Belmont alumna Erica Louise Waters Orzechowski, a 2013 graduate of the M.A. in English program, will publish her debut novel “Ghost Wood Song” on July 14 by HarperCollins.
Waters provided a synopsis of the forthcoming novel: Shady Grove inherited her father’s ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle, but she also knows the fiddle’s tunes bring nothing but trouble and darkness. But when her brother is accused of murder, she can’t let the dead keep their secrets. In order to clear his name, she’s going to have to make those ghosts sing.
Waters said her M.A. in English from Belmont pushed her toward writing fiction, which was not at all what she had planned for a career. “I took a creative writing course with Dr. Sandy Hutchins, who recognized talent I didn’t think I had and encouraged me to pursue it,” she explained. “A few of the characters and themes from my debut novel actually came from short stories I wrote in her class. I’ll always be grateful for my time at Belmont and the excellent, caring teachers I had there.”
