Antiguan and Barbudan author Joanne C. Hillhouse has written three books of fiction; her latest – Oh Gad! – hits the international market on April 17^th 2012. Some will have pre-ordered online of course but the home crowd will get the first opportunity to hold a signed copy of the new book when it goes on sale three minutes past midnight at the launch event set to begin at 11 p.m. on April 16^th at the Best of Books’ Friars Hill Road branch. The short but festive programme will include opportunities to win other giveaways, author reading and signing, and toast.  All week long the author has featured an online promo, in which you’ve got to ‘like’ her page to be in the running, with one lucky fan standing to win her entire collection (including earlier books The Boy from Willow Bend and Dancing Nude in the Moonlight).
 

Critics have called Dancing Nude in the Moonlight “lyrical, sensual and gentle” (The Caribbean Writer, UVI) and The Boy from Willow Bend “thoughtful… (and) captivating” (The Antigua and Barbuda Review of Books).
 

What will they (and readers) say about Oh Gad!

That may be one of the things on the author’s mind at this time. She recently confessed to nerves in an interview on the Caribbean Book Blog but said she was also looking forward to the launch. “I held the book in my hands for the first time and had a ‘how did I get here’ moment” she said in that interview. “And as I signed the copies ahead of the launch, I found myself stopping from time to time to look at it or flip through it…I’m happy with the end result.”

But what is the book about?
 

You can read the publisher synopsis or you can read it yourself; we suggest the latter. But Hillhouse did say this in the mentioned interview, “Oh Gad! is a book set in a fictionalized version of modern Antigua in which a woman, drawn back there by a great tragedy, tries to find a place of belonging within an Antigua in-flux.” She hints too at politics and romance, and life changing experiences which she hopes will resonate with readers at home and around the world.
 

Hillhouse has been one of Antigua and Barbuda’s most consistent presences on the literary scene she began working in media in the 1990s and more so since releasing her first book with then publisher Macmillan in the early 00s. Since launching the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize in 2004, she’s also been known for her literary advocacy.
 

We imagine she’s ready to reach an even wider audience with Oh Gad! To do so, she’s hoping, of course, that you’ll buy the book and, if you like it, recommend it to those in your network, both online and in real life. “I believe any writing that comes from an authentic place stands a better chance of connecting with the reader than writing that tries to be something it’s not,” Hillhouse said in a recent interview on the Caribbean Literary Salon. So while she writes as always from a purely Antiguan space, she’s optimistic that people any where will be able to connect. “I hope they find it to be an engaging read; interesting, thought provoking and entertaining,” she said in the Caribbean Book Blog interview. “As always, I hope Caribbean people see a bit of themselves and I hope non-Caribbean readers see some of our common humanity.”
 

For contribution to Monday’s launch activity, Hillhouse thanks The Best of Books, August Rush, Belmont Studios, Elvie’s Pottery, C & C Wine Bar, Chosen Sounds, the media, friends, family, and all supporters. She’s counting on your support as well. As the saying goes, Antigua to the world.