fuonlyknew

Join us for this tour from Aug 18 to Sep 14, 2022!

Book Details:

Book Title:  Call My Name: A Novel by Jenni Ogden
Category:  Adult Fiction (18 +),  384 pages
Genre:  Literary/Women’s/Bookclub Fiction
Publisher:  Sea Dragon Press
Release date:   April 2020
Formats Available for Review: print (USA only), ebook (MOBI FILE
(FOR KINDLE), EPUB, PDF, NetGalley download), audiobook (Findaway
download, NetGalley download)
Tour dates: Aug 18 to Sep 14, 2022
Content Rating:  PG-13 + M: Has
childbirth/abortion/adoption/surrogacy themes, the brief description of a rape in the past by a Japanese guard of a prisoner in a POW camp in Sumatra in WWII (not explicit but of course disturbing and violent). A mention of cannabis smoking when characters are young, mild in-context use of f-word and other expletives.

 Praise from Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife & When the Stars Go Dark:

“Jenni Ogden’s done it again—given us a beautifully crafted novel filled with the complexities, mysteries and joys of human connection within a family and between sisters, lovers and friends. Filled with authenticity, compassion and grace, Call My Name will find its way deep into your heart and soul, and stay with you long after the last page has been turned.” — Sally Cole-Misch, Award-winning author of The Best Part of Us

“Vivid setting, dynamic plot, and likable characters come together beautifully to deliver an emotionally compelling tale of friendship, love, loss, and forgiveness. Call My Name is a fantastic read.” — Jodi Wright, Award-winning author of How to Grow an Addict & Eat and Get Gas.

“This is a love story … of couples, of friends, of families. A page turning saga that is fresh in its story, yet provides the warmth of an old-fashioned classic.” — Romalyn Tilghman, Award-winning author of To the Stars with Difficulties, 2018 Kansas Notable Book of the Year

Q: Where do you get inspiration for your stories?

A: Often I start with a location I love and want to sink back into. Then I think about characters I would like to know and put them in the location. Then I give them a story which evolves as I imagine my characters and their pasts, and as they develop they almost tell me what their dreams are and my devious mind comes up with ways that might go wrong. Much of this thinking is done while I walk the beach or at 3am in the morning! Sometimes I think of a “What if?” question first, and then begin all of the above. This is how ‘Call My Name’ grew into what it finally became; the original “What if” happens about the middle of the book.

Q: What genre do you write and why?

A: I write book club fiction which is not officially a genre, but readers of these kind of books know what it means!  Another term for it is ‘accessible literary fiction’.  For me the main features of this category of novels is that they are well written; the characters are layered or three-dimensional; the story is strongly character driven; and there are moral or ethical questions embedded in the story which both the characters have to think hard about, and also, hopefully the readers!  Of course none of these features are exclusive to book club fiction, but if these features aren’t all there then I don’t see it as being in this category. I write these sorts of books because they are my favorites to read, and probably because I am a psychologist!

Q: Most of the central men in your stories are gentle and truly love their partners and families. Do you find it difficult to write controlling or violent men?

A: I read so many novels where controlling and violent men are the main problem that I think I want to show that there are other family/relationship issues that do not hinge on these negative characteristics. Relationships are hard work for many reasons and these are the issues that speak to me. In ‘Call My Name’ my central men are indeed exactly the sort of men we all might hope for, and they like their partners have to grapple with the many very confronting issues in the book. However, there is also a brief scene from the past, set in a women’s POW camp in Sumatra in WWII, where I had to write in a violent man.

Q: How long have you been writing?

A: In my previous career as a clincal neuropsychologist and university professor I wrote a great deal: scientific papers, text books, and books on my amazing patients for the general reader. But I had no time to write novels, or indeed even read them as much as I would like. So I retired early so I could focus on fiction writing and publlshed my first novel in 2016. And I now read about two novels a week!

Q: What is the last great book you’ve read?

A: That is hard as I read so many novels, but three I have read recenty and given 5 stars to are ‘Carrie Soto Is Back’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid; ‘All the Broken Places’ by John Boyne, and ‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow’ by Gabrielle Zevin. Three very different novels, all superbly written, and I learnt an enormous amount from each of them as well as being unable to put them down.

Q: If you could go back in time, where would you go?

A: One of my grandsons asked me that recently and I realized that I would rather go forward in time, to say a time 45 years into the future (I will be long gone by then…) so I could see what my grandchildren had made of their lives. Also see what had happened to our planet given global warming.

For posts on all sorts of things, go to my Psychology Today blog: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/trouble-in-mind-0

And do sign up to my occasional e-newsletter: http://www.jenniogden.com/newsletter.htm