Showing Without Telling Secrets

BARBARA REILLY is a historical fantasy. The story alternates between two historical times in upstate New York, following the magical adventure of a farm girl in 1948, and an Iroquois girl in 1779 during a period of great distress for her tribe.

The magical part constitutes the fantasy element of the novel. This is something I believe readers will cherish discovering for themselves, reading BARBARA REILLY. How then to describe the book in general terms and still give a flavor? In my September 21 post I listed a series of key words and phrases illustrating the story. Today I would like to spotlight the book’s Table of Contents.

(The book’s chapter titles tell the story)

Click to enlarge

I designed the titles to tell the story in a nutshell. They do not reveal secrets, but quite clearly, if poetically, give an accurate feel of the book. As in a poem, much of the meaning lies between the lines. One may glean the whole by squinting, as it were, and letting the mind roll over the progression of chapters, much as the waves of Cayuga Lake roll over the pebbly shore at Taughannock Point, near where the mysterious tale of BARBARA REILLY begins.