This book promotional event is through my collaboration with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.
Turning Towards Eden book tour includes an author interview and a giveaway Rafflecopter at the end. Explroe the other stops on the tour, chat with the author in the comments, share on social, and subscribe to Sarandipity’s. A comment on any of today’s posts gets you the freebie, a white fall clipart pack.
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Book Details
Turning Toward Eden
Young Adult Mystery/General Fiction: Coming of Age, Historical Mystery, Literary
Setting – California 1971
Publisher : Winged Publications
Publication date : May 6, 2025
Print length : 350 pages
ISBN-10 : 1965352766
ISBN-13 : 978-1965352762
Digital ASIN : B0DRRGK3W5
AUDIOBOOK COMING SOON!
“Chasing the truth, huh? Sure you’re not running from it?” Hollis might be her only friend, a
lanky boy Mama calls her “beau,” but Eden Lewis has no time for his hogwash. She’s got a
mystery to crack. For most fourteen-year-olds, California summers in the early 1970s mean sun
and surf, despite the Cold War chill. Not for Eden. Her AWOL father has sent her life into a
tailspin, landing her in a shabby beach town, stuck caring for her severely disabled brother.
Caught in her parents’ own cold war, Eden ditches Dex at every chance—pier fishing with
Hollis, playing poker with the grizzled card sharks, and caterwaulin’ in the church choir, laying
plain to the Almighty that singing terms ain’t the same as speaking terms, what with the hand
he’s dealt her.
Then Raven arrives mid-ninth grade—an elusive Soviet girl rumored to rain black-winged curses
over the fearful town. When a rash of petty crimes escalates to bloodshed on the beach, suspicion
falls on the “commie”—and then Eden. Desperate to prove herself innocent, and Raven guilty,
she embarks on a reckless game of chase. But for the truth to set her free, she must risk Dex’s
life. Will she go all in, no matter the cost?
An evocative story laced with mystery, Turning Toward Eden weaves nostalgia with grit, sorrow with humor, and despair with faith, offering hope to anyone who has sought to belong in a world that rarely plays fair.
“This is storytelling at its most atmospheric—brimming with quirky, well-drawn characters,
razor-sharp prose, and the kind of setting you can almost smell. The writing is lyrical, grounded,
and often laugh-out-loud funny—even in the midst of deeply poignant moments. With a cast of
endearing misfits and a tone reminiscent of Southern Gothic charm, this story lures you in from
the very first line and doesn’t let go. Cate Touryan has a truly original voice, a rare gift for
language, and a special ability to render a world so vivid you feel baptized in it.” — Zena Dell
Lowe, Screenwriter, Story Coach, and Founder of The Storyteller’s Mission
Audiobook Coming Soon!
The audiobook edition of Turning Toward Eden is in production and on its way to Audible, iTunes, and beyond. Stay tuned for a richly narrated experience, perfect for readers who love stories on the go.
About Cate Touryan
Cate Touryan writes fiction and creative nonfiction that reach for the story beyond the story and
the beginning beyond “The End.” Her complex, realistic narratives often touch on themes of
faith. While she avoids gratuitous violence and profanity, keeping any romance clean, she does
not shy away from portraying the grit and beauty of real life, instead writing the truest story she
can, infused with heart and humor. Her fiction will delight young adults and adults still young.
Cate invites you to journey with her into lives both real and imagined, wherein might lie
glimpses of your own story beyond the story and an ending redeemed.
Author Links
Website https://catetouryan.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CateTouryan/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/catetouryan/
X https://twitter.com/catetouryan
Author Interview
What is your favorite part of this book and why?
Ooh, so many favorite scenes, but one that still takes my breath away is the carnival night scene, where Eden, terrified of heights (as am I!), finds herself stuck in a suspended gondola at the topmost point of the Ferris wheel, swept up in a swirl of stars, as close to heaven as she’s ever been and as far from the catastrophic event unfolding beneath her as she could ever be, one that she both caused and alone can stop.
If you could spend time with a character from your book, who would it be? And what would you do during that day?
My teenage self would pal around with 17-year-old Hollis, learning from him the ways of pier fishing—baiting hooks, casting lines past the pilings, reading tides, and swapping stories with old-timers—as well as the ways of holding steady in the stormy seas of adolescence with his impish grin, his lanky stride, and a bucket hat as faithful and unruffled as his good nature.
What books/authors have most inspired you?
This will out me as one of those literary types! I’m most inspired by deeply meaningful works that soar on gorgeous writing. Favorites include To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. But I’m also known to curl up with an Agatha Christie or a P.D. James or even a ’70s YA novel.
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
If you look closely enough, you might recognize the traits, quirks, and foibles of real folks in my characters: that flash of bravery, that glimmer of resolve, that spark of humor. Ordinary people are endlessly fascinating, much more so than anyone I might fashion solely from imagination. In Turning Toward Eden, the character of Raven is the “what if” of an enigmatic high school classmate, and the character of Dex was inspired by my own brother.
What made you want to become a writer?
In childhood, my favorite people to hang out with were authors—many of them dead, unfortunately, but alive to me. I loved hobnobbing with their characters, adventuring through their stories, but the real magic belonged to the storytellers—the ones who spun new lands out of words and beckoned me in. I didn’t want to be Meg Murry or Lucy Pevensie or Taran so much as I wanted to be Madeleine L’Engle, C.S. Lewis, and Lloyd Alexander. Then came Dickens and Hemingway and Faulkner, and with them a deeper wonder at what words in the hands of artists can do. Writing became the story I most wanted to live.
Purchase Link
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
July 30 – Hall Ways Blog – SPOTLIGHT
July 30 – Novels Alive – REVIEW
July 30 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT
July 31 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
August 1 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
August 2 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – SPOTLIGHT
August 3 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
August 4 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
August 5 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – SPOTLIGHT
August 6 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
August 7 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – REVIEW
August 8 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
August 9 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
August 10 – Reading Is My SuperPower – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
August 11 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
August 12 – Salty Inspirations – SPOTLIGHT
August 12 – Reading Authors Network – SPOTLIGHT
Thanks so much for the spotlight and the interview, Sara! Great questions that I enjoyed answering. I’m excited for the giveaway and hope readers will love traipsing along with Eden in her retro seaside adventure. 🙂