Guest Post: Sonia Gensler + Giveaway Stop

Please Welcome Sonia Gensler!

I am very excited to be able to host Sonia Gensler a second time here on Small Review! The first time we got to chat was during the Historical Fantasy Jubilee and now Sonia's back to tell us a little background for her new book The Dark Between. Based on how much I loved Sonia's debut The Revenant, I'm super excited to try her latest Gothic foray.  

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Much of the action of The Dark Between takes place within two Cambridge colleges: Summerfield (based on Newnham) and Trinity. The University of Cambridge is over eight hundred years old (see this timeline) and is made up of thirty-one independent colleges, each with its own property, financial holdings, and what some might call “personality.” The oldest college is Peterhouse, the largest and wealthiest is Trinity (which educated many of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research), the friendliest is Homerton, and the sportiest (and possibly snobbiest?) may well be St. John’s.

(Does this remind you of Hogwarts? Well, J.K. Rowling knew how the English tend to divide their more prestigious educational institutions into houses or colleges, and how a student’s affiliation with a particular house might suggest something about his or her social standing, personality, and aspirations.)

It took me a while to understand Cambridge and Oxford’s collegiate system, but my friend Harry, a graduate student at Corpus Christi College, explains it nicely in this quick video (notice lovely King’s College in the background):

Learn more about the personality and amenities of each Cambridge college here, or take this quiz (which will be maddening for most Americans) to see which Cambridge College might suit you best.

In my next post, I’ll talk more about Newnham College, the inspiration for Summerfield in The Dark Between.

About The Dark Between

At the turn of the twentieth century, Spiritualism and séances are all the rage—even in the scholarly town of Cambridge, England. While mediums dupe the grief-stricken, a group of local fringe scientists seeks to bridge the gap to the spirit world by investigating the dark corners of the human mind.

 

Each running from a shadowed past, Kate, Asher, and Elsie take refuge within the walls of Summerfield College. But their peace is soon shattered by the discovery of a dead body nearby. Is this the work of a flesh-and-blood villain, or is something otherworldly at play? This unlikely trio must illuminate what the scientists have not, and open a window to secrets taken to the grave—or risk joining the spirit world themselves.

The Dark Between, a supernatural romance about the powers that lie in the shadows of the mind, is perfect for fans of Sarah Rees Brennan, Alyxandra Harvey, and Libba Bray.

Author bio:

Sonia Gensler grew up in a small Tennessee town and spent her early adulthood collecting impractical degrees from various Midwestern universities. A former high school English teacher, she now writes full time in Oklahoma and spends summers in England.

Thank you so much for stopping by, Sonia!

Have you read The Dark Between? How about The Revenant?

Here for the giveaway?
My code word is: 

SUMMERFIELD


Each stop on the blog tour is also revealing a code word that can be used to enter a contest on Sonia's website for a DARK BETWEEN prize pack, including a finished copy of the book.

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