Jess Wells

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Convo on Research and the Crazy Writing Life

January 31, 2024

Tags: A Slender Tether, JaguarPaloma, The Mandrake Broom, Women in History, Writer's Life

So thrilled to be part of the podcast series run by Anita Kelly. Here we chat about historical fiction, my own love of research, feminist fiction and the writer's life.

Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGdJHeHmJt8

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Fiction by Jess Wells

A Slender Tether

Amid the turbulent weather of Europe's Little Ice Age, A Slender Tether offers a novel of three linked and compelling tales of self-discovery, woven into a rich tapestry of 14th century France. Christine de Pizan, daughter of a disgraced court physician and astrologer, grapples with her ambition to be the first woman writer in France. A doctor finds an unusual way to cope with the death of his wife. And opportunity alternates with disasters in the lives of four commoners, yoked by necessity: a paper-maker struggling to keep his business, a falconer with a mysterious past, a merchant's daughter frantic to avoid an arranged marriage, and a down-on-his-luck musician with a broken guitar and the voice of an angel.

Jaguar Paloma and the Caketown Bar

Two extraordinary women in 1865 establish a trading post in a southern jungle that grows to be a safe haven for cast-off women and the dispossessed. When a murderous forger sets up shop and the mayor on the right-side-of-the-tracks becomes intent on their destruction, the village fights for survival in its own special way.

Told in evocative magical realism, Jaguar Paloma and the Caketown Bar is a tale of wronged women who stand up to be counted.

Buy your copy of Jaguar Paloma and the Caketown Bar here.

The Mandrake Broom

In 1465 the world is a dangerous place for women who practice medicine. Even more dangerous for those who defy authority.

Luccia Alimenti is a woman who does just that.

As a daughter of one of the legendary female doctors called Salernistas, she travels Europe dispensing herbs, remedies, and the ancient medical texts of Trotula.

Those put her in direct conflict with the powerful Inquisition.

When she becomes an archer to save women from the pyre, the battle really begins.

Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, this is a story based on extensive research of historical events and actual remedies.

Straight Uphill: A Tale of Love and Chocolate

In a hilltop Italian village, five generations of women confectioners work the improbable magic of love and chocolate. Can a brokenhearted American tourist fight the ghosts of her past to find a new life? Can a courageous mother save the village in the midst of war; and a renegade daughter redefine familial love? Could unlikely couples find each other despite their differences? If an abandoned widow navigates a shifting sense of purpose, will the legacy of chocolatiers take a new turn?

The Disappearing Andersons of Loon Lake

Love, loss, irony and humor abound in the lives of eight families living around Loon Lake, a shallow fishing spot in Northern Michigan. Whether it's the story of a young dreamer and a bully, a man looking forward to retirement and the family that stands in his way; a teacher facing ethical choices, or a family coping with disaster, these stories delight. Wells' "use of language is like music," critics say. "From the clear and compelling voice of the author comes a narrative that will arrest the attention of any good listener. The writing has something lyrical about it, a poetic quality that will strongly resonate in the heart of the reader." Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite

The Price of Passion

In The Price of Passion, Simone -- the orphaned, emotionally neglected daughter of a wealthy family -- must earn her inheritance by traveling the globe delivering a message to her dying grandmother's lovers. The young woman hopes that the pilgrimage will help her reconstruct her shadowed family history -- the shape of lives lived without her, but learns that there is a price to be paid for the emotions one is willing to feel, and the truths one is capable of acknowledging.

Aftershocks

In this classic tale of control, fear and upheaval, Trout, a successful businesswoman unaccustomed to losing control, and her partner-in-life Patricia, eyewitness the collapse of a building she helped construct. Cherice, a bisexual trapped in an elevator with a straight man and Louise, whose bar becomes a haven for so many, are among those whose lives have suddenly become upended by an 8.0 earthquake in San Francisco.

Author of Modern and Historical Fiction

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Blog

Convo on Research and the Crazy Writing Life

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Fiction by Jess Wells