Welcome to the 2024 ARIA Author Showcase and Giveaway Event! 

  

  

How to enter – Comment on the daily showcases to enter the daily giveaway. Comments close four days after the initial Showcase post. GRAND PRIZE drawn on Dec 5th (1 -$250, 1 -$100, or a 1 -$50 Amazon gift card. One grand prize pp) – For every showcase you post on, you automatically gain one entry to the grand prize. 30 Authors = 30 entries.    

 

On to the Showcase! 

 

What name do you like to write under? Belle A. DeCosta

Where do you call home? East Providence, RI

What genre(s) do you write? Memoir, Women’s fiction, Historical fiction

What genre(s) were you drawn to when you were younger? Was there a reason that genre(s) appealed to you the most? 

Biographies of strong , passionate women (I won an award in 6th grade for reading every women’s biography in the school library), and fictional novels about resilient yet kind women (Little women is my all time favorite). I was drawn to their bravery and deep commitment to their cause.

What were some of your favorite books growing up? Why?  

I love the lesson taught in The Giving Tree. The portrayal of familial love and how it bonds in Little Women warms my heart every time. I enjoyed imagining I was Nancy Drew’s partner and helped her process clues and solve the mystery in her series. Anne Frank’s optimism , lack of self-pity, and absence of hate in The Diary of a Young Girl, stays with me to this day. What character she had so young! Helen Keller’s determination and Anne Sullivan’s commitment to her in The Story of My Life was my first lesson of what can be accomplished with grit and teamwork. I was raised in the North with relatives in the Deep Southq in the 1960s so To Kill a Mockingbird struck a younger me to the core. Such injustice and prejudice…

What are some of your favorite books today?

We Need to Talk About Kevin, Memoirs of a Geisha, Becoming, Glass Castles, The Silent Patient, Verity, The Paper Palace, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Where the Crawdads Sing, Secret Lives of Bees.

What inspired you to become a writer? 

I get “downloads” from spirit, angels, guides, etc… especially when in nature. On my many walks in the woods in 2019 I kept getting, “Write your story.” I finally listened and wrote my memoir, Echoes in the Mirror. After that I was hooked and have written a women’s fiction series, Treading Water (book 1), The Heart of Addisen (book 2), and a historical fiction, The Lesson, that has won a International Book Award, and was a finalist in a national competition.

 

 

The Lesson

Tanna, a slave on a Jamaican sugarcane plantation, is forced to suffer years of brutality at the hands of a sadistic plantation owner to ensure the safety of her beloved son. What gives her the strength to endure? Will she be able to hold on, to see him to manhood and her predetermined destiny for him?  1960s: Sue-Ellen, a Savannah socialite whose Southern upbringing dictates she turn a blind eye to her powerful father’s and congressman husband’s character flaws, until a catastrophic event shatters her world and renders her acceptance intolerable.  1990s: Jeannette, a successful investment banker who resides in an affluent Connecticut town with her artist husband and teenage daughter. They lead a normal suburban life until blindsided by a happening that turns their lives upside down and sets off a series of life altering events. Will the family come together or dissolve? 2000s: Nina, born to a 9/11 widow, and raised by a loving family in Brooklyn, works her way to Broadway stardom, but suffers much loss throughout her life. How does she handle the disappointments and twists and turns? What becomes of her after she retires from the stage? Will she discover an important piece of life’s puzzle that eluded the others? Four women, living in various times, with very different lifestyles. What connects them? Follow Tanna, Sue-Ellen, Jeannette, and Nina on their unique journeys as they navigate through their fated ordeals. Will they survive?

Tell us a little about how “The Lesson” came to be. Did it start with an image, a voice, a concept, a dilemma or something else? 

It was one of my downloads 😇

Which scene, character or plotline changed the most from first draft to published book? 

I would say Tanna, the slave. Her son’s life journey altered her steadfast convictions and desired outcome.

Which character was the most challenging to create. Why?  

Tanna because of the times and circumstances in which she lived. It was a challenge to maintain her anger and conviction but develop a softer side.. 

What do you like best about being a writer? 

Watching my characters develop and following them on their journeys.

If you could collaborate with any author past or present, who would it be? What would the title of the book be? (If possible) - Give us a one sentence blurb.  

Louisa May Alcott. Title, The Bond. “Blood alone does not connect a family through generations; it’s something much more telling…”

 

You can follow Belle A. DeCosta here - 

Website - https://belledecosta.com 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bellepiercedecosta 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/belledecosta/ 

 

Belle DeCosta is giving away a paperback copy of The Lesson

To enter, comment below →  Could you name a novel that you admire and think will continue to captivate readers for years to come?

 

(Comments are open for 4 days)