Why am I passionate about this?

Make-believe is my vocation, calling to me since earliest childhood. Not too surprising, for I was raised in a Southern Gothic household, simmering with mendacity and thwarted desires. Back then, I plotted stories for my dolls and scribbled plays of love and murder for backyard productions with the neighbor girls. Living and schooling were necessary preparation for the next story or play. To this day, while truly embracing my lived-life with passion and wonder, I still make sense of it, in part, through make-believe—an act that is both solitary and collaborative—writing dialogue for actors to interpret and novels for readers to perform in their own active imaginations.


I wrote

Only Charlotte

By Rosemary Poole-Carter,

Book cover of Only Charlotte

What is my book about?

In post-Civil War New Orleans, Lenore James, a thrice-widowed woman of independent means, promises her audience a tale of amorous…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon

Rosemary Poole-Carter Why did I love this book?

From her shocking first sentence to her final transcendent words, the narrator compelled me to travel with her through her memories of a lifetime on what might well be her last afternoon. In fact, I read the book in a single day, a unique experience for me since I am a slow reader who hears every word and pictures every action in my mind. Drawn to both reading and writing with a Southern Gothic sensibility, I was spellbound by the unfolding tale of a complex and courageous woman’s survival during the era of the American Civil War. This novel reads like a mesmerizing dramatic monologue delivered on the stage of history.

By Kaye Gibbons,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Emma Garnet, the heroine of Kaye Gibbons's sixth novel, takes the reader on a Southern journey through place and time, from 1842 to 1900. We see her first as a plantation owner's daughter, pampered by servants yet self-taught in subjects not then in the woman's sphere. As a girl, she does not question the South's peculiar institution, but gradually she recognizes the brutality of slavery. Still, during the Civil War, she works tirelessly in a Southern military hospital, ministering to the wounded out of her fervent sense of loyalty to the South. Throughout the conflict Emma Garnet contains her own…


Book cover of Morality Play

Rosemary Poole-Carter Why did I love this book?

In the plague years of 14th century England, a young runaway priest, Nicholas Barber, hides himself by joining a troupe of traveling players and thereby finds himself a new role in a wider world. Nicholas’s story begins at an inflection point, when the residents in a particular town are more interested in an actual crime of murder than in seeing yet another iteration of the traditional religious Morality play. To captivate and keep their audience, the actors—with Nicholas now one of them—create a play of real life about the town’s murder. Their drama evolves in a series of performances as they discover more details of the mystery, at last leading them to its resolution. A fascinating interplay of history, mystery, theater, and human nature! I love this book.

By Barry Unsworth,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Morality Play as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A New York Times Notable Book

In medieval England, a runaway scholar-priest named Nicholas Barber has joined a traveling theater troupe as they make their way toward their liege lord’s castle. In need of money, they decide to perform at a village en route. When their traditional morality plays fail to garner them an audience, they begin to stage the “the play of Thomas Wells”—their own depiction of the real-life drama unfolding within the village around the murder of a young boy. The villagers believe they have already identified the killer, and the troupe believes their play will be a…


Book cover of Playing to the Gods: Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse, and the Rivalry That Changed Acting Forever

Rosemary Poole-Carter Why did I love this book?

Biography is one of my favorite ways to explore history, and this double-biography is a doozy. The feud between Sarah Bernhardt and rival actress Eleonora Duse comes to dramatic life on the page as these remarkable women thrill theater audiences across the globe with their on-stage performances and off-stage scandals. Bernhardt created her public persona as the first superstar, and her name and fame certainly endure. But Duse intrigues me even more in contrast with the Divine Sarah. Unlike Bernhardt playing herself while playing a role, Duse disappeared into her roles with her natural, believable style of acting. Her technique revolutionized the theater from the late 19th century onward. And Duse’s style is the one that I find plays best in my head each time I read a novel.

By Peter Rader,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Playing to the Gods as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The riveting story of the rivalry between the two most renowned actresses of the nineteenth century: legendary Sarah Bernhardt, whose eccentricity on and off the stage made her the original diva, and mystical Eleonora Duse, who broke all the rules to popularize the natural style of acting we celebrate today.

Audiences across Europe and the Americas clamored to see the divine Sarah Bernhardt swoon-and she gave them their money's worth. The world's first superstar, she traveled with a chimpanzee named Darwin and a pet alligator that drank champagne, shamelessly supplementing her income by endorsing everything from aperitifs to beef bouillon,…


Book cover of The Mystery of Charles Dickens

Rosemary Poole-Carter Why did I love this book?

Dickens created a panoply of over-the-top characters scripted for dramatic and comedic acting out in readers’ heads and in Victorian parlors where parents read his books aloud to their families. Dickens, too, could not resist acting his part as the famous author portraying his characters. With his vast talent and imagination and his theatrical inclinations, he toured himself to exhaustion performing his works before crowds of transfixed fans. This page-turner of a biography delves into a series of mysteries in the novelist’s life, including that of his public readings, which may have contributed to the curious circumstances of his death—all the while, revealing Dickens as a visionary artist as intriguing as any of his literary creations.

By A. N. Wilson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Mystery of Charles Dickens as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Book of the Year in The Times & Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Spectator, Irish Times and TLS.

'Superb' Daily Mail, 'Book of the Week'

'Brilliant' The Times, 'Book of the Week'

'[A] vivid, detailed account' Guardian, 'Book of the Week'

'Hugely enjoyable' Daily Telegraph

'Fascinating' Spectator

Charles Dickens was a superb public performer, a great orator and one of the most famous of the Eminent Victorians. Slight of build, with a frenzied, hyper-energetic personality, Dickens looked much older than his fifty-eight years when he died. Although he specified an unpretentious funeral, it was inevitable that crowds flocked to his…


Book cover of Once Upon a River

Rosemary Poole-Carter Why did I love this book?

This lyrical dream of a novel celebrates storytelling, itself, which is the specialty of The Swan, a 19th-century inn that might exist in a village somewhere along the Thames. Under the guiding voice of an unnamed narrator, readers are invited into The Swan to hear separate tales of individual characters within the ensemble cast. Those many tales gradually flow together into one. Distinct voices rise and converge into a single choral piece interconnecting lives affected by loss and death, healing and rebirth. Some readers, myself included, may find themselves adding their own voices to the procession of stories within stories that never quite ends with the closing of a book.

By Diane Setterfield,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Once Upon a River as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the instant #1 New York Times bestselling author of the “eerie and fascinating” (USA TODAY) The Thirteenth Tale comes a “swift and entrancing, profound and beautiful” (Madeline Miller, internationally bestselling author of Circe) novel about how we explain the world to ourselves, ourselves to others, and the meaning of our lives in a universe that remains impenetrably mysterious.

On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his…


Explore my book 😀

Only Charlotte

By Rosemary Poole-Carter,

Book cover of Only Charlotte

What is my book about?

In post-Civil War New Orleans, Lenore James, a thrice-widowed woman of independent means, promises her audience a tale of amorous and murderous entanglements. She begins her story with her tender-hearted brother Gilbert hopelessly beguiled by Charlotte Eden, whose husband is enmeshed in the re-enslavement schemes of a powerful judge. In an atmosphere rife with misogyny and racism, Lenore fears Gilbert’s obsession with Charlotte will lead them all straight into disaster. Setting out to unravel the intricacies of the lives of others, Lenore also indulges her personal passion for stagecraft and the performing arts. While spinning one tale of shadow and light, concealment and revelation, she finds all the material she needs for another tale—a drama for the theater.

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The Widow Maker

By Janet Fix, Cheryl Bradshaw,

Book cover of The Widow Maker

Janet Fix Author Of The Broken Soul

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Writer, reader, editor, reviewer, publisher… those are all parts of me. With a lifetime of experience in the “words” industry, I have a pretty good handle on what makes a book not just good, but hot. I say this with the understanding that each reader brings their own histories to the reading experience, and what one person may like, another may not. Nonetheless, I offer you my professional and personal favorites in the mystery/thriller/suspense categories. It is my sincere hope that you find these books as addictive as I’d found them. Superb and clever writing, engaging characters, unpredictable plots—yes, please! Though I occasionally step outside my comfort zone, I'm consistently drawn back to these categories. 

Janet's book list on intriguing whodunits

What is my book about?

Liza O’Connell was a horror buff in every sense of the word. But there was one deadly nightmare she would never be able to talk about … her own. A friend murdered. A business in trouble. A marriage struggling to survive. And that’s just the beginning. 

When salon owner Carrie King discovers Liza dead in the back room of her shop, everyone becomes a suspect, even her. As tensions in the community rise, so does the death toll, and now the local cops believe there’s a serial killer on the loose. The question is … are the two investigations connected?…

The Widow Maker

By Janet Fix, Cheryl Bradshaw,

What is this book about?

Liza O’Connell was a horror buff in every sense of the word. But there was one deadly nightmare she would never be able to talk about … her own.

A friend murdered.

A business in trouble.

A marriage struggling to survive.

And that’s just the beginning.

When salon owner Carrie King discovers Liza dead in the back room of her shop, everyone becomes a suspect, even her. As tensions in the community rise, so does the death toll, and now the local cops believe there’s a serial killer on the loose.
The question is … are the two investigations connected?…


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Interested in theatres, secrets, and actresses?

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Secrets 271 books
Actresses 31 books