Frances Park - That Lonely Spell

ADVANCE PRAISE for That Lonely Spell

Frances Parks haunted essays are part elegiac after party, part Coen brothers whispers. She travels from Seoul to Soul via bus tours to Amish country, the Bayou in Georgetown, a lost cabin in West Virginia, a cosmic dog, creepy neighbors, crazed roommates, old friends, lovers, and her ex (Hug Bug). But its her mother and lost-too-soon father that steal that show. Grab a vodka-laced Tab and dial up family life in the burbs via pop relics, TV ads, show tunes, dance moves, and chocolate.

Richard Peabody, editor of Gargoyle Magazine , author of Guinness on the Quay

The ferocious energy of Frances Parks essays in That Lonely Spell , her lyrical prose, and her poignant subject matterearly loss of her father; isolation as the only Korean family in her Virginia suburb; a complex yet close bond with her mother; and a series of unfulfilling intimate relationshipscaptivated me from beginning to end. Parks voice is urgent and entertaining. You wont want to miss this collection.

R.L. Maizes, author of Other Peoples Pets and We Love Anderson Cooper

Frances Park writes so elegantly about family and personal history, and how that history gradually becomes beautiful, monumental myth.

Ben Nussbaum, editor of Spirituality & Health

Through the twists and turns of memory, Ms. Park portrays a life lived without restrictions. The tang of childhood makes one wonder what one has missedwere we ever that wide-eyed and accepting? The exuberance of adolescence and young adulthood is told in a wry yet direct manner. Even her mistakes take on the sheen of the bittersweethow we come to possess our own lost paradises.

A Korean heritage interwoven with an American-upbringing results in unique views on life and family. One cannot imagine a tighter or more loving family environment. The female perspective runs through these stories like an underground river, always present and often rising to the surface. It is a pleasure to read work that combines ethnicity and gender in ways that supersede the default versions of mainstream biographies. These coming-of-age storiesthese life lessonsentertain even as they teach us something about ourselves. Highly recommended.

Robert Kostuck, author and editor-in-chief, DoveTales

I cant adequately put into words my praise for That Lonely Spell . Each story is magical, so powerful and beautifully recalled youll swear you were with her.

Rick Cooper, lyricist, author of For the Record

A tour de force in memoir writing. Some hard truths spliced with pragmatic humor offer up a book that is informative, elegant, and extravagantly pleasurable to read. Frances Park has lived in many rooms.

Susan Tepper, author of What Drives Men and The Crooked Heart , a Play

That Lonely Spell has cast its blissful spell on me like no other essay collection Ive read before. Told in a voice that is uniquely hers, each story is heart-tugging and painfully honestwith heaps of humor throughout. Frances Park creates true connection with her readers, leading us, contrary to this books title, feeling not at all lonely, as if weve just made a new friend. I cant wait to revisit her world and reread her stories from start to finish.

Scott Saalman, columnist ( Dubois County Herald ; Evansville Courier & Press ), author of What Are You Going to Write About When Im Gone? , Nose Hairs Gone Wild , and Mr. Serious

While reading That Lonely Spell , I found myself wanting to highlight nearly every sentence. Frances Parks stories are deep, blue and soulfuland I loved being lost in her sea of prose.

Bill Adler, author of Outwitting Squirrels and Boys and Their Toys

That Lonely Spell is a luminous collection of stories that covers the beautiful and the brutal in Frances Parks life with the kind of prose that sticks to your bones and stays with you long after you close the book. Emotionally, it packs a huge punch. Books rarely make me cry, but story after story hit me in the heart hard enough to make me tear up. If I had to choose a favorite, I could not. I loved them all.

Megan Wessell, blogger, A Bookish Affair

Frances Park writes in a style that can only be described as rapturous. Reading That Lonely Spell brought lots of tears and some laughs as well. She describes events throughout her life with a sense of realism that sometimes entertains, sometimes shocks, and always moves. Her fathers premature passing is almost always present, and her love for both parents is evident at all times. I loved every page.

Barbra Bailey Bradley, harpist and composer

The beauty of life comes off like makeup to quote from Frances Parks new book That Lonely Spell . I would say the beauty of an essay comes off like a short story. These are heartfelt essays that invite you in with warmth and honesty. Reading That Lonely Spell is like having a conversation with a friend you wish you had.

Carl Scharwath, writer, photographer and competitive runner

Frances Parks voice as a writer is resonate and authentic.

Sandra Tyler, editor-in-chief of The Woven Tale Press, author of Blue Glass and After Lydia

In this rich and artful memoir-in-essays, Parks loves and losses become the readers as well. Its a special pleasure to become as happily immersed in the life of another person as I did reading That Lonely Spell .

Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen

Copyright 2022 Frances Park

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage or retrieval system now known or hereafter inventedexcept by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaperwithout permission in writing from the publisher.

Heliotrope Books, LLC

ISBN 978-1-942762-84-3

ISBN 978-1-942762-85-0 eBook

Cover photograph by Justin Redman

Designed and typeset by Naomi Rosenblatt with Frances Park

Interior photographs courtesy of Frances Park

Article Credits

You Two Are So Beautiful Together originally appeared in The Massachusetts Review /Summer 2016

A Dead Lovers Kiss originally appeared as Kissed in My Sleep in OZY/Feb 2016

Meet Me at The Bayou originally appeared in Gargoyle Magazine /Issue 65, 2017

A Love Letter to My Sisters Dog originally appeared in The Delmarva Review / Fall 2018

Mister, Your Shoelace is Untied originally appeared in Duende/November 2018

Nothing Bad Could Happen Here originally appeared as Revisiting Childhood Memories, Both Happy and Painful in Next Avenue/June 2017

I See You, I See You originally appeared in Entropy/October 2016

A Ghost in Edinburgh originally appeared in Mason Street Review/Fall 2020

Good-bye, Tess originally appeared as Remembering a Free-Spirited Friend in Next Avenue/January 2018

Serving God, Meat and Intercourse in an Amish Diner originally appeared in Gulf Coast Journal /Summer-Fall 2017

A Historic Pause originally appeared in Entropy/June 2017

Kiss-Kiss-Kissuni originally appeared in The London Magazine/September 2016

Death in Andover originally appeared in The Chicago Quarterly Review /Fall 2018

Coffee with Catie originally appeared in Entropy/May 2016

Love in Yiddish originally appeared in Arts & Letters /Spring 2017

How We Rock n Roll originally appeared in The Woven Tale Press/May 2017

Boobs and Bones originally appeared in Please See Me/March 2020