Sleepy Hollow Author Wins Award for General Fiction

Published 1 year ago1y ago • Bookmarks: 129

November 21, 2022

By Rick Pezzullo—

A Sleepy Hollow author recently was honored for a novel she penned that is set on an island in Maine.

Diane Lechleitner was awarded a Gold Foreword Indies Award for General Fiction for her book Faron Goss.

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The Foreword Indies Book of the Year Awards are handed out for the best books in independent publishing. Thousands of books are entered each year, and more than 100 librarians and booksellers take part in the judging process, with finalists narrowed down in 55 categories.

A debut novel from Lechleitner, Faron Goss begins when the body of Alison Goss washes up on Menhaden Island, in the Gulf of Maine, the working-class fishing community of hard-hewn ways and salty perspectives is faced with handling the future of her unusual son, Faron. They soon discover how different he is, in strange but endearing ways, including his stunning artistic talent.

Bound together by weather and sea, Menhaden neighbors with good hearts and blunt opinions overlook Faron’s peculiarities. But their nurturing embrace cannot completely erase his troubled past, which eventually morphs into a life-changing event, forcing him to confront lingering memories.

Faron faces that which haunts him, works as a sternman on a lobster, and paints in his studio. When he meets a bird-watching woman who has returned to Menhaden to live in her grandparents’ house, his life takes another unexpected turn.

In addition to her award, Lechleitner has received many favorable reviews.

“Lechleitner’s writing is incredibly vivid as she paints the isolated coastal community of Menhaden Island and the rough-and-tumble inhabitants who have carved out a living from its waters.” —The Boothbay Register

“Like a third-generation lobsterman pulling traps from the Gulf of Maine, Diane Lechleitner adeptly reels in the reader with her book, Faron Goss. The story of a boy born into a hardscrabble community, Faron Goss explores themes of vulnerability and resilience, as well as the magical abilities of time, friendship, and love to steady a life initially marred by neglect and tragedy. With vivid prose, Lechleitner depicts the beauty and hardship of life on Menhaden Island, the interwoven relationships of its crusty but close-knit residents, and the complex, unassuming boy who works his way into their hearts. Faron Goss is, in every way, a beautiful first novel.” —Darcie Chan, New York Times bestselling author of The Mill River Recluse

Published by Green Writers Press (VT), Faron Goss is available wherever books are sold, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. (Trade Paperbook/Ebook).

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