Betty's (Little Basement) Garden [Paperback]

Laurel Dewey (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 12, 2012

Betty Craven is the epitome of elegance, class, and perfection. Her prize-winning garden is the envy of her neighbors; her impeccable manners and epicurean skills have made her the “hostess with the most-est.”

But all is not what it seems.

The truth is that this fifty-eight year old’s seemingly idyllic world is quickly disintegrating. Widowed and left with a modest income, Betty’s Colorado gourmet chocolate shop has gone belly up, leaving her floundering for purpose and meaning. Tied to a house in disrepair that she can’t sell, and mired in unrelenting grief for her dead son, this patriotic former Texas pageant queen comes to the shocking and debilitating conclusion that her entire life has been wasted. As that realization hits her hard between her well-manicured brow, the rebellious spirit that Betty has silently kept under lock and key, explodes to the surface.

When that happens, her staunch conservative world changes drastically, causing Betty to question every belief and opinion she’s ever had. The path she chooses is paved with secrecy, eccentric characters, toe-curling love, life-changing events, and a connection to her unconventional garden that she never could have imagined. No matter how hard she tries, Betty Craven will never be the same again.

Author Laurel Dewey — known for her gritty crime thriller series featuring Detective Jane Perry — has created a dynamic, funny, romantic, heartbreaking and controversial novel that will both enlighten readers and challenge them with its unique and timely subject matter.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“BETTY'S (LITTLE BASEMENT) GARDEN is a wonderful novel full of characters we see every day…. This would be an excellent book for a reading group or a book club. There is life and laughter, love and friendships, and a spark of the paranormal that brings it all together.” – Blogcritics

“Compelling, emotional, at times humorous, controversial, heart wrenching, inspirational, and definitely leaves the reader confronting one’s own personal viewpoint after the last word is read. Highly recommend!” – CMash Loves to Read

“Funny and warm and wonderful. Get to know Betty; you'll love her.” – Lis Carey’s Library

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

An interview with
Laurel Dewey

1. Your new novel, BETTY'S (LITTLE BASEMENT) GARDEN, takes on the controversial issue of medical marijuana. What drew you to this hot-button topic?

I started out completely against medical marijuana. I bought into all the propaganda about how dangerous it was, the whole “gateway” theory, etc. When medical marijuana dispensaries began popping up all over Colorado and in the small town where I live, I was quick to joke about them to friends. But then through a series of odd events, I happened to meet someone who used medical marijuana to help with her nausea during chemo. This woman was very low-key, fairly conservative and the last person I ever thought would use the herb. She told me that none of the drugs worked (even the synthetic marijuana pill, Marinol) the way that the plant worked. She told me she was finally able to function during the day, to get a full eight hours of sleep each night and that her stress level went from a “10” to a manageable “4.” From observing her, it was obvious to me that marijuana was incredibly helpful and far from dangerous.

Since I’m as much a researcher as I am a writer, I spent almost four months reading everything I could on the plant, watched hours of video, spoke with numerous medical marijuana patients (whose average age was around 55), and quickly began to value this plant that I’d mocked most of my adult life. The more I dug into the subject, the more I encountered a lot of conservative people using marijuana who were terrified of the stigma around the plant. They were truly afraid of “being found out” even though they were getting relief of their symptoms and they were completely legal with their medical marijuana card. I think that was the birth of Betty Craven’s character. She’s the “fish out of water” as well as the opposite of the stereotypical “stoner persona” that is usually put forth in books or movies. That alone was a compelling idea to explore.

2. As a novelist, you’re best known for your crime thrillers featuring Detective Jane Perry. Why did you choose to work the debate over medical marijuana into a stand-alone work of fiction rather than into an installment in your popular mystery series?

I never really considered featuring a medical marijuana storyline into a Jane Perry novel. Jane’s stories are much darker and I wanted to create a novel around the medical marijuana subject that was light, fun, entertaining but also emotionally charged and transforming. I also thought it was really important to create a main character that was fairly innocent about the world and could play against the theme. Jane Perry is anything but innocent. And, truthfully, I needed a break from the rigors of writing another intense Jane Perry novel. Oddly enough, BETTY'S (LITTLE BASEMENT) GARDEN was much more of an emotional ride than I ever thought it would be. People can get very passionate and irrational around the subject of medical marijuana. I finally stopped telling people about the book I was writing because I was usually met with a scowl and a comment like, “Oh, God! Why are you bothering with that subject?!” But that just gave me more “author ammo” when it came to creating realistic characters in the book who had “real life” arguments against marijuana.

3. Betty’s (Little Basement) Garden introduces a wonderfully appealing and complicated heroine, Betty Craven. Was your character inspired by any woman in particular? Would you describe Betty as your alter ego?

There is definitely some of me in Betty Craven. But the character is actually based on two other women I know. I’m nowhere near as refined and precise as Betty Craven. I’m not a towering, buxom blond from Texas with a pageant history. But I guess I share Betty’s guts, determination and fears…especially her fear of failure and a life lost to wasted time. It’s probably no coincidence that I started writing the novel shortly after my fiftieth birthday. Like a lot of people who hit the big 5-0, they realize that youth is faded and you probably have more years behind you than ahead of you. That can be a sucker punch if you let it. Betty Craven experiences these same emotions and regrets and is essentially emotionally saved when she becomes a marijuana caregiver and grower.

4. Many people—especially people of a certain age, like Betty—think of marijuana as a “gateway drug” to hardcore narcotics and self-destructive addiction. How do the facts on marijuana defy this notion? In your opinion, has marijuana gotten a bad rap?

Since I used to believe in the “gateway theory” myself, I needed to see if that was truly replicated in life or just put out there to scare people. The whole “gateway drug” idea is founded on the idea that if you start with marijuana, you’re going to want or crave harder drugs like heroin, meth, cocaine, etc. But if you really start to investigate the types of people who move from marijuana to hardcore drugs, you begin to see emotional patterns within them as well as environmental issues that create their need to escape. I have a line in the novel, “What came first? The pain or the pill” The pain—whether it’s emotional or physical or both—always comes first. Very often, it’s the resolved, deep-seated, suppressed pain that motivates someone to start using harder drugs. It’s NOT the plant; it’s the person who uses it. It’s like blaming a car for an accident instead of blaming the driver. If the person begins using marijuana to escape from a stressful or abusive life, that’s different than the medical marijuana patient who is using it to alleviate pain and reduce stress. It’s the INTENT that’s important here. Is the intent to relax and relieve anxiety or is the intent to get messed up and be unable to function? I can guarantee you that the intent of a medical marijuana patient is the former. Blaming an herb that has documented healing potential for being a “gateway” to harder drugs is just more propaganda, in my opinion. When the herb was legal before 1937 and available at the corner drug store, there wasn’t any panic over marijuana leading to morphine.

There are always going to be people out there who can’t say “no” and, for whatever reason, become addicted to various substances. If life gets to be too much for those who use marijuana recreationally, there’s a good chance that they will experiment with pills, pharmaceuticals and hardcore drugs. What about tobacco, alcohol and even sugar as “gateway” drugs? I realize that anyone who is addicted to cigarettes, drinking and consuming 32 oz. sodas would probably be insulted by that reference. But isn’t it all about sedating the mind and escaping from a life that you find painful, miserable, boring or pointless?

Ironically, for many medical marijuana patients I talked to when I researched the subject, the herb was their “exit drug” from powerful painkillers like Oxycodone or the array of sleeping pills and anxiety drugs they used to be addicted to. One patient told me marijuana was her “exit drug” from meth. Another patient told me that marijuana was his “exit drug” from alcohol and that he was able to quit a lifetime of alcoholism by using the herb. Did he just replace one “drug” for another? I can’t answer that. But I do know that he’s a much happier and well-adjusted person now than he was before he used marijuana.

5. Since we’re on the subject of facts, would you tell us about your research for BETTY'S (LITTLE BASEMENT) GARDEN? Did you interview physicians or other medical experts? Did you get to know actual cannabis growers, caregivers, and patients?

I interviewed two doctors who issued “recommendations” to patients who wanted to obtain their “red cards” (medical marijuana license) in Colorado. Obviously, these doctors were pro-marijuana, although one was much more so than the other. That one told me she was putting together a database of stories her patients shared with her about their positive experiences with the herb and hoped to one day turn it into a book. I did discuss the subject informally with other physicians but their responses were more flippant and dismissive. In fact, some of the comments they made showed that they were buying into the propaganda just like I used to do. Dr. Robert Melamede—who I did not interview—is a wealth of information when it comes to the science of marijuana. I poured over his published studies and listened to hours of his interviews on the subject.

I also spent a lot of time with growers, caregivers and as many patients as I could. It wasn’t easy getting some growers to agree to let me see their operations because a lot of them prefer to remain low profile. But I did get to see three indoor grows and one beautiful outdoor grow that was stunning. Walking around that operation was beyond incredible. Some of the plants looked more like Christmas trees, towering as high as seven feet, with a width of about five feet. I can’t imagine the work that goes into just one of those plants when it’s time to harvest. The time I spent with caregivers and patients really influenced how I crafted the supporting characters in the novel. Each patient in the book that Betty helps is based on real people I talked to. And these included, doctors, nurses, lawyers, accountants and other individuals who were anything but your typical “loser” or “stoner” persona.

6. What would you like readers on both sides of the medical marijuana debate to take away from BETTY'S (LITTLE BASEMENT) GARDEN?

More than anything, I want readers to put the brakes on the hysteria that surrounds this plant. There’s been too much propaganda, disinformation, outright lies,...

Product Details

• Paperback: 450 pages
• Publisher: Story Plant, The (June 12, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1611880386
• ISBN-13: 978-1611880380
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #445,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing & Thought Provoking April 22, 2012

By CMash

Format:Paperback

Betty's (Little Basement) Garden by Laurel Dewey
Published by The Story Plant
ISBN-10: 1611880386
ISBN-13: 978-1611880380
At the request of The Story Plant (Spread The Word Initiative, an ARC EBook edition was provided, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.

Synopsis (from publisher): Betty Craven is the epitome of elegance, class, and perfection. Her prize-winning garden is the envy of her neighbors; her impeccable manners and epicurean skills have made her the "hostess with the most-est."

But all is not what it seems.

The truth is that this fifty-eight year old's seemingly idyllic world is quickly disintegrating. Widowed and left with a modest income, Betty's Colorado gourmet chocolate shop has gone belly up, leaving her floundering for purpose and meaning. Tied to a house in disrepair that she can't sell, and mired in unrelenting grief for her dead son, this patriotic former Texas pageant queen comes to the shocking and debilitating conclusion that her entire life has been wasted. As that realization hits her hard between her well-manicured brow, the rebellious spirit that Betty has silently kept under lock and key, explodes to the surface.

When that happens, her staunch conservative world changes drastically, causing Betty to question every belief and opinion she's ever had. The path she chooses is paved with secrecy, eccentric characters, toe-curling love, life-changing events, and a connection to her unconventional garden that she never could have imagined. No matter how hard she tries, Betty Craven will never be the same again.

My Thoughts and Opinion: Where do I start? There were so many components within this book. A fictional story, an extraordinary amount of compiled research, factual statistics, educational, instructions; personal development, values, moral, social, and some governmental issues, life lessons, friendships, relationships, principal passions, and even a very little bit of spiritual/paranormal. This is definitely recommended and a must read if you are in a book club due to the multiple and vast discussions that this book will trigger. I tend to write reviews that are concise but I just can't with this book and I apologize in advance and will try to touch upon all the aspects that this book offers.

The author and the fictional side: I was first introduced to this author during a Partners In Crime Tours, reading her Jane Perry novelettes, Unrevealed and Promissory Payback, which I enjoyed. This book is so different compared to those stories, premise wise, about a topic that has many pros, cons, truths and fallacies but the writing style the same. Solid, fluid, descriptive, life like character development with palpable emotions, flaws and relatability. The settings likewise. It was very easy to create my imagery due to the depictions and narrative picture the author conveyed with her written words. The actual plot and story line will definitely have the reader turning the pages.

As a former nurse, I found the subject matter quite interesting, to the point that due to the accumulation of detailed facts and gathering of related material evidence, it was also an education. A lesson, that created some very personal thought provoking questions, a different mind set and possibly a change of personal opinion.

The plot with reality slant: Engrossing!! Are we being told the truth by our government, lobbyists, politicians, pharmaceutical companies? With the information, that the author has done an enormous amount of research on and shares with the reader, makes one wonder? This is one part of the book that I can't stress enough. Ms. Dewey, definitely did her homework with the collection of facts. However, at times, it was so minutely described and technical that, and this is my opinion only, that it took on a bit of a non fictional story.

With that being said, the overall book was compelling, emotional, at times humorous, controversial, heart wrenching, inspirational, and definitely leaves the reader confronting one's own personal viewpoint after the last word is read. Highly recommend!!

My Rating: 4

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A rare gem June 14, 2012

By Mr Flibble

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Upon first hearing about the book I was worried it would be the stereotypical cannabis story but I was pleasantly surprised by it time and time again. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down.

With deep characters and multiple messages ranging from questioning governments to loving and appreciating nature to challenging yourself and your beliefs, to just pure and simple love, this book has now become one of my favorite stories ever written. It has exactly the messages that the world needs right now.

I can not recommend this book enough to anyone questioning their purpose in life or just curious to broaden their horizons.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars TERRIFIC!! August 27, 2012

By Regina E. Hott

Format:Kindle Edition

Okay, don't laugh, but I really need to start finishing the synopsis... or maybe not. If I'd have actually read the synopsis or review I never would have picked this book up and thus would have missed a very powerful book completely out of my normal reading sphere.
What I didn't like: I was completely thrown off by the fact that this book is centered around growing cannabis. That being said it was done in such a way that it was more of a history and gardeners guide but if you are utterly against the use of cannabis for any reason - this isn't the book for you.
What I liked: This was a tremendously powerful book. I cried tears of joy and sadness as I read and can only pray that I've done (or am doing) what it took Betty so many years to do.

This book is a keeper!!