For you, Carmen

Posted on March 15, 2008 | 4 Comments

My second novel was just reprinted, and it gives me another chance to say, I love you, little sister, this is for you. My sister died in 1995. She was 42 and left six children behind her, the youngest five, the oldest 20. I’ve never seen anyone die finer than she did. No blame, no recriminations, just a digging in to love harder.This new edition of Now Face to Face (it came out in January from Three Rivers Press) includes scenes I took out of the original manuscript. They were about a character dying, and I couldn’t bear for my sister, who really was dying, to read my imaginary death scenes. So I reworked the book and deleted those scenes.But now it’s been ten years. And there is a reprint. So the scenes are included in an afterward, which I dedicated to my sister. And this, too, this blog, this writing life, is for you, Carmen. You were beautiful. I love you. Karleen

This entry was posted in Now Face to Face, reprints and new editions, sisters and tagged "Three Rivers Press", death, family, Karleen Koen, Now Face to Face, scenes, sisters, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

4 responses to “For you, Carmen”

Cathy Mintz | April 2, 2008 at 1:13 pm | Reply

K,

With tears in my eyes I thought of Carmen when we were kids.

She was beautiful and rather good at playing “jacks” too if I remember correctly.

Thanks for the sweet and loving thoughts about Carmen.
Bonnie | August 17, 2008 at 7:16 am | Reply

Karleen, I literally just finnished reading “Now Face to Face” last night. It was the original version. While I LOVED the book, I don’t know that I want to read the whole book again – just yet. However, I would like very much to read the scenes you have put back into the original manuscript. Can you tell me which they are so I can leaf through the new book and read? Thanks! Bonnie
Karleen Koen | August 19, 2008 at 3:27 pm | Reply

The deleted scenes are in “Author’s Note” after the ending of the book. They are only in the newest version of “Now Face to Face,” printed in 2008 by Three Rivers Press…..you can see the cover on the opening page of the blog.

The timing around Jane’s pregnancy is different in the deleted scenes, as opposed to what is in the story…..because I changed the timing of her pregnancy when I decided to delete the scenes.

Thanks for your interest, Karleen
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