founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, and the chair of International Thriller Writers’ Debut Authors Program.Milchman applied the Page 69 Test to Cover of Snow, her first novel, and reported the following:
Wow, am I surprised by what happens on page 69 of my book!Learn more about the book and author at Jenny Milchman's website.
I’m tempted to stop there. Maybe you’ll wonder what could be so surprising.
But that wouldn’t really be fair. You see, I’m surprised by how un-dramatic it is, at least relatively. Cover of Snow has been described as a literary thriller, and many of the blurbs and reviews seem to focus on a certain page-turning quality. I was expecting to open up to page 69 and find something that might make my own eyes water—and that’s after writing twenty-two drafts of the book.
But on page 69, my heroine is having a snack with her dead husband’s aunt. She’s just learned something—on page 68—that calls his relationship with his whole family into question. And she’s about to do something that will attempt to unravel the thorny knot that existed between them. But on page 69? There’s a certain quiescence. It’s the calm before, and just after, the storm.
I lifted my head, attempting to find Jean’s gaze. “I’m just trying to make sense of what happened, Aunt Jean. Something went horribly wrong.”
“I know it did.” She pressed her hands together until one was nearly hidden by the cushy flesh of the other. “But you’re talking about things from a long time ago. And Eileen is like my very own sister.”
“Yes,” I whispered. “But you just told me Brendan was like your son.”
My Book, The Movie: Cover of Snow.
--Marshal Zeringue
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