Today, I’m hosting a fellow Story Empire member, Liz Gauffreau, who talks about her latest release, The Weight of Snow and Regret. Happy book birthday, Liz!

Introduction

Thank you for hosting me on my blog tour for The Weight of Snow and Regret, Nicholas! For today’s stop, I’m providing an example of the Vermont accent that the characters in the book would have had (to a greater or lesser extent). But first, here is what The Weight of Snow and Regret is all about.

Description 

For over 100 years, no one wanted to be sent to the Sheldon Poor Farm. By 1968, no one wanted to leave. 

Amid the social turmoil of 1968, the last poor farm in Vermont is slated for closure. By the end of the year, the twelve destitute residents remaining will be dispatched to whatever institutions will take them, their personal stories lost forever.

Hazel Morgan and her husband Paul have been matron and manager at the Sheldon Poor Farm for the past 20 years. Unlike her husband, Hazel refuses to believe the impending closure will happen. She believes that if she just cares deeply enough and works hard enough, the Sheldon Poor Farm will continue to be a safe haven for those in need, herself and Paul included.

On a frigid January afternoon, the overseer of the poor and the town constable from a nearby town deliver a stranger to the poor farm for an emergency stay. She refuses to tell them her name, where she came from, or what her story is. It soon becomes apparent to Hazel that whatever the woman’s story is, she is deeply ashamed of it. Hazel fights to keep the stranger with them until she is strong enough to face, then resume, her life—while Hazel must face the tragedies of her own past that still haunt her.

Told with compassion and humor, The Weight of Snow & Regret tells the poignant story of what it means to care for others in a rapidly changing world.

The Vermont Accent

Many of the characters in The Weight of Snow and Regret, particularly the farmers and the permanent residents, have a distinct Vermont accent that people outside of the state, as well as the younger generations probably haven’t heard before. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon a radio show (“Brave Little State” on Vermont Public Radio) that features this Vermont account and how that accent has all but disappeared. I’ve excerpted the interview with an elderly farmer who has this accent. (Don’t worry. I didn’t try to replicate the accent in the dialog in the book.)

For anyone interested in linguistics, here is a link to the full “Brave Little State” episode: https://www.vermontpublic.org/podcast/brave-little-state/2021-08-05/the-vermont-accent-explained

Books2Read Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/WeightofSnow

Author Biography 

Elizabeth Gauffreau writes fiction and poetry with a strong connection to family and place. Her work has been widely published in literary magazines, as well as several themed anthologies. Her short story “Henrietta’s Saving Grace” was awarded the 2022 Ben Nyberg  prize for fiction by Choeofpleirn Press.

She has previously published a novel, Telling Sonny: The Story of a Girl Who Once Loved the Vaudeville Show, and two collections of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance and Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right.

Liz’s professional background is in nontraditional higher education, including academic advising, classroom and online teaching, curriculum development, and program administration. She received the Granite State College Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. Liz lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire with her husband. Find her online at https://lizgauffreau.

Click/tap to follow blog tour: https://lizgauffreau.com/the-weight-of-snow-and-regret-blog-tour-2/