New York during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. Catharine Montour, obscure, but a heroine in our history, meets Benjamin Franklin and leads her people to safety when the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign to destroy all Iroquois villages is enacted. Another strong woman who breaks the lock on history's understanding of Native American women.

For light, delicious, whimsical reading, 'Pavlova in a Hat Box, Sweet Memories & Desserts' is published by Amazon. Another cookbook is in the making, to be co-authored by Margaret Mitchell, a Scotswoman with a B&B in New Hampshire. 'Transatlantic Tarts, Wee Tales and Recipes by Two Celtic Cake Queens.'

I've also written a screenplay series adapted from The Irish Dresser Series, as well as a screenplay, Blue Vega, adapted from a true coming of age story about a single singing blues and jazz mother raising six children in the 60s and 70s in a small town in upstate New York. Also, a musical play, Diamond Juba, adapted from my second novel, 'Hope in New York City,' about the Irish dancer, Jack Diamond and the black dancer, Master Juba (William Henry Lane).

I speak at festivals, bookstores, schools, libraries, shelters, organizations. I write in the cover of my books, "Hope dances in the darkness and believes in the Lover who casts light at our feet." ...more

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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Cynthia G. Neale There's a last-gasp, egotistical pursuit to be published and it's very easy for anyone to publish a book. Make sure you aren't compromising yourself a…moreThere's a last-gasp, egotistical pursuit to be published and it's very easy for anyone to publish a book. Make sure you aren't compromising yourself and the real writers. Find out if you are a writer. Everyone should keep a journal and use writing for therapy, but not everyone should write a novel. If you come alive in no other way than when you write, pursue the craft with all your passion. This means to write each day if you can, read, read, and read, and go to conferences, find a mentor, a writers' group, meditate, cry, and then re-write and re-write. And then look into how to get published, but only then. Unless, of course, you want to write sloppy prose just to see your name in print. "Better to write for yourself and have no public than write for the public and have no self" ~ Cyril Connolly(less)

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Cynthia G. Neale Norah McCabe, the protagonist in NORAH: The Making of an Irish-American Woman in 19th-Century New York, came to me as a child of thirteen in my first …moreNorah McCabe, the protagonist in NORAH: The Making of an Irish-American Woman in 19th-Century New York, came to me as a child of thirteen in my first children’s novel, The Irish Dresser, A Story of Hope During The Great Hunger (An Gorta Mor, 1845-1850). I had been roused to read all things Irish because heretofore I hadn’t been privy to the knowledge of my Irish heritage. As a writer, The Great Hunger period of Irish history grabbed me by the heart and wouldn’t let go. There was a message, a gift, that had been given to the rest of the world through music, literature, dance, and spirit. There have been horrid “ethnic cleansing” periods in world history, and this event (the worst disaster of the 19th century) was indeed the same.
The only knowledge most American students learn is from high school history texts, “Over a million people perished in Ireland from the loss of the potato crop.” John Walters writes, “Surveys, I’m told, indicate that the Irish people do not want to hear about the Famine. But it is also precisely why the subject must be talked about until we remember the things we never knew.” As a writer with a heart beating fast in learning Irish dancing, as well as my history, I knew this was a subject that would become the vehicle for a story. Tom Hayden writes in Irish Hunger, “There are unmarked famine graves in all of us.”
In 1997, although working on other stories, I felt compelled and inspired to write a story set in this time period. I was dancing one evening at an Irish pub and looked up at the well-known poster titled, “Irish Dresser,” which is in every pub in Ireland and in a few pubs in this country. The poster is of a photograph taken in the 1960s of an 1800s Irish dresser (comparable to what we know as a china cabinet). On the dresser, there are china cups, a photo of JFK and the Pope, and a red hen scratching on the floor in front of big cupboard doors. As I danced, I imagined a young girl suffering from hunger and tragedy, but dreaming of a better life when she climbed inside this place of refuge, her hiding place, and place of hope. Norah McCabe eventually travels across the sea to America hidden away in this dresser. After I wrote the first book and found a publisher, I thought I was finished telling her story. But I couldn’t leave her on the shores of America, and I also learned through genealogical research that there was a real Norah McCabe who had come from Ireland to NYC in 1847!
I had a few epiphanies that convinced me I was writing about a real person who had lived during this period. And so I wrote Hope in New York City that continued her story of survival in her new country, a country that despised the Irish immigrant. And then once again I assumed her story was over, but my heart was still being clutched and I felt the stirrings of a young woman’s dreams and struggles. And the more I read about New York City and America during the years prior to the Civil War and post massive immigration, the more intrigued I became. It was a time of Abolitionism, the Nativist Movement, and the Women’s Rights Movement was in its heyday. There were uprisings, bank runs and crashes, riots, violence, and xenophobia.
I imagined the child, Norah, becoming a vibrant and determined young woman who desires to desperately climb out of her Irish skin as much as she wants to keep it. She doesn’t want the limitations of her race and dreams of success, but still longs to return to Ireland. The two children’s books about Norah McCabe convinced me she still had a story to tell and so I trusted her to continue her story through me. And so she did!
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Cynthia G. Neale’s books

Average rating: 4.19 · 155 ratings · 52 reviews · 8 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Irish Dresser: A Story of Hope During the Great Hunger (An Gorta Mor, 1845-1850 4.29 avg rating — 48 ratings — published 2003 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Norah: The Making of an Irish-American Woman in 19th-Century New York 3.98 avg rating — 48 ratings — published 2011 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Irish Milliner 4.14 avg rating — 22 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hope In New York City: The Continuing Story of the Irish Dresser 4.21 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2008 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Catharine, Queen of the Tumbling Waters 4.40 avg rating — 15 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Pavlova in a Hat Box, Sweet Memories & Desserts it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Irish Dresser (Norah McCabe Book 1) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Irish Hope (Norah McCabe Book 2) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Erica Jong, SeniorU, Laughter in the Kitchen, and Monarchs

Can you relate to this quote by Erica Jong, "Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark place where it leads."

I've become Persephone a few dark times over the many years in my writing and speaking career. I'm still at it, but currently taking a new path to share my writing, historical novels, love of baking, and life experience.

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Wild Atlantic Women: Walking Ireland’s West Coast

by Gráinne Lyons

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A powerful story about the life of a Native American woman in Montana in 1872. She is another unsung heroine of the past, a woman, a Crow, determined to stay true to her heritage, the land, and her people. She marries a white fur trader whom she come ...more
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Cynthia Neale made a comment in the group Goodreads Reviewers' Group — What to Post in Review Requests topic " I'm seeking reviewers for my historical fiction novel, 'Catharine, Queen of the Tumbling Waters' released a year ago by Bedazzled Ink. "I'm not like y ...more "
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Cynthia Neale made a comment in the group Goodreads Authors/Readers — Author List topic " 100 people on Goodreads received a free ebook of my latest novel, Catharine, Queen of the Tumbling Waters through a paid giveaway. Please be kind and ...more "
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Escape into the two parallel lives that crisscross one another in mystery and time. Amy, an ex-pat in 1973 is hiding in Toronto trying to escape the circumstances surrounding her twin sister's death by drowning. There is romance and hidden secrets, a ...more
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“Write, rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite. until you can barely stand it any longer; then go do something else that provides immediate gratification, like baking or dancing."
- Cynthia Neale”
― Cynthia G. Neale

tags: baking, dancing, editing, writing

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What's the Name o...: YA historical fiction set in a Nordic country. The book was at a scholastic book fair. I think the main characters name is Nora and her family owned/worked on a potato farm. Read around 2000-2009.	6	62	Jan 24, 2024 05:17AM