rt - Home

The Disappointment Room
By
DEE PHELPS

River City Publishing

Agent Representation:

Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency

   IMAGINE one woman's wicked behavior affecting eight generations of her family.
The past collides with the present in this exciting tale that begins in 1844 on Coffin Point Plantation, Beaufort, South Carolina. Beginning with Charles Knight, locked away in a Disappointment Room, with only Munday, his black nanny, and Helen, her daughter, for companions, the Knight family sage is set in motion. THE DISAPPOINTMENT ROOM is a gripping story of human bondage and the relentless search for freedom - freedom from ghosts, secrets, terrors, and the atrocities of the past. But the past keeps coming back.  A fast-paced, exciting read infused with the Gullah culture, voodoo, slavery, and the politics of the antebellum and contemporary South.

The period detail, poignant story and credible characters make this a pleasurable, satisfying read. - Kirkus Reviews

A haunting and fascinating first novel of a boy hidden in an attic room in a Carolina plantation home by a conspiring mother whose personal ambitions outweigh her love for her family.  - Pat Conroy-- Bestselling author of The Prince of Tides, The great Santini and South of Broad.

A compelling saga of the past meeting the present, told in the author's distinctive voice. - Jeffery Deaver--International number one bestseller of The Bone Collector, The Kill Room and XO.

Phelps' amazing first novel is a spellbinding saga of a young man imprisoned in a hidden room in a South Carolina plantation where dark family secrets, slavery, and the Gullah culture of superstition come to life on the page. Don't miss this one!"   - Cassandra King-- New York Times Bestselling author of The Sunday Wife, The Same Sweet Girls and Moonrise.
The Disappointment Room is a fast-paced novel infused with the Gullah culture, slavery, and politics in the antebellum South. A young boy from a Lowcountry plantation family is confined by his politically ambitious mother to a secret room in the house on Coffin Point Plantation. is quest for personal freedom parallels those of the slaves who travel with him on a difficult journey north on the Underground Railroad to freedom. The Disappointment Room is a powerful debut from author Dee Phelps. "
- Mary Alice Monroe--New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Girls.

This is a fast-paced novel that had me reading as fast as I could. Character development is deep and rich. It is filled with drama, from life-affirming to downright murderous. Wonderful surprises are plentiful. In a saga of Family that spans the centuries - back and forth - from antebellum times to the present, Phelps explores the best and worst of the human condition with powerful prose that folds the reader into the hearts and minds of her characters. The writing is beautifully descriptive: I felt the heartbeats and hoof beats of a dark forest chase; I almost smelled the air of the scenes; I could see the furniture and the trees. Family secrets, political intrigue, jet planes, the civil war experience from novel perspectives, and yeah you betcha there’s voodoo too. Oh boy you are all going to like this one! - Timothy Clair, Columbia, MD

In "The Disappointment Room," author Dee Phelps takes the reader on an exciting journey, one that begins at the antebellum home of a South Carolina politician on Coffin Point Plantation. In the story, a young Charles Knight is confined to an attic room by his mother, a scheming and narcissistic woman, who believes he has developmental problems. Her ambitions for her husband's political future deem that she keep the boy out of public sight, less the boy reflect negatively upon her husband. Phelps explores the complicated life of a young man in his predicament but in difference to his mother's perception of him, he is intelligent and develops normally, and seeks the right to determine his own destiny in life. Combined with the wise guidance of his caretaker, Charles overcomes numerous obstacles in his path to escape the horrid conditions of his imprisonment while masterfully leading the slaves along the road north to Washington and then Boston to a land of freedom for himself and the slaves. The author's writing is rich and colorful, combining all the elements of mystery and intrigue into a mercurial plot that maintains the reader's interest and fascination throughout the book.
- John B. Culpepper, M.D.

Appearances and Book Signings

August 13 Bluffton Rotary Club

August 22-24 Killer Nashville, Nashville, Tennessee
SILVER FALCHION AWARD
Best First Novel. 2014


August 29-31 Decatur Book Festival
Decatur, GA