Fall Asleep Forgetting

"A master class in sparse, clear prose, Fall Asleep Forgetting is a compelling and mesmerizing read, infused with an elegiac ambience. It will make you laugh and cry in equal measures. You’ll not fall asleep forgetting this book." New York Journal of Books

"An intense, original, and thoroughly grownup novel. In sensuous and poetic language,Packard tells a powerful story of a group of oddball characters joined only by place and a desire to in some way ease the pain of a beautiful, doomed man. This novel resonates."

—Patricia Grossman, author of Radiant Daughter and

Ferro-Grumley Award winning novelist for Brian In Three Seasons

"In the wake of the recent ruling overturning Proposition 8, California’s ban against same-sex marriage, a new novel about lesbian desire takes on special resonance. And particular resonance, since the setting of the book is the North Fork of Long Island. And unusual resonance, since the story takes place in a trailer park, not your typical setting for a story suffused with poetry that’s about the need and nature of affection and love.

Georgeann Packard’s spare and lyrical narrative Fall Asleep Forgetting may not gain a wide readership because of its odd characters, including a Biblical spouting 9-year old named Six and a transvestite. And because of the novel’s shifting perspective and mix of styles. But for these very same reasons, it should attract readers interested in original and passionate fiction, and in some wonderful observations about the land off Orient Point – the “glories of the sea, the massive boulders” and “waves like marching squadrons” that churn up the green water."

Joan Baum for NPR, Connecticut

"Forget reading some mindless chick lit novel; take this one to the beach instead. Fall Asleep Forgetting is full of lust, heated sexual encounters and intense emotions that stem from fresh and recharged connections."        –Amy Steele, Entertainment Realm

GEORGEANN PACKARD is a writer, graphic designer, and photographer who also designs, draws and installs landscapes on the North Fork of Long Island.

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The Last Estate

"Bowman, a robust storyteller, keeps us hooked in this first U.S. publication for its Irish author. A knife flashes and a boy is cut in the opening sentence. It’s a minor injury in a children’s scuffle, but also a portent of the violence ahead. The setting is Gigondas, a village in a wine-making region of Provence. Most of the action takes place in the summer of 1920, when the fight victim, Christian Aragon, the narrator, is almost 17 and about to graduate from high school. It’s only two years since the end of the Great War, and his father expects Christian to succeed him as a wine-maker, but he’s resisting; he intends to make his own way in life. Christian has fallen in love with his beautiful 24-year-old geography teacher Vivienne Pleyden, who reciprocates it on an officially sanctioned school trip to Avignon. What might have been messy and mawkish is redeemed by Bowman’s fresh, invigorating prose. Back in Gigondas, everything changes. There’s a murder, a crime of passion, followed by a courtroom drama and its lengthy aftermath. From the rhythms of a coming-of-age story, with its incremental discoveries, we are plunged into a maelstrom."    —Kirkus

"A coming of age tale that, like many other examples from the genre, hinges on forbidden love and the tension between fathers and sons. What separates this tale from others like it, however, is the setting: Provence in the wake of World War I. Though he lives in Ireland, the South of France comes alive in all of its verdant glory throughout the novel. Bowman is also adept at bringing the vast and irregular geography of the human heart to life as well."  —Small Press Reviews  

CONOR BOWMAN lives in Ireland and practices law, though he hasn’t quite gotten the hang of it yet. He is married to a wonderful woman who saved
him from himself. They have four fabulous children and an apple tree. His previous books are Wasting By Degrees (a novel) and Life and Death and in Between (a collection of short stories).
 

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