Caren McVicker
Born in Oklahoma, Caren lives in Vermont with her hubby, a rescue pup, and a barn cat turned happy house kitty. Caren is also a mom to two incredible humans and is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. Henderson House is her first novel.
Caren’s career spans more than three decades as a communications professional with experience in public relations, technical writing, and social media consulting. Caren’s past clients include Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Frito-Lay, and Nabisco. Since moving to Vermont in 2014, she has consulted for The Artist Book Foundation, Southern Vermont Arts Center, and The Vermont Association of Realtors. Caren is an active member of her local community theater, The Dorset Players, with recent roles including Aunt Eller in Oklahoma and Ethel Banks in Barefoot in the Park . She is a member of The Dorset Church choir and serves as Vice Chair of Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s Foundation Board. When she is not writing, you can find her in the kitchen, in the garden, or out enjoying the beauty of Vermont with her rescue dog, June Bug.
In her own words
Welcome to Act Three: My husband and I often talk about life having three acts. Act One opened at birth and ran into our early careers. Act Two opened not so much when we got married, but when we had children. Now, the curtain is rising on my Act Three. At fifty-seven, I am a debut novelist. And it started when my father was dying. I traveled from Vermont to Florida as often as I could while my dad was ill. During a November 2017 visit, we reminisced about our Memorial Day trips to Oklahoma. We would fly to Tulsa, pick up my grandma, drive to Bartlesville, pick up my Great Aunt Boo Boo, and head to the cemetery in Claremore. As a teenager, I was fascinated by these tiny, ancient sisters tottering around the headstones, arguing about what color plastic flowers to place on each grave. Both were born in Indian Territory in the late 1890s. One lost her husband early. The other was an old maid in her forties, living in a boarding house when she fell in love. They were as close and as different as only sisters can be. Reliving these visits with my father reawakened the inner voice of teenage me saying, “You should write about them.” On my way home that November, I got stuck at the Atlanta Airport. Settling in for a three-hour delay, I took out my laptop and began writing what would become the breakfast scene in Henderson House. I hadn’t written fiction since college. I gave up my dream of being a novelist when I was nineteen, taking the safe, steady-paycheck route, and changing my major to Public Relations. But that’s the beauty of Act Three; you don’t have to choose the well-lit path anymore. Act Three frees you to do something scary and unexpected, like writing a novel set in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Now, I have the honor of sharing this story with you and the privilege of writing the next story and the next. The curtain is up. My Act Three is underway. What will you do with yours?
Caren McVicker
Connect with Caren:
Henderson House a novel by Caren Simpson McVicker
me@carenmcvicker.com | 802-379-8921
carenmcvicker.com | Insta @carenwrites | FB @carensimpsonmcvickerwriter
Genres: Historical Fiction/General, Romance/Historical Fiction/American, Fiction/Family Life/Siblings Themes: Later-in-Life Romance, Sisters, Women’s Friendship
Publisher: Inkshares
Publishing Date: August 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781950301553
Contact: Noah Broyles, Deputy Publishing Director, noah@inkshares.com , 856-282-9736
Click Here to Buy the Book on Amazon
"Like a love song to my Oklahoma roots. Henderson House offers a sweet window into a past when lives and loves moved to the gentle rhythm of small-town cafes, front porch swings, and old two-lane highways."
— Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours
An enchanting boardinghouse tale of sisters, secrets, and later-in-life romance,Henderson Houseinvites you to pull up a rocking chair and lose yourself in the heartaches and hopes of 1940s Oklahoma.
In May 1941, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, hums with talk of spring flowers, fishing derbies, and the growing war in Europe. And for the Blackwell sisters, who reside in a quiet neighborhood boarding house, the winds of change are blowing.
Bessie Blackwell, copy room manager at Phillips Petroleum and faithful churchgoer, is the reluctant owner of a new pair of glasses. The young women in the office swear by Bessie's romantic advice, despite the fact she's a self-proclaimed spinster. Frank Davis, Henderson House’s newest tenant, throws that status into question with his gentle eyes and ready smile. But the scar on his forehead and rumors of divorce speak of a troubled past.
Bessie’s sister, Florence, a sales assistant at the men's clothing store downtown, knows all about troubled pasts. Her husband is dead, and it’s only with her sister's help that she’s able to raise Johnny. Life at Henderson House is luxurious compared to growing up in Cherokee Indian Territory, but Florence wants more for her boy than a rented room. When the flagship store in Tulsa offers her a management position, Florence sets her sights on the future and keeping the family together. And neither future nor family includes Frank Davis.
Mrs. Henderson, the landlady, cook, and adopted matriarch of the Blackwell clan, possesses an uncanny intuition about all her boarders. She knows true love when she sees it. But soon even her vision becomes clouded as Florence schemes to undermine her sister’s budding romance. In a desperate attempt to keep Bessie by her side, Florence exposes the sisters' darkest secret. A secret that will change their lives, and the lives of those they love, forever.
