In an interview with Talking Books TV, Carleen Brice talked to Michelle Vandepas about her books, Orange Mint and Honey and Children of the Waters: A Novel.
Orange Mint and Honey follows the story of Shay, a twenty-five year old graduate student who is burnt out and broke. Her college adviser encourages her to take a break and a “vision” from her spiritual adviser of sorts, blues singer Nina Simone, eventually pushes her to give her estranged mother a call.
When she comes home, Shay is shocked when she finds that the drunk and out of control mother she knew growing up has turned into a sober woman with a positive view on life and a toddler named Sunny. Emotionally scarred from her own difficult childhood, Shay has a hard time accepting what her mother has become. Their reconciliation is further strained by Shay’s stubbornness, her mother Nona’s sponsorship of a troubled young woman and Shay’s first romantic relationship.
Brice is a masterful storyteller and her words speak to women everywhere as the story tackles love, pain and forgiveness with humor and compassion. Orange Mint and Honey was later turned into a film called “Sins of the Mother” by the Lifetime Movie Network.
Carleen Brice’s latest book, Children of the Waters, tackles the issues of race, identity and family relationships. Two women, one white and one black, find out they’re sisters. Brought together by a letter written by their grandmother, sisters Trish and Billie unravel the truth about their identities and struggle to come to terms with each other.
Brice creates her characters in a way that makes them both believable and easy to relate to. In this story, the sisters clash because of the racial and experiential differences as Trish struggles to raise her teenage son and Billie finds herself single and pregnant so soon after recovering from lupus. This story is both haunting and insightful and is sure to resonate with anyone who has ever questioned their identity and place in the world.
In the interview, Carleen Brice talks about her writing experience and storytelling methods. She also gives us insight on how she manages her “muse”. This October, Carleen Brice will be a keynote speaker at the Friday Lunch of the Author Fest of the Rockies. The fifth annual Author Fest of the Rockies has been set for October 1-2, 2010 at The Cliff House in Manitou Springs.
Click to view the author interview with Carleen Brice below:
Orange Mint and Honey is a story of love, pain and reconciliation as young graduate student Shay is forced to go home and deal with her strained relationship with her mother. Her mother has a new life and a child named Sunny, her half sister. In the face of these changes and the possibilities brought by her a budding romantic relationship, Shay begins to realize that there can be a sweet ending to bitter experiences.
Children of the Waters tackles race, adoption, family and acceptance in a story of two sisters separated because of race and circumstance. Brought together by a letter from their grandmother, these two very different women must now re-examine who their own identities and navigate through their own messy and complicated lives to accept each other into their lives.
According to her website, “Carleen Brice is the author of the novels Orange Mint and Honey (which was optioned by the Lifetime Movie Network) – a #1 Denver Post best-seller and Essence Magazine Recommended Read – and Children of the Waters, which One World/Ballantine release in June 2009.”
Carleen also wroteLead Me Home: An African-American’s Guide Through The Grief Journey and was an editor for the anthology Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number: Black Women Explore Midlife. Her book Walk Tall: Affirmations for People of Color has sold over 100,000 copies and is now available on iUniverse.
She lives in Colorado and is currently working on her third novel, Calling Every Good Wish Home.
Visit her website: http://carleenbrice.com
Michelle Vandepas started Talking Books TV as a site to help authors and their books get more exposure. She teaches authentic marketing for on and offline marketing campaigns and specializes in working with people who want to live their Conscious Livelihood (R). Find out more about how to work with Michelle on her site, MichelleVandepas.com 
