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Short bio
Armed with an MFA, publications certification, and a BA, Sharon J. Wishnow, a New Englander now in Northern Virginia, crafts upmarket fiction with environmental themes. As a former VP of Communications for the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, she founded Women’s Fiction Day and serves as Executive Editor of WriteOn! magazine.
Sharon’s storytelling centers on flawed, educated women navigating environmental changes. Passionate about research, she shares insights through speaking engagements and her newsletter, Research for Writers and Other Curious People.
Beyond writing, she finds solace in her garden, bird-watching, and feeding peanuts to local squirrels.
Full Bio
Sharon J. Wishnow is a transplanted New Englander who makes her home in Northern Virginia. In addition to writing upmarket fiction with environmental themes, Sharon writes non-fiction in the science, technology, and business categories with a passion for research, seashells, birds, and the ocean. She has been a member of the Boston Malacological Club since she was ten years old. She credits growing up by the ocean and family camping trips for her love and respect for all that is outside her door.
I write stories about flawed, educated women with plots that have environmental themes, but not dystopian doom. I’m drawn to stories that show how changes in the environment change people.
Sharon is the former Vice President of Communications for the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA), the founder of Women’s Fiction Day, and is the Executive Editor of the WFWA magazine, WriteOn!
She has an MFA from George Mason University, a publications certification from George Washington University, and a BA from Clark University. She regularly speaks about research and writing and publishes a regular newsletter, Research for Writers and Other Curious People.
When she’s not writing or researching, you can find her in the garden, watching the birds in her backyard, or feeding peanuts to the local squirrels.
The Pelican Tide
Media gallery
Pitches
One spill, a million scovilles, and just as many secrets. | |
Amid an oil spill the bayou coast, hopes rides on the wings of Gumbo the Pelican. |
Blurbs
A Pelican affair: It will take a fiery hot sauce, a family come together, and a Pelican mascot to save Josies’s restaurant from a catastrophic oil spill. | |
After disaster strikes, a Louisiana family and their community need to prove to each other and the world that their bond is thicker than the oil threatening their shores in Sharon J. Wishnow’s stunning debut novel. |
Praise for The Pelican Tide:
“Food, family, and second chance romance: Sharon J. Wishnow’s debut has everything I love in a novel—and a few things I didn’t even know I loved until I read The Pelican Tide. I can’t recommend this engrossing and utterly heartwarming story highly enough.” —Camille Pagán, bestselling author of Good for You. |
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“Set in Grand Isle, Louisiana in the wake of the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill, The Pelican Tide is the story of a family in turmoil, a historic café, and a beautiful but fragile ecosystem under threat. In this assured debut, Sharon J. Wishnow creates a strong sense of place and deftly brings the natural world of this Gulf barrier island to life. Readers looking for a heartwarming story, memorable characters, and the delights of a wayward pelican named Gumbo will be richly rewarded.” —Rebecca Hodge, award-winning author of Wildland. |
Book description
It’s taken Chef Josie Babineaux six months to reconcile the debts left from her husband Brian’s gambling along with her broken heart. But now with a promising tourist season heating up and a travel magazine declaring her the spice queen of the bayou, she may be able to save her family’s historic Cajun restaurant. Repairing her relationship with her daughter, Minnow, while hiding the true reason she left her husband is a bigger issue.
Just as the first tourists arrive, an explosion on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico shatters their fragile plans. With her island community at the epicenter of the oil spill, everything is endangered, including the restaurant’s beloved mascot—a brown pelican named Gumbo dear to the family’s heart.
Josie realizes her family needs more than financial recovery. Only reconciling her past and revealing the truth can clean up the guilt and hurt pooling under the surface. And maybe, with enough honesty, this family can find renewal.
Book information
- Genre: Upmarket fiction
- Subgenres/keywords: Lousiana, bayou, family, friendship, community, environment, ecology, Southern cuisine
- Publication Date: June 12th, 2024
- ISBN-13: 978-1662518492 (paperback)
- Retail Price: USD $3.99 ~ $12.49 (price may vary depending on formats and distribution platforms)
- Format: E-book, 5.5*8.5 Paperback, Audiobook
- Page Count: 364
Distribution
The Pelican Tide Q&A
Where did the idea for this story come from?
I’m drawn to stories about the natural world and how the global changes we are experiencing are changing people. In 2020, I tuned into a webinar from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) about the Deepwater Horizon, lessons learned 10 years later. I was astounded to consider a decade had passed since the spill. I became curious about what happened to the people and what it would mean to live through that type of disaster.
How much of the story is true and how much is fiction?
The characters and their stories are fiction. However, Grand Isle, Louisiana is a real place and one of the first inhabited towns to be covered in oil after the spill. The story plot follows the actual timeline of events that occurred during the 87 days of the oil spill. The disaster is well documented in videos, newspaper articles, and books. Even the hurricane in the story happened.
Gumbo the pelican steals the story and unites the family and the community. Where did the idea for him come from?
Gumbo was originally just a sea bird who landed regularly on the restaurant deck. I wanted him to represent the ecology of the island and threat that came from the oil. One day while researching pelican behavior, I came across a video about a white pelican in Tanzania named Big Bird who was injured and rescued by humans. His “people” taught him to fish and learn to fly. He was famous for his antics of stealing things and wanting to be part of the family. It was an ah-ha moment, and I restructured the entire story.
Josie’s obsession with hot sauce and her constant stress baking are key elements to the story how did that develop?
Food is something that unites families and communities. Spicy Cajun hot sauce was a fun element to include. I see it as a parallel to the oil that everyone, especially Minnow, is obsessed with. Just as the oil is menacing, so is the hot sauce. Josie feels helpless to deal with the oil, but she knows she can feed people.
The novel has news articles, press releases, and even a magazine article that seems real. What was your thinking about including these elements?
Because this was a real event, I wanted to include elements that people would have seen. Additionally, I needed a way to inform readers about the science and politics surrounding the event that the characters may not have been aware of while they were in the middle of it.