Author Guest Post with The Unveiling of Polly Forrest by Charlotte Whitney

When her new husband Sam perishes in a bizarre farm accident, would-be milliner Polly soon becomes the prime suspect in his murder.

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Author Guest Post

Author Charlotte Whitney Reveals How She Decided on a Title for The Unveiling of Polly Forrest

Soon after finishing Threads: A Depression Era Tale I started writing my next historical novel, not giving it a working title until I decided to make “veils” a theme of the book. Just as “threads” was woven into the fabric of my previous work with a variety of interpretations, I knew that “veils” would be a poignant theme in the new work, going far beyond the veiled hats that the main character Polly loved to create.

I quickly stuck the title “Veils: A Depression Era Tale” at the top of the manuscript, thinking the title would attract my previous readers. However, I was concerned that the readers would think the book was the second of a series, rather than the stand-alone novel which it is. More interested in continuing writing the book than considering titles I chugged along trying to come up with feasible plot twists and flawed, but well-meaning characters.

However, the working title was simply not sitting well. I liked the word “veil” but my new manuscript was a mystery with at least one unreliable narrator, aspects not found in my earlier work. Its close association with my previous book simply didn’t work.

So again I began brainstorming new titles.  Most that I came up used the word “veils,” such as:
The Veils of Darkness
The Creation of Veils
Veils over the Forest

I was dissatisfied with all of them until I started playing around with the word “unveiling.”  It was at that time I came up with “The Unveiling of Polly Forest.” I liked it because the main character, Polly, was an enigma right up until the end. The reader doesn’t know if she is an audacious murderer or an innocent victim of someone’s cruel joke. 

Having lunch one day with my friend Beatriz, I shared the title with her. At that time Beatriz was reading Richard Powers’ masterful book about trees, The Overstory.  She thought for a moment and asked, “Is Polly Forest a forest or a character?”

When I indicated a character, and that “Forest” was my father’s first name, and I associated it with a farmer, my father being the first farmer I ever knew.  It was then that I decided to change “Forest” to “Forrest” to preclude anyone thinking that Polly Forest was a woods, not a character. Search and replace is a wonderful Word function and quickly the title then became the final one, The Unveiling of Polly Forrest.

If you haven’t read the book, I hope you enjoy looking at all the nuances of the title as you go through it. I myself, tend to look at “the unveiling” as that of peeling away all the layers of the main character in her journey of self-discovery.

About the Book

The Unveiling of Polly Forrest: A Mystery
by Charlotte Whitney

Published 15 March 2022

Genre: Historical Mystery
Page Count: 313
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Rural Michigan, 1934.

During the throes of the Great Depression Polly marries for money. After her husband Sam dies in a bizarre farm accident, new bride Polly assumes she is set to pursue her dream of opening a hat-making business. Instead, she becomes the prime suspect in Sam’s murder. Secrets abound and even Polly’s family can’t figure out the truth.

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Excerpt

Sarah Wolcott Johnson

Thursday, May 24, 1934

I couldn’t hold back. “Polly, you’re such a liar. You kept making excuses for all your bruises and now you’re still hiding stuff from us. Sam’s letter. And now the coffee. When will it all end? All these lies. All this deception.”

Contrary to what Wes said, I was not going to apologize for anything.  She was the one who needed to make amends.

Polly stiffened, put the coffee cup on the table, and stood rigid, arms crossed. I looked out the kitchen window and could see Sailor Dog in the yard a few feet away, probably drawn close by our voices.

Polly wrinkled up her nose. “Well, sometimes deception is the best course of action. Fewer people get hurt.” She was making no sense.

“I think not,” I responded. “Deception only builds and builds until you have such a mess you can’t get out of it. Oh, what a tangled web we weave.” 

“That’s enough, Sarah,” Wes said to me. He was speaking as if I were a misbehaving child, which perturbed me even more.

About the Author

Charlotte Whitney is the author of historical fiction set during the Great Depression in the rural Midwest. Her most recent work, The Unveiling of Polly Forrest, a stand-alone historical mystery follows her groundbreaking novel, Threads A Depression-Era Tale, which was met with both critical acclaim and commercial success. Raised on a farm in southern Michigan, she often She received a master’s degree in English at the University of Michigan, and after a short stint of teaching at two community colleges, worked at the University of Michigan where she was an associate director of the Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts. Currently living in Arizona with her husband and two dogs she enjoys hiking, bicycling, swimming, and yoga.

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