KNEE DEEP
by Karol Hoeffner
Oh! Katrina. What a mess of hope and love you leave behind. Karol Hoeffner has written a young adult novel that is kind of historical and yet speaks to the 
diverse populations of today’s society. This is the story of a girl named Camille and her survival of Hurricane Katrina in 2001 before, during and especially after the storm. Camille is a person who cares for her family and her friends of all persuasions for she lives in New Orleans, Louisiana a place known for its’ fun and diversity.
Camille and family and friends have many issues to learn to live and deal with from bi-racial relationships to the homosexual lifestyle as well as accepting transgender people and the changes that an environmental disaster can bring about for all involved. This is a story of adaptation to old and new situations and relationships that occur in all our living situations from finding love to experiencing death and loss and all things spiritual in nature.
This coming-of-age book is a must-read regardless of how old you are. Described as Ladybird meets A Streetcar Named Desire, Knee Deep is a creative blend of modern romance and realism laced with paranormal elements and French Quarter flare.
The title of this book for young adult and adult readers is ‘Knee Deep’ . This is a good name for this novel for the readers will become ‘knee deep’ in feeling compassion for the characters of the novel. also ‘knee deep’ of their own memories of love and loss during the time of Katrina wherever the reader happened to be and live at that time north and/or south. This is a good novel for a course in counseling, psychology and even sociology to use as a supplemental reading to discuss various feelings of bi-racial relationships, homosexuality and even bits and pieces of the occult.
Some questions that could be asked are :
1. How do you actually feel when you see a bi-racial or even a homosexual couple out in the community?
2. Do you think or believe in the occult as Camille did when she went to the cemetery to speak to the ‘Voodoo Queen’?
This is definitely a novel that has many discussion points on yesterday’s and today’s populations and activities.
Book Summary; Knee Deep
Named after a hurricane, Camille is the rebellious sixteen-year-old daughter of a New Orleans bar-owner . She grows up in the shadow of Bourbon Street, raised on stories of hauntings, lusty encounters and voodoo magic. And even though her family loses their home in a hurricane, she counts herself among the lucky . That’s until she discovers that her eighteen-year-old neighbor whom she secretly loves goes missing in the storm.
In Camille’s own words: “This is the story of what happened to me on Fat Tuesday, how I ended up on the steps of St. Mary’s, the hem of my pirate’s petticoat soaked in somebody’s else’s blood. Although I know the story to be true, I don’t totally believe it myself. Like all good tales born out of the bayou. My story involves the dead, the living and the one trapped in the brackish waters between heaven and hell. It is the story of true love and true disaster, and at the end of it, I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is the harder to survive.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Karol Hoeffner
- Karol Hoeffner is the Chair of Screenwriting at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She has penned several novels including the upcoming release of Knee Deep. One of the most anticipated titles of 2020, Knee Deep is a coming-of-age, Hurricane Katrina love story that blends romance, suspense, and Mardi Gras magic from the shadows of Bourbon Street.
- Hoeffner also has fourteen film credits including Mary Kate and Ashley’s Winning London, MTV’s All You’ve Got, several Danielle Steel adaptations, a television mini-series Harem, movies-of-the-week based on true stories – The Making of a Hollywood Madam and Miss America: Behind the Crown.
Among her other credits are the original movies, Voices from Within and Burning Rage.
2020
ISBN: 13-9781646030095 paperback
ISBN: 13-9781646030507 hardcover
13-9781646030361 epub
https://fitzroybooks.com
Regal House Publishing, LLC
210 pages
- Instagram: @kahoeffner
- Twitter: @KarolHoeffner
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- Facebook: @KarolHoeffnerWrites
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karol-hoeffner-07090723/
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Jo D.
Great book to help get the conversion flowing!