Book Spotlight: Seeds of the Pomegranate by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels

 

A gritty story of a woman learning to survive in 20th-century Gangland, New York

 

In early 20th-century Sicily, noblewoman Mimi Inglese, a talented painter, dreams of escaping the rigid expectations of her class by gaining admission to the Palermo Art Academy. But when she contracts tuberculosis, her ambitions are shattered. With the Sicilian nobility in decline, she and her family leave for New York City in search of a fresh start.

 

Instead of opportunity, Mimi is pulled into the dark underbelly of city life and her father’s money laundering scheme. When he is sent to prison, desperation forces her to put her artistic talent to a new use—counterfeiting $5 bills to keep her family from starvation and, perhaps, to one day reclaim her dream of painting. But as Gangland violence escalates and tragedy strikes, Mimi must summon the courage to flee before she is trapped forever in a life she never wanted.

From Sicily’s sun-bleached shores to the crowded streets of immigrant New York, Seeds of the Pomegranate is a story of courage, art, and the women who refused to disappear.

 

Buy Link:

 Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mZJdkD

 

Suzanne Uttaro Samuels writes about women who defy expectations and the secrets that shape families across generations.

Her debut novel, Seeds of the Pomegranate (Sibylline Press, 2025), follows a young Sicilian noblewoman whose search for freedom and art leads her into the hidden world of counterfeiters in early twentieth-century New York.

A former law professor turned novelist, Suzanne now lives in a lakeside cottage in the Adirondack Mountains with her husband, dog, and two cats. When she’s not writing, she’s exploring old family stories, local history, and the way memory lingers in the places we call home.

Author Links:

Website: www.suzannesamuels.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suzanne.samuels.12

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Threads: https://www.threads.com/@suzanne.samuels

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/susamuels.bsky.social

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/olduser124646644/seeds/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/suzanne-uttaro-samuels

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@suzannesamuelswriter

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Suzanne-Uttaro-Samuels/author/B0FF3RY4D7

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/60004417.Suzanne_Uttaro_Samuels

 

Book Spotlight: The Vow by Jude Berman

 

In a stunning work of feminist historical fiction for readers who loved Dawn Tripp’s Georgia and Whitney Scharer’s The Age of Light, Jude Berman brings painter Angelica Kauffman to life.

Accused of dressing as a boy to study in the prestigious galleries of eighteenth-century Italy, child prodigy Angelica Kauffman has set high goals for herself. She is determined to become a history painter, a career off-limits to women. To ensure her success, she has vowed never to marry.

Shattering the glass ceiling of her times, Kauffman paints royalty, mingles with illustrious artists, and becomes one of the only female founders of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. But her path is fraught with challenges and eventually she questions if a vow of a different sort is necessary if she is to answer the deepest call of her heart.

**Finalist for Historical Fiction at the 2024 American Fiction Awards**

“Jude Berman has created a spirited, engaging glimpse into the life of one of the most important artists of the eighteenth century. Kauffman was a true free spirit, dedicated to her art, and that is captured beautifully in this novel.”—Susanne Dunlap, author of The Portraitist: A Novel of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard

“With skillful prose and classical descriptions, Berman paints a vivid portrait of a woman defying the constraints of her time, making this novel an unforgettable masterpiece in its own right.” —

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/br2a8w

Publisher’s Buy Link: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Vow/Jude-Berman/9781647427887

Jude Berman has a BA in art from Smith College and an EdD in cross-cultural communication from UMass Amherst. After a career in academic research, she built a freelance writing and editing business and ran two small Indie presses. She lives in Berkeley, CA, where she continues to work with authors and writes fiction.

In her free time, she volunteers for progressive causes, paints with acrylic watercolors, gardens, and meditates. The Die, metaphysical speculative fiction about saving democracy, was published in 2024.

Visit judeberman.com for Jude’s books and judeberman.org for her art.

Author Links:

Website: https://judeberman.com/

Art website: http://www.judeberman.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/judebermanauthor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judeberman/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jude.berman/

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@jude.berman

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jude-Berman/author/B0C9N4GDVJ

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/50381.Jude_Berman