Book 4 - Mrs. Quarterhorse Adrift
So-called pilgrims got it into their pointy heads that Mrs. Quarterhorse’s home had been the site of a miracle. But they didn’t arrive to kneel and pray, not these goodly people, no, they arrived to take the house away with them. I’d noticed nothing particularly miraculous about the bricks they chiselled free, or the siding, or the shingles, or the galloping bull weathervane they pried off a gable. Unable to remain comfortably in a house with no sides and no roof, with no windows or doors or walls, Mrs. Quarterhorse and I have fled to the sea. But we can’t seem to shake the mob who we are beginning to suspect have trained their beady eyes on the sailboat we now call home. With no hint of a breeze, we are helpless but to drift through the fog, and remain vigilant. And to make matters worse, we’ve eaten all the shortbread. We’ve finished off the fudge. The almond chocolate bark, I miss it dearly. Once the frosted soft nutmeg cookies are gone, all that will remain in our pantry are beans. A hundred cans of long-expired beans. Misfortune, thy name is Quarterhorse.
Mrs. Quarterhorse Adrift is available for pre-order at Amazon
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The following is an excerpt from an interview between publisher Georges Presse and the author.
GEORGES PRESSE: Let me guess. By adrift, you mean that Mrs. Quarterhorse is adrift emotionally.
S. C. MARCHERE: Yes, I suppose so, but she’s also actually adrift. The story takes place almost entirely on a sailboat.
GP: Sailboats don’t drift, they sail.
SCM: They drift when there’s no wind.
GP: This isn’t another story like the last one, is it, where it’s mostly just you and Mrs. Quarterhorse loafing around while nothing happens?
SCM: No, it isn’t. And the last story wasn’t that either. They’re good stories, they’re engaging, they’re dramatic, funny, and exciting. It doesn’t sound to me as if you’ve read the latest book.
GP: I have not. But I did glance at the cover. I have a problem with the argyle sweater Mrs. Quarterhorse is wearing. Doesn’t the story take place in a sweltering fog?
SCM: She put on the sweater before posing for the illustration because she refused to be drawn wearing a tank top.
GP: Why is she standing on someone’s head?
SCM: Oh, I don’t know, it was a metaphor probably, I’ve forgotten. Can you ask me about the story, instead?
GP: Fine. What’s it about?
SCM: It’s about Mrs. Quarterhorse and me trying to extricate ourselves from one perilous situation after another, all the while being menaced by a gang of relentless fanatics.
GP: That sounds more exciting than usual for you. Would you call it an action-packed thrill-ride?
SCM: I would not call it that.
GP: May I call it that for the purposes of promoting the book?
SCM: You forget that potential readers can skim through a few chapters online. They’ll be able to tell that the story has been falsely represented.
GP: Then give me something I can use.
SCM: Well, Mrs. Quarterhorse actually writes one chapter of the book. It is, I think, the high point of the story.
GP: I don’t doubt that.
SCM: Not because she’s a better writer, but because her chapter offers a unique perspective, one I’ve sought since I began the first book.
GP: Which chapter is hers?
SCM: I’m not telling you, or you’ll only read that chapter.
GP: It’s either that or I read none of them.
SCM: Tell me, why would someone who hates reading as much as you become a publisher?
GP: For the last time, I’m not a publisher, I’m a dry cleaner! The presse of Georges Presse is a laundry press. Presse à linge, to be precise.
SCM: Your books do come out wonderfully flat.
Mrs. Quarterhorse Adrift is the fourth book in the Mrs. Quarterhorse series.