Contact
Blue Circle Press
P.O. Box 460055
San Francisco, CA 94146
pagancircus [at] gmail.com
About the author
Ulrica Hume is an award-winning writer. Her work has appeared in the San Francisco Examiner, Poets & Writers Magazine, The Bloomsbury Review, The Huffington Post, and elsewhere. An Uncertain Age, her debut novel, was longlisted for a Northern California Book Award and selected as a literary fiction finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards. House of Miracles, her collection of interrelated tales about love, was a finalist for the D.H. Lawrence Fellowship; the title story was selected by the PEN Syndicated Fiction Project and broadcast on National Public Radio.
HOUSE OF MIRACLES, a collection of interrelated tales about love
Synopsis
House of Miracles is about love—the romantic love of days gone by, first love, unrequited love, and the fragile intimacies of a couple living in the last part of the twentieth century.
In these delightful, at times unsettling stories, we meet two very different women: baby boomer Janet MacDonald, who, despite a blossoming career in San Francisco, feels sure that she is cursed, and her elderly, eccentric neighbor, Mrs. von Meurs. When Janet’s relationship with boyfriend Jack, a struggling photographer, is tested, they drift dangerously apart. It is Mrs. von Meurs, alone and at the end of her life, who tries to keep them together.
At the heart of House of Miracles is the kaleidoscopic way the diverse characters are connected to Janet and Mrs. von Meurs. Secrets are revealed, and each woman must find her way, whether through a troubled past or into an uncertain future. Sometimes it seems that hope is not only “the thing with feathers,” but it is all they have. That, and the real possibility of miracles.
Reviews
“…softly, quietly, mightily beautiful.” Kelly Woodward, You Can Read Me Anything
“…Hume’s writing is earthy, there is also a nearly ethereal quality at times.” Karen Pirnot, Readers’ Favorite, 5 stars
“Interesting read about two women connected by proximity and the ways in which their lives intersect. Hope is their beacon and it shines bright in these stories. Definitely a great book to settle down with!” Nadia, A Bookish Way of Life
“I found myself sighing when I put it down; it had touched me deeply.” Amazon.com customer review, 5 stars
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For a background of the stories in House of Miracles, click here.
AN UNCERTAIN AGE, a spiritual mystery novel
Synopsis
Justine’s life is uncertain when she meets Miles Peabody on the Eurostar. She has lost her job, her fiancé, everything except her dream of becoming an artist. Miles Peabody, a retired librarian and beekeeper, has always led a cautious, philosophical life. Now, faced with his mortality, he needs a miracle.
Drawn inexplicably to each other, their relationship is tested when Miles invites Justine to join him on a Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage. But before she can answer, Miles goes missing. Desperate to find him, and nudged by the French police, Justine slips into a dark night of the soul. As her radical search turns inward, she begins to explore her faith (or lack of). The love letters of Abélard and Héloïse play a part—as do fractals, the physics of color, and Saint Teresa of Ávila’s excruciating visions. Also a rare, gnostic book, Secrets of the Epinoia, which is as elusive as its owner.
Helping Justine unravel the mystery of Miles are two women: Gwynneth, a lapsed Anglican, and Dara, a devout Hindu housekeeper (whose intentions Justine prays are good). Their cloistered world is turned upside-down when a charismatic visitor appears with the keys to Miles’s past. Haunted by questions of truth, betrayal, and loss, it seems they are all connected in an unlikely, even mystical way—whether in France or Spain, England, or far-off places around the globe.
An Uncertain Age by Ulrica Hume is a quirky, interfaith novel about astonishing grace, and longing in all its forms.
Endorsements
An Uncertain Age is a fascinating work, at once a mystery that transforms itself by degrees into a pilgrimage, and an unlikely love story that deepens into transforming mystery. Ulrica Hume is literate, smart, painfully honest, and often slyly, redemptively funny, and she has suffused her story with the rare urgency of a genuine spiritual quest. ~Tim Farrington, author of The Monk Downstairs
A rich and complex tapestry, a spiritual and literary mystery, this novel turns the reader into a seeker. The quest that unfolds is rewarding in multiple dimensions, beginning with the sheer delight of its beautifully crafted sentences. And while the novel’s sophisticated layers of meaning engaged my adult mind, its wildly adventurous plot, its vivid descriptions of far-away places, and its cast of wonderfully eccentric characters drew me in to an experience of reading that I haven’t had since I was a child. ~Noelle Oxenhandler, author of The Wishing Year: A House, A Man, My Soul
Honors
National Indie Excellence Award finalist in Literary Fiction. Longlisted for a Northern California Book Award. Featured on Scribd.com. Indie Book of the Day.
Reviews
“Ulrica Hume spins gold out of ink.” Grady Harp, Amazon Top 50 Reviewer, 5 stars
“A wickedly sophisticated novel by a wickedly sophisticated writer.” Tripp York, The Other Journal: An Intersection of Theology and Culture
“This is a jewel of a book, a transformational novel that simultaneously deals with the emotional baggage of entering middle age and the transformation of the soul.” Amazon customer review, 4 stars
“A wonderful book club choice.” Annie Peters, CityBookReview.com, 5 stars
“This is not a book for everyone, but having said that everyone should read it.” Amazon customer review, 5 stars
“A story about life on life’s terms, with all its uncertainty.” Lee Harmon, The Dubious Disciple
“Ulrica Hume has produced a début novel, An Uncertain Age, that stands firmly in the emerging visionary fiction genre.” Judy Croome, For Books’ Sake
“Well-crafted, intriguing, witty, poignant and full of literary and historical references.” Trina Drotar, Sacramento Press/Book Talk
“The themes of love, reality, fate, God and intent contribute to the story’s multitudinous layers and mysterious air.” Natacha P., Goodreads, 5 stars
“An Uncertain Age has the depth and power to inspire readers to ponder their own choices.” Malcolm R. Campbell, Malcolm’s Round Table
“Highly recommended.” Midwest Book Review, Reviewer’s Choice
“It’s almost as if the stars draw Justine, an American woman who is seeking to have a more settled life, and Miles, an English man who seems to be obsessed with some of life’s mysteries. They meet on the Eurostar and both of their lives change.” Meg, A Bookish Affair
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An Uncertain Age was listed in Library Journal’s “Spring Fling/First Novels” (Pop Fiction & Literary categories)
To read Chapter One, click here.
six degrees of separation 