"Ardor" by James Ladd Thomas
In “Ardor: A Novel” (ISBN 1477682929), James Ladd Thomas pens a scintillating and passionate Bildungsroman about a young woman taking life head-on in her hometown of Huntsville, Ala. Balancing both male and female lovers, some nearly twice her age, she will confront family tragedy and her own personal growth.
“Ardor is very intelligent, even precocious for her age. Her perspicacity serves her well during the story’s conflicts and confrontations. As with many coming of age stories, she confronts an emotional loss, which sparks her journey for answers and maturity,” says Thomas.
In the manner of Sherwood Anderson’s “Winesburg, Ohio” and Jennifer Egan’s “A Visit from the Goon Squad,” Thomas’s novel functions as a tightly-connected series of vignettes that follow Ardor’s main conflict with her surrounding world. Her road to maturity and acceptance is populated with distinct personalities, including her amorous great-aunt Josie who resides at a nursing home, 82-year-old Buster with his zest for life, and her earnest best friend, Tracey. Her polyamorous lifestyle includes girlfriend Phaedra, who also has a partner of her own; Lew, the married art instructor boyfriend 20 years her senior; and Wade, a boyfriend with whom she shares a home. On a more tragic note, she will confront the death of her brother Kenny on the battlefields of Iraq.
This piquant Southern tale reveals an ambivalent young woman between the ages of 18 to 23 with rapier wit and acid humor as she confronts and struggles her way through the travails that beset her. Whether waiting tables at a strip joint, fending off a lustful bartender or schooling her classmates on the gender wars of sexuality, the young Southerner is fearless on her road to understanding. As a rebel, a bohemian and an intelligent young woman, she will have to summon all her Deep South grit to understand a world that may be polite in its appearance, but finds her unapologetic independence and passion for justice a disdainful betrayal.
Filled with comedic, caustic characters, “Ardor” brings the crossroads of the New South into this Bildungsroman about one unforgettable young woman.
“Ardor: A Novel” is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.
About the Author: James Ladd Thomas’s fiction has attracted attention from the prestigious Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. One of his short stories has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He has had his fiction published in several journals including Berkeley Fiction Review, Hawaii Review and Southern Exposure. He lives in Central Florida where he teaches composition and fiction writing.
MEDIA CONTACT
James Ladd Thomas
E-mail: Phone: (407) 314-6512
Web: http://www.jamesladdthomas.com
REVIEW COPIES AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE
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Direct link: https://prnewschannel.com/2012/09/06/young-audacious-woman-cuts-streak-across-alabama-in-bildungsroman/SOURCE: James Ladd Thomas
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