“In the beginning is the word.”
How much of human invention, of culture, of law, of art, of evolution stems from this premise? For Lucinda Sue Crosby, the written word has always represented the “Philosopher’s Stone.” Her love of and connection with how words sound together, the importance of rhythm and rhyme, the nuance of this phrase versus that phrase and the rules of various forms of writing have fascinated her from the beginning.
A song is not like a newspaper article, is not like a magazine piece, is not like a novel, and yet, they all require saying something important in a way that has never been expressed before.
Lucinda Sue believes these are all forms of art and that art should make people think and feel.
This is the motivation behind her writing. Her newly released novel, was also inspired by her adoration for her grandmother, Frances, on whom the book is loosely based.
And why not? Francesca, in the book as was in real life, is a feisty, stubborn and "leggy" woman ahead of her time. Francesca is a car race driver, teams with barn-storming pilots and helps catch a wanted felon. All the while, her 10-year-old granddaughter tags along for the ride of her life on an Apple Farm in Iowa during the late 1940s.