Craig C. Charles
I grew up in the quiet shoreline town of Madison, CT, and am a New Englander at heart. After graduating from high school in the 1980s, my sense of adventure lured me westward. For six transformative years, I made my home amidst the deserts of Arizona, earning a B.S. degree from Arizona State University along the way. After a short but wonderful detour to Tucson, I journeyed back east and found myself navigating a twisting path toward my life’s purpose.
My professional trajectory has been anything but linear, leading me to explore a multitude of careers. I worked as an audio engineer in a major NYC recording studio, sold fine wines in an upscale store owned by a wonderful South African man, and even tried my hand as a manufacturer’s representative for a German industrial company. Book publishing was my next stop. I joined Yankee Publishing for a short stint.
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It was amidst the lush expanse of New Hampshire’s Great North Woods and the White Mountains that I discovered my love for the art of writing. Inspired by the unforgettable people I met and the picturesque landscapes, I embarked on a new journey to pen an engaging mystery novel set in New England. Despite this newfound passion, the allure of working with young people was too strong to ignore. My career trajectory shifted yet again, leading me back to school for a Master of Education degree. For the past 25 years, I’ve dedicated myself as an educator, working with students with unique learning needs in NH public schools, all the while honing my craft as a storyteller and researcher.
I am a lifelong learner, perpetually seeking to understand more about the world that surrounds me and the history that needs to be remembered. To quote Norman Cousins, “History is a vast early warning system.” Planet Earth needs more people who can critically think and distinguish between fact and fiction. The answers are in our past; all we have to do is look and remember.
Books
The Chronicle of the Versemaker
The Chronicle of the Versemaker mixes equal parts of A Gentleman in Moscow, The Madonnas of Leningrad, and Doctor Zhivago to create a compelling read of three remarkable people pushed to their limits while navigating the complex interplay of art, politics, and faith during one of history’s most brutal sieges. – Leningrad.
Set against the backdrop of WW2, The Chronicle of the Versemaker transcends the typical “war story” genre. Instead, delving into themes of betrayal, love, and redemption during the siege of Leningrad. At its heart is Joseph Orbeli, tasked with safeguarding the cultural heritage of pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg amidst the chaos of war. Joining forces with Russia’s preeminent poet Anna Akhmatova and famed composer Dmitri Shostakovich, Orbeli confronts both external threats from an advancing German army and internal challenges posed by a cash-strapped Bolshevik regime eager to sacrifice art for industrialization. As the city faces relentless bombing, a long-hidden chronicle emerges, threatening to expose the dark secrets of Tsarist and Bolshevik rule. Its revelation poses a dilemma for the Bolsheviks: protect their propaganda or risk the annihilation of Leningrad.
The North Country Confessional
Family roots, teachings, and tradition permeate Darby Weeks’s existence despite a two decades old decision to walk away from a life of privilege. They have given him the courage to survive under impossible conditions, but the most challenging of them all comes from an unexpected place: his return home. As heinous crimes peppered with riddles begin to plague the North Country, Darby’s reappearance back home sparks an old rivalry between two families, releasing an evil to wreck vengeance upon everything around them. Darby’s proposal of a truce between them not only fails to appease the rival family’s thirst for retribution; it fuels it. And the town of Bretton Woods lies between the two when old passions ignite and set forth new determinations to win an old struggle.
Reunited with an old flame and guided by a pompous blowhard, Darby sets out on a journey to learn the truth about his family’s past and their ancient blood feud with a ruthless industrialist. Darby’s quest leads him all over New England, from the rare books library at Dartmouth College to Author’s Ridge – the final resting place of the literary greats Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Emerson. Darby discovers family he’s never known and an insidious danger lurking in the arms of a rekindled love.