Lauren Baratz-Logsted, the author of Crazy Beautiful, which I reviewed and made into a book trailer, is doing a "Single Question Blog Tour". She is visiting my site today and answering the one question I posed to her. The question I asked was, "How did you come up with the term, gallowglass, which is used so frequently in your book, Crazy Beautiful?
Here is her answer: "A gallowglass was a special type of personal guard in the Middle Ages hired by a Celtic chief to protect the chief's life at all personal cost, even to the death. I first learned the word when it was the title of a British supsense novel by Ruth Rendell writing under her Barbara Vine pseudonym. The book was published in 1992, so, as you can see, I was very patient--I waited 17 years to use the word in a book! I've probably had more readers say that gallowglass sent them running for dictionaries more than any other word I've used. I do love unusual words. Some other personal favorites? Enisled and termigant."
Lauren's book The Education of Bet, pictured above, is coming out on July 12!
Her blog tour schedule has or will include:
May 4: Kim's blog, "Butterfly Book Reviews". Kim's question is about The Education of Bet.
May 6: Georgia's blog. Georgia wanted to know what Lauren does to give herself a break.
Lauren also had another book, Marcia's Madness, make its debut yesterday. This was the fifth book in the "Sisters 8" series. She co-authored it with her husband, Greg, and their daughter, Jackie. The sixth book, Petal's Problems, in this series will be released in September.