Win MOONRISE by Cassandra King!

Acclaimed author Cassandra King's new novel is Moonrise, available on September 3rd from Maiden Lane Press.  MOONRISE is a novel of dark secrets and second chances, New York Times’ bestselling author Cassandra King’s homage to the gothic classic Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

When Helen Honeycutt falls in love with a man who has recently lost his wife in a tragic accident, their sudden marriage creates a rift between her new husband and his friends, who resent her intrusion into their close circle. When the newlyweds join them for a summer at Moonrise, his late wife’s family home in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, it soon becomes clear that someone is trying to drive her away, in King’s literary homage to Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

Here Cassandra shares a few words about relationships, family dynamics and divorce --- all present in Moonrise.

Q: In Moonrise, you’ve written about a circle of friends that includes not just women but also men. The relationship within each couple is unique. While friendship has been a regular theme in your previous novels, the women in Moonrise seem more capable of betrayal than in previous novels. Would you like to comment on this? And with the exception of your first novel, Making Waves, you’ve most often focused on friendships between women. Do you find it harder to write about men?

A: Relationships are always complex, even the closest and most loving—or, perhaps, especially the closest and most loving. In this book, I wanted to explore that complexity in ways I haven’t in previous novels. Yes, friendship is a beautiful thing, but how do we deal with rejection? We all experience rejection at some point in our lives, and it always hurts. And what about betrayal? I wanted to look at the darker part of friendships--what’s often hidden beneath the amiable surface. How do friendships survive jealousy, lies, loss of trust? And if they do, what’s left? All that intrigued me, especially as it applied to the relationships between men and women, both friends and lovers. I find it easier to write about men than women for some reason. I toyed with having a male point of view in this book in addition to Helen’s and Willa’s, using Noel or Linc as one of the narrators. But Tansy would not stand for it.

Q: The stigma of divorce is, for many, a thing of the past. With the increase in the divorce rate, many more couples find themselves remarrying at midlife and having to adjust to blended families. In Moonrise, Helen is rejected not only by her husband’s circle of friends but also by his daughter. Which do you think is harder to bear, and why?

A: It depends on how you define family. Most of us expand that notion well beyond bloodlines or genetic ties, and close friends become like family to us. Certainly in a second marriage, efforts are made all around to expand the boundaries of the family unit. Helen and Emmet each have a child who has left the nest and started his/her own life, making for a slightly different situation (though not an uncommon one). Since Emmet’s daughter has lost her mother, Helen wants to play a more significant role as stepmother than she might otherwise have done. However, the daughter’s resentment is an obstacle that has to be overcome. From my observations, I don’t think that’s an uncommon situation, either.

About the Author:

CASSANDRA KING is the bestselling author of four previous novels, Making Waves, The Sunday Wife, The Same Sweet Girls and Queen of Broken Hearts, as well as numerous short stories, essays and articles. Moonrise, her fifth novel, is set in Highlands, North Carolina. A native of Lower Alabama, Cassandra resides in Beaufort, South Carolina, with her husband, Pat Conroy.

If you’d like to win your own copy of MOONRISE, just send an email to contest@gmail.com, with "MOONRISE" as the subject. Make sure to include your name and mailing address in the US only. This is a quick contest so your odds of winning are really good - if you enter by Sept. 11, 2013. Good luck!