Making Muckles Out of Mickles or Why Mira is reissuing the Shenandoah Album Novels

Wedding Ring rereleaseWhat are Muckles and Mickles you say and what in the world do they have to do with Emilie’s novels?

What, have you no Scots blood–as do many people in the Shenandoah Valley?  “Many a mickle makes a muckle,” means that if you carefully accumulate many little things, you’ll end up with something larger and better.  And truthfully, I found this smile-worthy expression on the internet, not in an old family diary from my distant Ross family ancestors, but do we care?

So what do mickles and muckles have to do with the reissuing of the first three novels in my Shenandoah Album series?  Well, you see, the letters and emails you sent my publisher asking for more books in the series are the mickles, and they seem to have created a muckle (not to be confused with muggles, because I am not J.K. Rowling.).  We haven’t quite achieved lift-off on a new addition to the series, but the fact that the first three books are coming out in new and exciting trade paperback editions is, quite probably, due to all that mail.

Now, nobody’s told me this is why, but that’s not the kind of thing they WOULD tell me.  Publishers keep secrets almost as well as politicians do.  Still, Wedding Ring, Endless Chain, and Lover’s Knot with their lovely new covers, lovelier larger print, and loveliest price yet, ($7.99 at Amazon, for example) are a joy and a step in the right direction.

Do you remember how the Shenandoah Album series got its start?   I was writing all the time and had very little time to quilt.  One day it occurred to me that at the very least, if I couldn’t find time to finish the quilt in progress, at least I could write about quilts, quilters and quilting.  I decided to write a novel that used a vintage Wedding Ring quilt as a way to bring three generations of women together.  And since it was a Wedding Ring quilt, clearly the theme had to be marriage.

Intrigued?  I hope so, because I am so proud of this book and the four that followed, just as I’m proud of you for making your wishes known.

Wedding Ring comes out at the end of this month, Endless Chain in April, Lover’s Knot in May.  I hope you’ll buy and read them, if you haven’t already, or choose one or all as a gift for a friend.  They’ll make perfect Secret Santa gifts to stow away for Christmas, or thank you gifts for a friend who loves to read.

Do you have to like quilts to enjoy this series?  Quilts bind the books together in one way or another, but these,  like all my stories, are really about the lives of women.  Wedding Ring is about mothers and daughters, about growing old, about the different stages of marriage, about overcoming grief, about finding love when you had expected never to find it again.

I hope enough people will find the reissues and buy them that my publisher’s ears will perk up as they did at your mail.  Perky-eared publishers are the best kind.  And there’s at least one more book to add to this series.

If you are so inclined you can preorder Wedding Ring at:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Books-A-Million

Indiebound

13 Comments

  1. Lynn Ross on March 5, 2013 at 10:12 am

    What good news! Such a compliment to you, Emilie! I have read and still own all the Shenandoah Album series. They were wonderful stories, just as all of your books are. I would enjoy reading another one, and I’m not “into” quilts. I do treasure my grandmother’s double wedding ring quilt, though. I look at all those tiny pieces, totally unrelated to each other, all done “on her fingers” without the help of a sewing machine, and wonder about the dresses the quilt pieces came from. They would never have had the money to buy material just to cut up into quilt pieces. Oooops! Caught in memories, there. Sorry! :)Thank you again for the gift of your writing.

    • Emilie Richards on March 5, 2013 at 2:13 pm

      Lynn, that’s a big part of the charm of quilts, the memories they evoke, the memories they incorporate. I think that’s what I love best. I bet you do treasure your grandmother’s.

  2. Nancy Badertscher on March 5, 2013 at 11:51 am

    Well, that IS an interesting development. I think I will pull out my copy of Wedding Ring and start re-reading them all, one right after the other. Nice to think that it is possible that my letter to your publishers might have had a teeny tiny bit to play in their decision!! Here’s to perky-eared publishers!!

  3. Patti on March 5, 2013 at 1:11 pm

    Wedding Ring is one of my favorite books. I am so glad that it and you are getting extra attention.

  4. Cathy Norton on March 5, 2013 at 4:44 pm

    I am going immediately to my supplier’s website to see if they have it listed for preorder yet. We used to be able to get the previous editions from them. Can’t wait to be able to start selling them again. They are the best!

    • Emilie Richards on March 5, 2013 at 4:52 pm

      Thank you, Cathy. That’s the best possible kind of reply. It’s a lovely edition, so hope they have it.

  5. Audrey Bonnell on March 5, 2013 at 5:30 pm

    Emilie this is such great news. Weeding Ring is the first book I ever read of yours and I have the whole series. I have a Nook now but that series will always remain in book form as they mean so much to me. Thank you for your wonderful gift of writing and God bless you.

  6. Kathy Cousins on March 5, 2013 at 7:03 pm

    Great news! I have them all and have recommended them to friends. Endless Chain is my favorite. I hope it is not too long before the next one in the series.

  7. Dorothy Schreyer on March 20, 2013 at 2:06 pm

    I will be buying these for my own collection, this time around, not just checking them out from the library…have plans to start a Sister’s Choice quilt soon, or at least someday…

  8. Christine Miller on March 21, 2013 at 3:40 am

    Looking forward to enjoying a new series by one of my favorite authors. I love character interaction and development she is so known for. I am a novice quilter but am trying to figure it out. Quilts and quilting remind me of my Grandmother whom I learned a number of things from needlepoint to baking to even how to make a proper bed with hospital corners. I have two quilts that she made me, one when I was born and had on my bed for years and the second one when my son was born. I have this hanging and will go to my son when he settles down.

    • Emilie Richards on March 21, 2013 at 2:41 pm

      I am so enjoying all the stories about quilts everybody here has made or been given, plus the nice comments on my books. I love my readers.

  9. ArJean myers on April 4, 2013 at 1:23 am

    I finished reading “one Mountain Away.” Waiting for the next book in this series. So I’ve pulled out the Shenandoah series and will reread them while I wait. I found two copies of the Wedding Ring. A nice gift for one of my friends

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