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Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

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Pride's Children: PURGATORY: (Book 1 of the Trilogy) Paperback – December 11, 2015

by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt (Author)

4.2 56 ratings

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WHAT YOU DO WITH AN OBSESSION COUNTS

I, KARENNA ELIZABETH Ashe, being of sound mind, do… But that’s it, isn’t it? Being here proves I am not of sound mind…”

So begins Book 1 of the Pride’s Children trilogy: Kary immediately regrets the misplaced sense of noblesse oblige which compels her to appear, live on national television—at exorbitant personal cost.

What she cannot anticipate is an entanglement with Hollywood that may destroy her carefully-constructed solitudinarian life.

A contemporary mainstream love story, in the epic tradition of Jane Eyre, and Dorothy L. Sayers’ four-novel bond between Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, Pride’s Children starts with a very public chance encounter, and will eventually stretch over three separate continents.

~ ~ ~

Colm Herron, Irish author of The Wake (And What Jeremiah Did Next), The Fabricator, and Further Adventures of James Joyce: “I was there, Alicia. THERE, in that sweaty studio, aware of the audience, rooting for Kary, contemptuous of Dana until, well, until I saw for sure that she was more than a plastic chat-show hostess. I wondered what Andrew was thinking. I could guess. I think his snort was involuntary and then thought better of. No better tribute can I pay than all that I’ve written above. I don’t make this comment idly. This to me is top gear.”

Herbert Collins (Saskatchewan), reader: “It definitely works for me. I feel Andrew’s emotions, and feel for him. You have successfully given your readers a story that appeals to men and women. It is wonderfully written.”

“Pride’s Children has helped me to look inside myself and see many things I need to see and deal with. I have never read a work of fiction that has touched me so powerfully! I love it and will be rereading many times.”

J. E. Hallows, author of Rebellious Rogue: “I’ve just finished reading Pride’s Children [Book 1]. That last chapter was beautiful. Probably the most moving chapter of all, which is a great way to end the story.”

Kevin Gebhard, American actor, screenwriter, and author of The Steeps: “You’re right-on. It’s hard to believe you’re not writing this from [a movie] set.”

“Oh, to be in a writer’s head. Living amongst imaginary people. What could be better? But then comes the actual writing part. You caught it all.”

“You really know how to write this stuff—like you were tucked in a coffee shop on Rodeo Drive (I lived in L.A. for five years).”

~ ~ ~

RATING: Sexual innuendo, mild swearing, occasional non-graphic violence (PG-13).

Print length

488 pages
Language

English
Publication date

December 11, 2015
Dimensions

6 x 1.22 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0692589805
ISBN-13

978-0692589809
See all details

Editorial Reviews

Review

Indies Today - 2021 Best Contemporary novel - "A flawless literary gem."

"Andrew O'Connell is a rising star whose talent is equal only to his charm. Hot off the heels of a wildly successful film, he is one of Hollywood's most desirable actors. The stage of a late-night talk show introduces him to Dr. Kary Ashe. Starting her career in medicine, she reinvented herself and has met with financial success as an author. But this seclusive woman does not relish the limelight. Kary struggles with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and her limitations take a back seat to nothing. Content with her private fortress home and fastidiously observed routine of rest, writing, support groups and more rest, getting wrapped up with a celebrity is way out of her comfort zone. But the heart is treacherous, especially when it comes to a handsome Irishman with an uncanny ability to rekindle feelings lost to a life of difficulties and heartbreak. And drama incarnate comes in the form of Bianca Doyle, a starlet with designs on expanding her resume. A cinematized New Hampshire town isn't ready for the intensity of emotions that these three dynamic characters spark as their lives become entangled.

"Pride's Children: Purgatory is like a colorful van Gogh painting broken into a 10,000 piece puzzle, waiting to be assembled by eager readers looking for a captivating, contemporary story about love, regret, ambition and obsession. With the outside edges as a guide, this story looks like a straightforward love story with a glitzy backdrop. Closer examination, however, reveals a much more textured and soul-searching novel that serves as a poignant reminder that we are defined by our choices, and that those decisions tend to stay with us. The treatment of an enigmatic and life-altering disorder is honest and meaningful. Rather than a shiny, compact version that might minimize the encompassing nature of an illness, Ehrhardt makes every effort to give readers an unglamorous view of a debilitating health problem that influences every aspect of life. There is so much to love about this elegant and refined masterpiece, an intimate character study of three dynamic individuals who travel in the same circle for a short time, but whose stories and personalities couldn't be more different. Mature and deliberate, Pride's Children: Purgatory is a flawless literary gem that takes readers on a lengthy but worthwhile journey." Jennifer Jackson, Reviewer

"...integrity and its impact on life..." - Midwest Book Review

"On one level, Pride's Children: PURGATORY, the first in a trilogy, is about movie stars, love, and thwarted passions and purposes; but look deeper and you'll find much more is going on here. A thread of death, resurrection, and revitalization affects each of the characters, along with a focus on abandonment, broken promises, challenging decisions, and the lasting consequences of bad choices.

"From descriptions of filming and the underlying relationships and social encounters of everyone involved ("He'd gotten used to the sense of royal progression whenever he crossed the set. Everyone had a job to do. Equals - but not.") to expressed values in life ("Children are the most important thing in the world." Kary's tone conveyed deep conviction. "Choices have consequences. Nothing else is as crucial as protecting the children.")... PURGATORY's real strength lies in Ehrhardt's ability to take the strings of emotion governing each character's choices and give them tugs that, in turn, tug at the heartstrings of her readers.

"...fine observations of different perceptions of integrity and its impact on life choices contribute additional facets in a story that is hard to put down.
"Readers of women's fiction and literature will relish the slow, methodical, involving progression towards change that each of the characters experiences along their paths to being true to themselves and those around them." Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer

Reviews

"This book was a feast...I found myself turning page after page, and DEVOURING the words, licking my lips figuratively at how delicious they were, and thinking: SHE CAN'T KEEP THIS UP! There is no way she can continue to let me walk around and see and hear and feel what the characters are experiencing; except she did...Kary is CLEARLY a hero, by any criteria you want to apply apart from armed combat, and she is the center of the book. She lives in isolation in New Hampshire, and writes ... She has other grief in her life, but she does not share the pain casually." - Amazon reviewer Pat Patterson

"...while much of the plot centers on the cautious romance, Pride's Children is also about a writer's way of interacting with the world, living with a chronic condition (CFS - when I saw another review mention this, I realized that I couldn't think of any book I'd read, recently, involving a character with a disability or chronic illness - a significant hole in terms of diversity), and the struggle to remain balanced and kind when new people and routines enter one's carefully-ordered sanctuary." - Amazon reviewer Sophia Nuñez

"Ehrhardt delves into the heart of her characters, imbuing this romance with an integrity often lacking in modern novels of this genre. Each obstacle the characters must over come is treated with depth and intimacy. It's not gooey (I hate that) but gritty in an intelligent and classy way. That's another plus, not only is this a work of literature, but it's set in stark modernity, with heaps of historical flashes and elucidation...Ehrhardt is a unique emerging writer and I yearn for more from these attractive characters, having gotten to know them in such depth, that living without them seems unfair." - Author Kelly McRae, Amazon review

"What it is, is exactly what I want in a book,...immersion in other lives, other personalities, other realities...I stayed up late and ignored my work and read and read and read...I honestly don't know how to explain the grip this book had on me from the first. I couldn't stop reading it, and I wanted it never to end. I've read other books that affected me this way, but the authors always hurt the spell by tossing a plot bomb in through the window. Ehrhardt may do that before the trilogy is over, but she doesn't do it in this book. The climax and ending are just as they should be: strong, natural, and satisfactory." - Author, blogger, and reviewer Marian Allen

From the Author

She has devoted the past twenty-some years to learning to write to the standards of the early classics she was steeped in, as she believes that messages in fiction must be surrounded by the utmost in quality entertainment, and that fiction is the most powerful tool we have for slipping through the barriers we put up around our hearts and our minds.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Trilka Press (December 11, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 488 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0692589805
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0692589809
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.57 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.22 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,101,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #27,083 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
- #175,466 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 56 ratings

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Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

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Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt is hard at work on the final novel in the Pride's Children trilogy, working title LIMBO & PARADISE, scheduled for publication soon.

PC: PURGATORY, the first volume, was named Indies Today 2021 Best Contemporary novel.

PC: NETHERWORLD was published Sep. 2022.

Follow her on PridesChildren.com to be informed when her next story is available.

A voracious reader, she had always intended to write fiction, and, now retired, dedicates her whole life - when not spending time with her husband, family, and community - to exploring the concepts of integrity in relationships, and the psychological questions of why people do what they do and make the choices they make, including their life partners.

She has devoted the past twenty-some years to learning to write to the standards of the early classics she was steeped in, as she believes that messages in fiction must be surrounded by the utmost in quality entertainment, and that fiction is the most powerful tool we have for slipping through the barriers we put up around our hearts and our minds.

As a writer, she’s published traditionally in short story. She's been featured on Wattpad, where her story Too Late has received 67K reads, and where her debut novel Pride's Children: PURGATORY was serialized and currently has over 20K reads.

When she's not writing, you can find her enjoying the gardens in her new retirement community, or singing. Or riding her Airwheel S8 around the campus and the greenway in Davis, California.

Discover more about her opinionated opinions and quirky writing methods on her writing blog, at liebjabberings.wordpress.com.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

56 global ratings

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Marian Allen

A Book To Remember

Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2016

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How to characterize Purgatory: Book One of the Pride's Children trilogy?

It's centrally concerned with the interior lives of the main characters rather than with the activities going on around them, except as those activities impact their interior lives. (Things happen, it's just that how those happenings affect the people is more important than the happenings themselves.)

So it's Literary?

Specifically, the interior interplay between the characters focuses on various forms, abuses, amounts or lack of amounts, surrender to or denial of love and the power of love.

So it's Romance?

The main character copes with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, one of those "invisible" illnesses that get people vilified by mouthy and judgmental people for using handicapped parking spaces when they don't have an obvious limp.

But it isn't Disability Porn.

What it is, is exactly what I want in a book, whether it's genre (science fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance) or not: It's immersion in other lives, other personalities, other realities. At 474 pages, I had plenty of time to indulge myself – except that I stayed up late and ignored my work and read and read and read.

Sometimes – rarely – I have no earthly idea why one of Ehrhardt's characters has a particular reaction or says a particular thing. Sometimes I catch on later, sometimes I don't. Either way, I read on. Because I don't have to "get" everything every time. Because I'm trespassing and eavesdropping on another psyche, and it feels natural that I wouldn't invariably understand.

These characters, you see, aren't one-dimensional, they're four-dimensional: They're full-bodied and they exist in time. Like real people you meet in real life, they have histories, and they're made up of all the people they've ever been and all the people they could possibly become. They're the people they seem to be to others, the people they seem to be to themselves, the people they wish they were, the people they're afraid they are, and the simmering stew of people-stuff that they actually are.

What happens in the book?

A movie gets made on location in New Hampshire. The life of a best-selling writer with CFS and a retreat near the location intersects with the lives of the film folk. There are various family and professional crises or near-crises. Nothing is overheated; it's a sous vide book: everything is held at the optimum temperature, with the heat of the living heart being that temperature.

I honestly don't know how to explain the grip this book had on me from the first. I couldn't stop reading it, and I wanted it never to end. I've read other books that affected me this way, but the authors always hurt the spell by tossing a plot bomb in through the window. Ehrhardt may do that before the trilogy is over, I can't see the future, but she doesn't do it in this book. The climax and ending are just as they should be: strong, natural, and satisfactory.

Helpful

Cindy Rinaman Marsch

Dickensian Slowmo Romance

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

I first became acquainted with Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt’s lovely prose through our interchange on a literary fiction blog, and I was intrigued about her novel when she said she is strongly influenced by Dorothy Sayers, one of my own favorite novelists.

(Spoilers)
Just as Sayers has a strong intellectual woman and an appealing male character, so Ehrhardt has the physician-mom-turned-disabled-bestselling-novelist Kary and the rakishly charming Irish movie star Andrew who kept reminding me of Sean Connery. The unlikely romance and its culmination is trumpeted with a gossip “news” item on the first page (titled “Prothalamion,” the term for the celebration of an upcoming marriage), but after more than 500 pages, we still haven’t reached that time. Because Ms. Ehrhardt has drafted the next two books of the trilogy, I suppose we can expect more development in the romance line in Book 2, though perhaps the culmination won’t even come until Book 3.

And that’s a long time to wait. I understand Ehrhardt released this novel in serialized form (like Dickens) on WattPad over a couple of years but worked on the novel for fifteen years altogether. She is glacially patient.

And that’s the main trouble with this novel—it has a glacial pace. After an evening’s meeting in the winter of 2005, Kary and Andrew do not meet again until May, and the next several weeks take 500 pages to cover. Those pages revel in exquisite personal detail, carefully shown in subtle words and thoughts that reveal decades of suffering and conflict, deep human drama. But much of it comes in the last third of the book, so I found myself wondering why Kary wasn’t thinking about her religious commitments, for example, in the early passages, why her ex-husband was treated neutrally, really, until near the end. I depend on a rich novel of this sort to feed me little clues from early on that will come to fruition and satisfying maturity later. A tighter editing, perhaps to 400 pages or even 350, might have been a good idea. Even with a series like Sayers’s collection of Harriet Vane and Peter Wimsey novels, each story is complete in itself, with the romance in the background, in a way that this volume is not. So I left it feeling disappointed, especially because the next volume is not yet published.

But I wish Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt all the best with her writing—it is clear all through that it is a labor of love, and that she brings to it deep talent and a delicate touch.

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Tracey Madeley

A romance in film

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 27, 2019

Verified Purchase

The first thing you notice about this book is its length. In one sense this is good because you are given the time for a relationship to develop naturally. The problem is you have to develop significantly more memorable and distinguishable scenes or they all merge together and your reader loses interest. I think this book is a bit of a mixture in that sense.
The opening scene is very direct, showing the contrasting personalities of Andrew and Kary being interviewed for a talk show. Andrew O’Connell is the extravagant, showy film star turned musician, there to promote his film and flirt with the presenter. Kary is the writer, nervous and unsure she has shunned the limelight for years. The presenter is interested in her critical acclaim and her tenacity in dealing with a physically debilitating condition. This contrast further emphasizes the shallowness of Andrew’s fame and the value of true achievement.
Both Andrew and Kary undergo a crisis which brings them together. For Kary, it is an intruder in her house and for Andrew, a young fan getting into his trailer. Kary’s almost obsessional interest in Andrew’s career after the interview prompts her to offer him sanctuary when he contacts her. Although she is astute enough to keep her feelings guarded and under control when in his presence.
Bianca is in her late twenties and is Andrew’s co-star. Her goals, motivation, drive, and ambition will not change throughout the novel and in this, she provides a contrast to Andrew’s journey. Events for him bring change, for her they are obstacles to overcome in the pursuit of her career.
When Kary goes to see Andrew’s film Roland there is a lengthy description of the action which appears to do nothing to move the plot forward. The passages from Kary’s book shows that she is writing, but do we need to know the detail? There could be an argument that what Kary is writing mirrors what she is feeling, but I’m not sure. This level of detail can slow down the action for the reader and may become a reason for not finishing a long book.
The ending is complete yet still leaves room for another book, should the author wish to continue Kary and Andrew’s journey. A movie making background gives it a little more distinction compared to an ordinary romance and the lead characters are warm, vulnerable and easy to relate to. Overall this is not a bad work of general fiction.

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Pride's Children: PURGATORY: (Book 1 of the Trilogy) Paperback – December 11, 2015

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