A Novel
The Kiminee Dream
A homewrecking twister. A mysterious interloper. Can one young artist claim her voice amid chaos and ruin?
If you like secrets as well as whimsy and twists that jolt and soothe in turn, you’ll love this riveting finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Buy links, full description and an excerpt are below.
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Kiminee, Illinois, 1960. Carly Mae Foley yearns to share her talents with the world. Even in a quirky Midwestern town where mystifying phenomena bloom, the seven-year-old savant outshines all others with her exquisite canine portraits. But the youngster’s hopes scatter in the wind when a tornado razes her beloved home and tears her family apart.
Clinging to life, Carly is grateful when a renowned patron of the arts pledges to sustain her creative pursuits through the unspeakable tragedy. But with her community teeming with dark secrets and shadowy figures, the prodigy fears someone is out to shatter her true destiny.
In the midst of enchanting moments and daunting catastrophes, can one little girl keep her future alive?
Deeply atmospheric and brimming with lyrical prose, Laura McHale Holland’s immersive writing beckons readers to wander among the bejeweled blossoms and singing river of a mystical heartland. And as the reader navigates the town’s oddities, the alchemy of neighborly communion paired with simple country worldviews opens a window into lives worth living.
The Kiminee Dream is a riveting magical realism novel. If you like charming folk settings, poetic turns of phrase, and deep explorations of the soul, then you’ll love Laura McHale Holland’s stirring coming-of-age tale.
An excerpt from The Kiminee Dream
Prologue
In the town of Kiminee, the end was never the end, sorrow left supple scars and wishes cracked reality. This was true even when a teenager forced too soon into womanhood darted through a moonlit winter night, exhaling moist clouds into biting air. Clad in a sleeveless, cotton nightgown and slippers worn thin, the young fan of frilly dresses, black roses and Bing Crosby’s mellow baritone didn’t wince at the cold. She ran on, eyes glazed with fever, dewy skin blemished.
At the riverbank, she vaulted over snow-covered boulders onto solid ice. With arms outstretched and face tilted skyward, she glided. Voice wavering, she rasped a lullaby her mother used to sing in a city where coal dust muted the horizon. Her heart thrummed. Tears flowed. Blood slid down her thighs.
She kicked up her feet. Gone were the slippers, replaced by skates of purest-white leather with gleaming blades; gone was the nightie, replaced by a costume with sequined rainbows and silver fringe. She leaped, spun, landed. Ice cracked. She rose and fell again. The brittle surface groaned. She leaped higher, higher—each time a creak, a crack. Into the air she twirled once more. When she touched down, a fissure welcomed her. She plummeted, lips closed, eyes smiling.
When she embraced her maker that frozen Illinois night in 1936, all residents of the community nestled along the river’s curves were asleep. Except for one. And for decades to come, they knew nothing of her brief life and demise.
Except for one.
Praise for The Kiminee Dream
Richly written, full of magical realism and deeply atmospheric, The Kiminee Dream is as much a love letter to the interconnected lives of small town residents as it is a testament to how inexplicably linked our lives are, no matter how far removed.
— Kristin Fields, Author of A Lily in the Light
The author of The Kiminee Dream, Laura McHale Holland, knows a thing or two about the beauty to be found in characters from America’s heartland. They are always quirky and some are on magical, profoundly personal quests. And if their fellow travelers include pets, wildlife and even the landscape itself, it all makes for a hypnotic and endearing story. The turn of Kiminee Dream’s final page feels like the end of a much-needed visit home.
— Rayne Wolfe is a former New York Times Staff Writer, San Francisco Chronicle columnist, and author of Toxic Mom Toolkit
More than a delightful visit to the heartland in a simpler time, it’s easy to confuse The Kiminee Dream with a tale of Midwest charm and quirky characters–sure, it’s got all that–but there are twists and turns that take you to a dark side that you don’t see coming. Laura McHale Holland sheds the stereotypes (while still squeezing plenty of whimsy out of them) with a tale of larger than life characters in a small town.
— Ransom Stephens, author of Too Rich to Die
The Kiminee Dream, Laura McHale Holland’s latest book, is a family saga, full of quirky characters, delicate language, magic and secrets.
— Susanna Solomon, author of Point Reyes Sheriff’s Calls and Montana Rhapsody
The little town of Kiminee, Illinois, population 1,257, has always had something magical about it. Why, if you listen closely, you can even hear the Bendy River, which flows alongside this burg, burbling to the tune of “You Are My Sunshine.” But the residents of Kiminee also have a few skeletons secreted away – both real and metaphorical. Cozy up with this novel when you have a few hours; Laura McHale Holland has crafted a page-turner. Once you enter this world, you won’t want to leave until the last mystery is solved.
— Michel Wing, author of Body on the Wall: Poems
While containing quite a bit of melodrama, THE KIMINEE DREAM remains a deeply poetic and riveting novel, full of family secrets and the complex relationships right underneath the cheery façade of American normalcy.
