Kickstarter

The Author is raising funds to self-publish her novel via AuthorHouse.

Project description (video script):  So Far from Story Street: A Novel  

Hello!  I am Jeanne LaVallee, a Writer and Visual Artist.  I live in the East Village of New York City, and I am currently working on my first novel entitled So Far from Story Street.  I got the idea for this book upon inheriting the personal journals  and letters of my great uncle from my father.                                

     My great uncle, Joseph Arthur, was born in Salem, Massachusetts during the Industrial Revolution.  When Arthur was twenty years old, he was drafted into the campaign against Pancho Villa on the Mexican border.  And although he returned from the desert unscathed--but forever changed, he was then called back into service to join the Yankee Division of the American Expeditionary Forces lead by General ‘Black Jack’ Pershing in France in 1917.  From this campaign, he was not among the returning veterans. 

     This novel, based on Arthur’s life, begins in June of 1914, at the time of two apocalyptic events which took place within three days of each of each other:  1)The Great Fire of Salem—when two thirds of the city burned to the ground, and 2) the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in the Balkans, which sparked the beginning of the world conflict that was to scar the face of the Earth forever.  The novel is made up of two parallel stories:  one told by Joseph Arthur, and the other by Philippe, a young Frenchman who has to join his compatriots in the fight against the Germans in August of 1914.  The reader alternatively follows both young men through their adventures and trials as they face the very turbulent times of the era of ‘the lost generation’.  [Joseph experiences love, adventure, and the hardships of being a young soldier in Texas and then in northeastern France, So Far from Story Street.  Philippe struggles to remain close to his family members and best friend, Monique, while he faces the brutality of the battlefields near Verdun and other ordeals related to trench warfare.]

       The Author makes use of Arthur’s personal journals and letters which have been preserved since 1918 to recount his portion of the story.  Parts of the tale are told in both English and in French.  This contribution to the genre of historical fiction comes at the time of the centennial of the Great War--a war that, unfortunately, did NOT end all wars...  

Please help me to self-publish this work through AuthorHouse.  With your pledge of $30 or more, you will receive a bonus of a free copy of the book, which can be available as early as June of 2013.  Without your help, my great uncle's remarkable story will be left untold.  Thank you for your generosity!

--Jeanne LaVallee, October, 2012.