Michelle Muriel(I)
- Actress
MICHELLE MURIEL is the award-winning, bestselling author of the #1 historical fiction bestseller ESSIE'S ROSES, WESTLAND (Essie's Roses 2), and WATER LILY DANCE. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, magna cum laude, and worked as a professional actress, a member of Actors' Equity and The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists for twenty years, doing theater, voice-over, and commercial work. Michelle transferred her skills in complex character development and historical research into writing heartbreaking, heart-mending historical, literary fiction. Her novels poetically explore the secret sides of life, stories told from multiple points of view by strong female characters in history harboring secrets and breaking norms fighting for freedom. She is also a songwriter and musician. Michelle lives in Missouri with her husband, Michael.
#1 Amazon Kindle Bestseller Readers' Favorite Silver Medal Winner Southern Fiction Top 100 Amazon Bestseller
To learn more about Michelle, her books, and future projects please visit her at her website MichelleMuriel(dot)com. You can also follow the author on Facebook, Amazon, Goodreads, and Vimeo.
Praise for the bestselling fiction of Michelle Muriel:
"Impressively well written from beginning to end, Essie's Roses is an inherently absorbing and skillfully presented read, establishing author Michelle Muriel as an exceptionally talented novelist." - Midwest Book Review
"Michelle Muriel's tremendously impressive debut centers on the experiences of four remarkable women. A richly moving reading experience." - Historical Novel Society
"Miss Muriel's novel is a thing of beauty. 5 stars!" - Readers' Favorite
"... [a] warm, passionate, and life-changing story. Imagination is at the heart of this superb novel, imagination that builds, rends, and immortalizes. Muriel offers a story beyond words - exquisitely sad, loving, and healing historical fiction." - Historical Novels Review
"...all I can say is - wow, what an amazing read. Michelle Muriel has penned a wonderfully moving work of fiction - and one that will leave no reader with a dry eye. Five stars!" - Feathered Quill Book Reviews
"A story of heartbreak, loss, and second chances, Michelle Muriel gives us a beautiful story of three courageous women, centuries apart." - Bookreporter
New in Fiction January 11, 2022 from bestselling author Michelle Muriel
About Westland (Essie's Roses Book 2)
From bestselling author Michelle Muriel comes the sequel to the #1 bestseller Essie's Roses, set during the Reconstruction Era post Civil War, Westland is a moving, gripping historical novel about family secrets, forgiveness, and the meaning of home.
Evil men wait a lifetime to get even.
On an Alabama plantation before the Civil War, two little girls find freedom, Evie the planter's daughter and Essie Mae, a slave. Now, women, divided by the aftermath of war they must find their way back home.
Alabama, 1866. The Civil War's aftermath tests family bonds as the women at Westland: Miss Katie, kind mistress and heiress, Evie, her daughter, Essie Mae, an intelligent freed slave, and Delly a former slave and Westland's sassy matriarch, confront the mysteries and secrets of Westland's past to hold on to freedom and each other.
As Rebel fires and lawlessness rage in the South, Evie and Essie Mae return to the home of their troubled pasts: Westland, an unproductive plantation. With a new vision, renewed hope, and the tranquility of Miss Katie's secret garden, they learn to dream again, but a mysterious stranger from Westland's past threatens to tear them apart. Delly warns unearthing family secrets may do it for them.
When Evie's stepfather James receives letters threatening Westland and Essie, he will move heaven and earth to keep Evie and Essie safe with a surprising twist he prays will usher in the true freedom they all deserve. Westland is an unforgettable, moving novel about the power of forgiveness, the families we create, and the consequences of the secrets we leave behind. One woman will pay the ultimate sacrifice as the women at Westland learn: freedom isn't free.
About Essie's Roses (Essie's Roses Book 1)
Growing up in the Deep South during the years leading to the Civil War, two young girls find freedom on a hillside overlooking Westland, an Alabama plantation. Essie Mae, an intuitive, intelligent slave girl, and Evie Winthrop, the sheltered, imaginative dreamer and planter's daughter, strike up a secret friendship that thrives amidst the shadows of abuse.
Told from the viewpoint of four women: Katherine Winthrop, kind mistress and unexpected heiress to her father's small, cotton plantation; Delly, her sassy and beloved house slave; Essie Mae, her slave girl; and Evie Winthrop, Katherine's only child, Essie's Roses tells of forbidden relationships flourishing in secret behind Westland's protective trees and treasured roses.
After scandal befalls Westland, Evie and Essie, aged nineteen, travel to Richmond, Virginia, to escape their abusive pasts. There, they face the gross indecencies and divisions leading to the War Between the States. Though the horrors of slavery and discrimination prompt action, Evie and Essie's struggles lie within. The secrets they hold and the pain of the past lead them away from one another and back home again.
A story about a black slave who frees a white woman, Essie's Roses reveals the innocence of children's friendships, the diverse meanings of freedom, the significance of a dream, and the power of love. In their efforts to save each other, will the women of Westland find the true freedom they desire?
#1 Amazon Kindle Bestseller Readers' Favorite Silver Medal Winner Southern Fiction Top 100 Amazon Bestseller
To learn more about Michelle, her books, and future projects please visit her at her website MichelleMuriel(dot)com. You can also follow the author on Facebook, Amazon, Goodreads, and Vimeo.
Praise for the bestselling fiction of Michelle Muriel:
"Impressively well written from beginning to end, Essie's Roses is an inherently absorbing and skillfully presented read, establishing author Michelle Muriel as an exceptionally talented novelist." - Midwest Book Review
"Michelle Muriel's tremendously impressive debut centers on the experiences of four remarkable women. A richly moving reading experience." - Historical Novel Society
"Miss Muriel's novel is a thing of beauty. 5 stars!" - Readers' Favorite
"... [a] warm, passionate, and life-changing story. Imagination is at the heart of this superb novel, imagination that builds, rends, and immortalizes. Muriel offers a story beyond words - exquisitely sad, loving, and healing historical fiction." - Historical Novels Review
"...all I can say is - wow, what an amazing read. Michelle Muriel has penned a wonderfully moving work of fiction - and one that will leave no reader with a dry eye. Five stars!" - Feathered Quill Book Reviews
"A story of heartbreak, loss, and second chances, Michelle Muriel gives us a beautiful story of three courageous women, centuries apart." - Bookreporter
New in Fiction January 11, 2022 from bestselling author Michelle Muriel
About Westland (Essie's Roses Book 2)
From bestselling author Michelle Muriel comes the sequel to the #1 bestseller Essie's Roses, set during the Reconstruction Era post Civil War, Westland is a moving, gripping historical novel about family secrets, forgiveness, and the meaning of home.
Evil men wait a lifetime to get even.
On an Alabama plantation before the Civil War, two little girls find freedom, Evie the planter's daughter and Essie Mae, a slave. Now, women, divided by the aftermath of war they must find their way back home.
Alabama, 1866. The Civil War's aftermath tests family bonds as the women at Westland: Miss Katie, kind mistress and heiress, Evie, her daughter, Essie Mae, an intelligent freed slave, and Delly a former slave and Westland's sassy matriarch, confront the mysteries and secrets of Westland's past to hold on to freedom and each other.
As Rebel fires and lawlessness rage in the South, Evie and Essie Mae return to the home of their troubled pasts: Westland, an unproductive plantation. With a new vision, renewed hope, and the tranquility of Miss Katie's secret garden, they learn to dream again, but a mysterious stranger from Westland's past threatens to tear them apart. Delly warns unearthing family secrets may do it for them.
When Evie's stepfather James receives letters threatening Westland and Essie, he will move heaven and earth to keep Evie and Essie safe with a surprising twist he prays will usher in the true freedom they all deserve. Westland is an unforgettable, moving novel about the power of forgiveness, the families we create, and the consequences of the secrets we leave behind. One woman will pay the ultimate sacrifice as the women at Westland learn: freedom isn't free.
About Essie's Roses (Essie's Roses Book 1)
Growing up in the Deep South during the years leading to the Civil War, two young girls find freedom on a hillside overlooking Westland, an Alabama plantation. Essie Mae, an intuitive, intelligent slave girl, and Evie Winthrop, the sheltered, imaginative dreamer and planter's daughter, strike up a secret friendship that thrives amidst the shadows of abuse.
Told from the viewpoint of four women: Katherine Winthrop, kind mistress and unexpected heiress to her father's small, cotton plantation; Delly, her sassy and beloved house slave; Essie Mae, her slave girl; and Evie Winthrop, Katherine's only child, Essie's Roses tells of forbidden relationships flourishing in secret behind Westland's protective trees and treasured roses.
After scandal befalls Westland, Evie and Essie, aged nineteen, travel to Richmond, Virginia, to escape their abusive pasts. There, they face the gross indecencies and divisions leading to the War Between the States. Though the horrors of slavery and discrimination prompt action, Evie and Essie's struggles lie within. The secrets they hold and the pain of the past lead them away from one another and back home again.
A story about a black slave who frees a white woman, Essie's Roses reveals the innocence of children's friendships, the diverse meanings of freedom, the significance of a dream, and the power of love. In their efforts to save each other, will the women of Westland find the true freedom they desire?