Meet Author Kimberly Brock

A warm welcome to today’s featured debut author, Kimberly Brock, whose novel, The River Witch, has garnered a whopping 21 five-star reviews since its publication in April. Way to go, Kimberly!

Name: Kimberly Brock

Name of book: The River Witch

Book genre: Women’s fiction/Southern lit

Date published: April 15, 2012

Publisher: Bell Bridge Books

What is your day job? I’m a full-time mom to three kids, and I teach occasional Pilates sessions.

What is your book about? The River Witch is a Southern tale set against the backdrop of the Sea Islands. When ballerina Roslyn Bryne loses her career and suffers a tragic miscarriage, her grief sends her into a desperate exile to the mystical Manny’s Island where she rents a lonely house that once belonged to a conjure woman. But instead of solitude, Roslyn is confronted with the audacious, motherless Damascus Trezevant. What follows is an unforgettable summer and a look at the profound choices we all make in the name of love.

Why did you want to write this book? I wrote this novel over a period of five years, so my reasons for writing it changed along the way. At first, it was a story about marginalized women and children, but it also became a look at how family and heritage influence our choices for good and bad. How they define us. And what we stand to lose of ourselves if we don’t cherish and find peace with all that means about ourselves.

What would you say is the most challenging part of writing a book? Getting lost along the way and tangled in your attempts so that the book is never finished.

Did you conduct any kind of research in order to write this book (visit certain locales, etc.)? I had at least limited experience in most aspects of the novel, but I did read a lot of books and do a lot of searching online to fill in any gaps where my own experience in dance or the Sea Island and southern Appalachia culture and environment fell short. I listened to tapes of alligators roaring and also watched documentaries on Sacred Harp music.