Satan’s daughter is on the loose in a dark fantasy novel from Mary A.J. titled Vagabond. Cecelia Harrow has left the underworld and is trying to live a normal life by becoming a high school student. Her adventures take her farther than she expected to go, as she has to put herself in harm’s way to protect someone she falls for in this supernatural romance.
Vagabond has been chosen as the book of the month by OnlineBookClub, and it is a powerful example of the battle between the forces of dark and light, within us and in the world. It examines the struggles of eternal, supernatural forces through the lens of a high school student, making the extremes of Cecelia’s life into something relatable for the average teenager.
For the author, it wasn’t a challenge to make Cecilia relatable, since she is passionate, but not perfect, and often makes decisions based on her heart rather than an unerring sense of right and wrong.
Mary was asked why she chose Satan’s daughter as her protagonist for this novel, and her answer was that she wanted something different from one-dimensional characters who were essentially righteous blank slates. She finds those kinds of character boring, but is intrigued about how someone like Cecilia handles everyday struggles. She wanted a character who lives in the morally grey area – who is in many ways a villain, but a misunderstood one.
Mary has said that Vagabond is only the start of what she plans to do with this character. She has a trilogy planned, and is even hard at work on the follow-up. While this one has garnered the Book of the Month award, we will have to wait and see of the sequels can manage the same.
Vagabond takes the prestigious honor of being the Book of the Month title. OnlineBookClub has been around for 15 years and boasts more than 2 million members. The OnlineBookClub.org website offers forums, book reviews, interviews, and a place for writers, readers, and reviewers to connect. There is no charge for being a member on the site, and reviewers can actually make some money off of their reviews. There are plenty of marking resources available for authors as well.
OnlineBookClub was founded by Scott Hughes in 2006, and the site has been an exceptional resource for readers ever since. The site is constantly offering reading innovations, like the recently announced e-reader app, available on the Apple Store and Google Play Store. Scott says his goal is to make reading enjoyable again, and he is an accomplished author and poet as well as a member of the Board of Education for Manchester, CT.
