A New Adventure for the Kopps, Plus Flowers and Cocktails

Meet the New Kopp Sisters Novel!

I'm so happy to share the cover of the next Kopp Sisters novel with all of you! This isn't actually the final-final version, but my publisher posted it online, so I figured I was allowed to share it, too.

It comes out in September 2019, and it's already available for pre-order here and there. You can also add it to your Goodreads list here.

This book is a bit of a departure from the previous books. It takes place in the spring of 1918, just as we were getting ready to enter World War I. I don't know what the Kopps were doing at that time, so I'm relying more on fiction than I have in the past four books. But I'm putting them in a real place--a National Service School, which was a training camp for women wanting to serve in the war--and I'm introducing a young woman who had a real-life connection to Constance.

Here's a picture of some young women training at one of the National Service Schools. Don't you just love their faces? Can't you just imagine Constance among them?

And here is a picture of Beulah Binford, the girl with the real-life connection to Constance. I won't say too much about her because I don't want to spoil it, but I will say that when I found her story, I was shocked by it, and amazed that no one else had ever written about her. She was involved in a scandal that made the papers nationwide, and basically made it impossible for her to go on living with her very notorious name. 

How does a woman go on, after a scandal like that? This is the question I tried to answer, based as much as possible on her true story.

Where Do Your Flowers Come From?

I should've mentioned this before Valentine's Day, but better late than never, right?

Twelve years ago, I wrote a book about the global flower industry. It was great fun to write--I visited American flower farms, saw huge growing operations in Latin America, and of course, I had to go to Holland. 

Now it's become an annual tradition for me to get a call from a reporter writing a story about the environmental and social impacts of the flower business around Valentine's Day. My opinions are a little more nuanced than what generally gets expressed in these stories--I actually do think that an environmentally friendly flower growing industry can be a good thing for working people in Latin America, but I'm also delighted to see the resurgence of locally-grown flowers in the United States.

My friend Debra Prinzing (that's her photo on the right) wrote a book called Slow Flowers, celebrating seasonal flowers, and now she runs the Slow Flowers website, where you can find florists selling locally-grown flowers.

When people ask me for suggestions about buying local flowers, I always send them to Slow Flowers. I'm also a fan of Stargazer Barn, run by a California flower farm, which ships flowers, wine, and chocolate directly from the farm. And although the flowers might not necessarily be local, I do love BBrooksFineFlowers for stylish, premium flowers from a network of very carefully selected florists nationwide.

Hey, Would You Like to Help Me Spead the Word About the Kopps?

If you've been reading this newsletter for a while, you know that last year I issued an invitation to join the Kopp Sisters Literary Society, a top-secret group of passionate readers who like to review books online, share them on their social media feeds, and otherwise spread the word about books they love. This is a select group of 50 readers who get free advance copies of every new Kopp book, plus a few other treats throughout the year.

We were oversubscribed as soon as I issued the invitation, but now we have a few vacancies! If you applied last year but didn't get in, please do give it another try!

Wait, Are Those Blood Oranges?

It's blood orange season, and I almost forgot to make a refreshing cocktail with them! Hurry, before they're gone!

I love this blood orange gin & tonic from White On Rice Couple. Here's my slightly modified version of the recipe:

1.5 oz gin
2 oz fresh-squeezed blood orange juice
4 oz good tonic like Fever Tree
A dash of orange bitters? Optional

Mix all in a highball glass over ice. Garnish with a slice of blood orange, of course!

Will I See You in 2019?

I'm firming up a lot of dates for 2019, so stay tuned! And if you're part of a literary series, a library event, or some other bookish gathering, please feel free to reach out to publicity@amystewart.com to see about setting up an event.

Bainbridge Island, WA: Feb 28 Eagle Harbor Book Co
Portland, OR: Mar 28: Ristretto Roasters (Details here)
Cleveland, OH: April 3 Cleveland Humanities Festival
Muncie, IN April 4: Minnetrista Wicked Plants exhibit
Cleveland, OH April 5: A special Kopp Sisters book club night
Wallingford CT: May 15: One Book, One Wallingford

More tour dates can always be found on my website. Please confirm details with the venue before you head out.

  Quick: Enter to Win!
Are you on Goodreads? Then please head over there by Feb 28 and enter to win a copy of the fourth Kopp Sisters novel, Miss Kopp Just Won't Quit. I'm giving away actual hardcovers, so you don't have to wait for the paperback!

What Are You Reading?

Hey, so I'm thinking about making the sixth Kopp novel an epistolary novel (a novel  told through letters, diaries, etc). Is that a terrible idea? I can't decide.

Anyway, I'm searching for any epistolary novels I haven't read, particularly old ones, and look what I found!  It's wonderfully old-fashioned--the book was written in 1912--and although it's fiction, it's still an interesting glimpse into a young girl's mindset at that time.  I think I enjoyed the sequel, Dear Enemy, even more.

What are you reading? Find me on Goodreads or Litsy and let me know.