| Author: | Caroline Clemens | ISBN: | 1230002168098 |
| Publisher: | LilliePubCo | Publication: | February 19, 2018 |
| Imprint: | Language: | English |
| Author: | Caroline Clemens |
| ISBN: | 1230002168098 |
| Publisher: | LilliePubCo |
| Publication: | February 19, 2018 |
| Imprint: | |
| Language: | English |
Synopsis for Chocolate for Lilly
Chocolate for Lilly initially was titled North Depot 1922. My goal was 57K words, 33 chapters, and give it a feel like Great Gatsby meets the Orient Express while running into Little Orphan Annie. What happened as I researched the era and places I wanted it to go like Florida, the Tropics, and New York City, Chicago and on down to the Carolinas was a story about two childhood friends and their families. The story became soft, meaningful and heartfelt amidst the fast paced times of speakeasies, train and automobile travel with the women’s movement.
My one liner is this: Childhood friends meet again in New York after schooling states apart and resolve to answer the mystery while seeking their fate.
The locations of the story in order are these: New York City, Boone, North Carolina, Chicago, Asheville, St. Augustine, Miami, Tampa, Fort Myers, Florida and a return to the mountain setting of North Carolina.
My characters are as follows: Emmaline, main protagonist, Johnson family with Ruth, Jack and children Rose, Emmaline, Fitz, Lilly, & pets, Petals, London and servants, DJ, butler, Francis, gardener, Elizabeth, nanny, Deuce, horseman & driver, and Garrett, chef. Robert, male protagonist, Stephens’s family with Mary and Charles, and Pearl, the maid. Henry James Kelly, a reporter, and Ralph Hemiger, businessman, and others including Thomas A. Edison, the inventor, and Cornelia Vanderbilt, as the lady hostess of the Biltmore.
The time period covered is from the summers of 1919-1929. The main plot line is that Emmaline’s adoptive mother was forbidden to discuss her adoption, and her older sibling, the one who was left behind in the burned out orphanage.
# # #
The Johnson’s and the Stephens live in New York City where both heads of households prosper. The Johnson’s run a family business making spirits, wine and does some banking on the side. The Stephens run a newspaper printing business. Mr. Johnson’s family has owned the liquor business for quite some time and Prohibition has not yet happened when he decides to build summer homes in North Carolina. He invites his friend to partake and sells him fifty acres next door. Over the next three summers they live there all three months and the kids relish in the sunshine, mountain air and freedom to explore.
Mr. Johnson expands his business as things are getting tight in New York and he goes to Chicago. His family resists but then follows and they move into a gorgeous Victorian home near the water. On the way there they visit a small town which has an amusement park. Ruth receives a letter of bad news but is unable to talk about it. She is devastated but must be quiet about it per her husband. They take a family portrait at North Depot, the train station. He figures she’ll forget about the letter stating that the orphanage burned down when she makes a home in Chicago. Life is good, the family grows, but Prohibition sets everything in motion for the gangsters and middlemen. He tries to avoid this but it’s a dirty business and he doesn’t let his family know how bad things are. He helps to plan his own death after he cheats people, the wrong people and doesn’t let onto his family. He tells only his son.
Meanwhile his children are getting involved and using their own talents. The littlest of them all is Lilly and she is a show stopper, a real talented young gal. He lets her go with Rose and her boyfriend back to New York City to get her on stage. This is something he would never do but he’s planning his exit and sees this as best. Ruth and Emmaline go on to meet them after his death. His apparent death came on Valentine’s Day, the same day as the massacre only in a different garage. His driver came and rescued him and helped him to fake the death. Even his wife thought him dead.
Ruth tells Emmaline everything on the move back to New York City when they stop at North Depot and get off the train. They sit out on a park bench and Ruth talks. This is a pivotal scene which showcases Emmaline’s strength and perseverance for something she has only felt and not known. Not only does she find out she’s adopted but that she has a sister who burned to death in an orphanage where she was left after she herself was adopted. So much information leads to an immediate resolution that she will find her. Somehow she doesn’t think it possible that she is gone. They investigate upon returning to NYC.
Emmaline runs into Robert at the tennis club. She sees him kissing someone else and decides to turn the fire alarm on and run. Quickly they reunite as young adults, he has just finished university and she has had a year or two. He receives an invite to visit with important people his father knows. He’s going in his place and she decides to go find her sister after learning she has moved to Florida, the tropics she has always wanted to visit.
Together, they take a train pretending their married to share a bunk room and depart for an adventure to help one another.
Of course, they have to visit the summer homes on the way down, swimming once again in the secret pool. This begins the slow burn for the future of them. They discover a bootlegging hideout near the pool. What they don’t know yet is that her dad is alive and living in the Johnson’s summer home. They continue on the journey with the invitation of a lifetime.
They visit the home of the Vanderbilt’s for a party that his dad was invited to. This is a fun interlude for both of them and begins to cement how they will live their lives. They stay together in the same room even though they have two rooms as they know they will probably never be there again. Robert meets Mr. Hemiger, a businessman who wants to invest in something of his when he’s ready. Talk about fortunate.
Saint Augustine is where they meet up with Pearl, who provides them details of where her sister may be and with who. The couple stays at the Ponce de Leon Hotel which has electricity conceived by Edison. This further ignites Robert in his quest to meet the inventor. They also meet Henry James Kelly, a reporter, who assists them and says he’ll find her and bring her back to them. He advises it might be dangerous and they should continue with their trip to see Mr. Edison, the inventor on the other coast. The train company is also on strike so service is at bare minimum.
Mr. Henry James Kelly takes the gift of Chocolates for her sister Lilly and vows to find her. He finds a woman vastly underweight with two small kids, but no husband. This guy took her from the orphanage, essentially bought her, and then made her his wife. Kidnapped. He’s a no good skimmer. He’s working as a bootlegger, small time, scrounging all his dough and giving her almost nothing. He’s working in south Florida near the coast and comes back to see her periodically. Henry gives her the Chocolates, tells her the story and leaves. He says he’s coming back for her on his way back through. Henry is going down to check on the operations in south Florida as an undercover reporter. Meanwhile Lilly pulls out an old photo she has hidden of herself and sees the box of chocolates. She begins to believe the story.
While the young couple goes to see Edison, Lilly escapes with her two kids before Luther returns and the big guys come after him with a gunfight, a blood bath. Henry returns after his card playing with the big guys, undercover, of course. He comes upon the sheriff who is walking and calculating the bloody scene at the old shack. Henry immediately realizes he’s got to find the dough, the cash. Lilly is apparently gone, taken his advice, though she didn’t wait for him and so he has got to find where Luther hid the money before the sheriff or the bad guys come back to get it.
He finds it in the shed and takes off.
Emmaline and Robert share a blissful time with Edison and Robert shows him his portfolio of inventions. He encourages him and likes his ideas. The couple are told to take a rowboat out to sea. They do and have their first kiss. Idyllic.
The summer homes are about to get filled with family and guests. Jack Johnson is already there and a few servants. Emmaline and Robert are on their way, so is Ruth. Lilly with her two children, Jack and Ginny, have already arrived. She meets Jack. This is a strong scene for sure. One can only imagine to be in the same room as someone who didn’t take you out of an awful place and now stands before you.
He asks for forgiveness.
Ruth comes and before someone can tell her properly little Jack runs out to meet her. She gets down to his level and he spills the beans. Stoic Ruth keeps face and promises she won’t let on about the surprise.
The families are reunited and all together, planning future businesses and gatherings. Lilly and Emmaline stand before the grand window with expansive views and Lilly declares if not for Emmaline, she would be dead.
Synopsis for Chocolate for Lilly
Chocolate for Lilly initially was titled North Depot 1922. My goal was 57K words, 33 chapters, and give it a feel like Great Gatsby meets the Orient Express while running into Little Orphan Annie. What happened as I researched the era and places I wanted it to go like Florida, the Tropics, and New York City, Chicago and on down to the Carolinas was a story about two childhood friends and their families. The story became soft, meaningful and heartfelt amidst the fast paced times of speakeasies, train and automobile travel with the women’s movement.
My one liner is this: Childhood friends meet again in New York after schooling states apart and resolve to answer the mystery while seeking their fate.
The locations of the story in order are these: New York City, Boone, North Carolina, Chicago, Asheville, St. Augustine, Miami, Tampa, Fort Myers, Florida and a return to the mountain setting of North Carolina.
My characters are as follows: Emmaline, main protagonist, Johnson family with Ruth, Jack and children Rose, Emmaline, Fitz, Lilly, & pets, Petals, London and servants, DJ, butler, Francis, gardener, Elizabeth, nanny, Deuce, horseman & driver, and Garrett, chef. Robert, male protagonist, Stephens’s family with Mary and Charles, and Pearl, the maid. Henry James Kelly, a reporter, and Ralph Hemiger, businessman, and others including Thomas A. Edison, the inventor, and Cornelia Vanderbilt, as the lady hostess of the Biltmore.
The time period covered is from the summers of 1919-1929. The main plot line is that Emmaline’s adoptive mother was forbidden to discuss her adoption, and her older sibling, the one who was left behind in the burned out orphanage.
# # #
The Johnson’s and the Stephens live in New York City where both heads of households prosper. The Johnson’s run a family business making spirits, wine and does some banking on the side. The Stephens run a newspaper printing business. Mr. Johnson’s family has owned the liquor business for quite some time and Prohibition has not yet happened when he decides to build summer homes in North Carolina. He invites his friend to partake and sells him fifty acres next door. Over the next three summers they live there all three months and the kids relish in the sunshine, mountain air and freedom to explore.
Mr. Johnson expands his business as things are getting tight in New York and he goes to Chicago. His family resists but then follows and they move into a gorgeous Victorian home near the water. On the way there they visit a small town which has an amusement park. Ruth receives a letter of bad news but is unable to talk about it. She is devastated but must be quiet about it per her husband. They take a family portrait at North Depot, the train station. He figures she’ll forget about the letter stating that the orphanage burned down when she makes a home in Chicago. Life is good, the family grows, but Prohibition sets everything in motion for the gangsters and middlemen. He tries to avoid this but it’s a dirty business and he doesn’t let his family know how bad things are. He helps to plan his own death after he cheats people, the wrong people and doesn’t let onto his family. He tells only his son.
Meanwhile his children are getting involved and using their own talents. The littlest of them all is Lilly and she is a show stopper, a real talented young gal. He lets her go with Rose and her boyfriend back to New York City to get her on stage. This is something he would never do but he’s planning his exit and sees this as best. Ruth and Emmaline go on to meet them after his death. His apparent death came on Valentine’s Day, the same day as the massacre only in a different garage. His driver came and rescued him and helped him to fake the death. Even his wife thought him dead.
Ruth tells Emmaline everything on the move back to New York City when they stop at North Depot and get off the train. They sit out on a park bench and Ruth talks. This is a pivotal scene which showcases Emmaline’s strength and perseverance for something she has only felt and not known. Not only does she find out she’s adopted but that she has a sister who burned to death in an orphanage where she was left after she herself was adopted. So much information leads to an immediate resolution that she will find her. Somehow she doesn’t think it possible that she is gone. They investigate upon returning to NYC.
Emmaline runs into Robert at the tennis club. She sees him kissing someone else and decides to turn the fire alarm on and run. Quickly they reunite as young adults, he has just finished university and she has had a year or two. He receives an invite to visit with important people his father knows. He’s going in his place and she decides to go find her sister after learning she has moved to Florida, the tropics she has always wanted to visit.
Together, they take a train pretending their married to share a bunk room and depart for an adventure to help one another.
Of course, they have to visit the summer homes on the way down, swimming once again in the secret pool. This begins the slow burn for the future of them. They discover a bootlegging hideout near the pool. What they don’t know yet is that her dad is alive and living in the Johnson’s summer home. They continue on the journey with the invitation of a lifetime.
They visit the home of the Vanderbilt’s for a party that his dad was invited to. This is a fun interlude for both of them and begins to cement how they will live their lives. They stay together in the same room even though they have two rooms as they know they will probably never be there again. Robert meets Mr. Hemiger, a businessman who wants to invest in something of his when he’s ready. Talk about fortunate.
Saint Augustine is where they meet up with Pearl, who provides them details of where her sister may be and with who. The couple stays at the Ponce de Leon Hotel which has electricity conceived by Edison. This further ignites Robert in his quest to meet the inventor. They also meet Henry James Kelly, a reporter, who assists them and says he’ll find her and bring her back to them. He advises it might be dangerous and they should continue with their trip to see Mr. Edison, the inventor on the other coast. The train company is also on strike so service is at bare minimum.
Mr. Henry James Kelly takes the gift of Chocolates for her sister Lilly and vows to find her. He finds a woman vastly underweight with two small kids, but no husband. This guy took her from the orphanage, essentially bought her, and then made her his wife. Kidnapped. He’s a no good skimmer. He’s working as a bootlegger, small time, scrounging all his dough and giving her almost nothing. He’s working in south Florida near the coast and comes back to see her periodically. Henry gives her the Chocolates, tells her the story and leaves. He says he’s coming back for her on his way back through. Henry is going down to check on the operations in south Florida as an undercover reporter. Meanwhile Lilly pulls out an old photo she has hidden of herself and sees the box of chocolates. She begins to believe the story.
While the young couple goes to see Edison, Lilly escapes with her two kids before Luther returns and the big guys come after him with a gunfight, a blood bath. Henry returns after his card playing with the big guys, undercover, of course. He comes upon the sheriff who is walking and calculating the bloody scene at the old shack. Henry immediately realizes he’s got to find the dough, the cash. Lilly is apparently gone, taken his advice, though she didn’t wait for him and so he has got to find where Luther hid the money before the sheriff or the bad guys come back to get it.
He finds it in the shed and takes off.
Emmaline and Robert share a blissful time with Edison and Robert shows him his portfolio of inventions. He encourages him and likes his ideas. The couple are told to take a rowboat out to sea. They do and have their first kiss. Idyllic.
The summer homes are about to get filled with family and guests. Jack Johnson is already there and a few servants. Emmaline and Robert are on their way, so is Ruth. Lilly with her two children, Jack and Ginny, have already arrived. She meets Jack. This is a strong scene for sure. One can only imagine to be in the same room as someone who didn’t take you out of an awful place and now stands before you.
He asks for forgiveness.
Ruth comes and before someone can tell her properly little Jack runs out to meet her. She gets down to his level and he spills the beans. Stoic Ruth keeps face and promises she won’t let on about the surprise.
The families are reunited and all together, planning future businesses and gatherings. Lilly and Emmaline stand before the grand window with expansive views and Lilly declares if not for Emmaline, she would be dead.
