So Near the Horizon
by Jessica Koch
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GENRE: Romance
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Jessica Koch’s dramatic debut novel, Dem Horizont so nah (So Near
the Horizon), broke every record when it hit stores in Germany 2016.
Released through a small, independent publishing house, the e-book was an
instant success, selling over 250,000 copies in just a few months and topping
the Amazon bestseller list for more than six weeks - which made it the
number-one bestselling German-language e-book of the year 2016!
Since then, one of Germany’s largest publishing houses has
purchased the rights to this riveting and highly emotional memoir. The foreign
rights have been picked up in numerous countries, and the feature film is
scheduled to arrive in theaters at the end of 2018.
And now, for the first time ever, So Near the Horizon will be available in English! So Near the Horizon will hit online
retailers in September 2017 - again as an independent publication, again
without a huge marketing budget, but again with infinite passion for an
unbelievable but true story that the world needs to hear.
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BLURB:
Seventeen-year-old
Jessica has an uncomplicated life and a promising future. Leaving the house one
evening, she has no idea that she’s about to meet the love of her life - or
that her entire understanding of the world is about to change. And before long,
she’s going to face a decision that will shape her forever…
In 'So Near
the Horizon' Jessica Koch describes a life lived somewhere between hope and
fear, confronting true events from her own past with raw honesty and frank
reflection - and exploring more than one difficult subject along the way.
A story of
deep love. A story of trust, courage, pain, despair, and the strength to let
go. A true story.
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EXCERPT
We were the weirdest little group in
the world, but we were happy. Maybe we were naive, too, because none of us
would ever have guessed that this would be our last summer together. If anyone
had told us that, we’d have stared at them in disbelief, and then probably
laughed in their face. At least, I think so. I should have just listened to
Danny more carefully—what he said to me in Italy turned out to be true. His
intuition was remarkable, and his gut never lied to him. But even considering all
that, we’d never have imagined the circumstances that ended up separating us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Jessica
Koch (born in Ludwigsburg, Germany) began writing short stories when she was
still in high school, but never submitted her work to publishers. In late 1999,
shortly after beginning her studies to become an architectural drafter, she met
Danny, a German-American dual national. Her experiences with him eventually
formed the basis for So Near the Horizon, though it was nearly thirteen years
before she felt ready to bring the manuscript to the public.
The
author describes a life lived somewhere between hope and fear, between optimism
and despair. She reflects on events from her own past with raw honesty,
confronting more than one difficult subject along the way.
Jessica
Koch lives near the city of Heilbronn with her husband, their son, and two
dogs. The second and third books in the trilogy, So Near the Abyss and So Near
the Ocean, are already best-sellers in Germany as well.
The author about her book :
I
first committed the story of my love for Danny to paper all the way back in
2003. I wasn’t trying to become an author—I just thought writing would help me
work through some of the emotional burden I was carrying around. I wrote the manuscript
with a typewriter and sent copies to two publishing houses, although without
any serious interest in their response. Which made the contract I was offered
all the more surprising: someone wanted to publish my story.
So
what did I do? I turned it down!
The
idea of the whole world knowing my far-too-personal story frightened me so much
that I burned the manuscript—in a huge fire in my parents’ garden, a fire that
had just finished consuming all my photos of me and Danny. I never managed to
burn the photos I wasn’t in, though, and I saved his letters and poems as well,
packing them carefully away in a box in the basement until I was ready to close
the book on the subject for good.
In
2010—at age 28—I moved to a new city, got married, and had a son. One day, I
mentioned to my husband in passing that I’d once written a book and been
offered a publishing contract. He asked more questions, and what had started as
a short anecdote about Danny became a week-long report. Noticing that I clearly
hadn’t come to terms with a few parts of the story, my husband advised me to
write it all out (again). From that moment on, I spent every free minute
writing.
For
weeks, I ran around carrying paper and a pencil, confused, caught up in a
completely different time. My notes developed into a highly emotional novel.
Purely out of curiosity, I sent the manuscript to five literary agencies.
Within a few weeks, four of them had expressed interest, and, after several
long conversations with publishers, I finally agreed to put So Near the Horizon
out into the world. What happened from then on, still feels like a dream…
The
enthusiastic response I received from readers prompted me to continue the
series, and So Near the Abyss as well as So Near the Ocean, the second and
third books in the Danny Trilogy, were released later on.
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER
CODE
Jessica Koch will be awarding $50 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn
winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Congrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you were able to tell your story!
ReplyDelete--Trix
Thanks for sharing the great post, I enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your release and book tour! Great cover and synopsis! Praise well earned!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book.
ReplyDeleteWhat was your favorite book growing up? Thanks for the giveaway. I hope that I win. Bernie W BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
ReplyDelete