Victoria Montes
Events
Book Signing at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, April 12th, 2008
Address: 400 California Avenue
Bakersfield, CA 93309
Date: April 12th, 2008
Time: 9:00am - 1:00pm
Store telephone: 661-631-2575
Kern Adult Literacy Festival of Book: Saturday November 3
Bakersfield College Gymnasium
1801 Panarama Drive
Bakersfield, CA. 93301
(661) 324-3213
Time: 8am - 2pm
Details: Kern Adult Literacy Council invites the public to hear authors speak and visit book vendors
The Tehachapi Branch of Kern Country Libraries: Saturday November 10th
The Tehachapi Library
1001 W. Tehachapi Blvd.
Ste. A-400
Tehachapi, CA 93561
(661) 822-4938
A glimpse through the eye of strangers
Local author’s novel carries a lesson in its tale
By Matthew Chew, Contributing Writer
September 23, 2007
“A protest by Pakistani students outside the United States Embassy in Islamabad turned violent today when the mob broke through the compound’s walls, burning buildings inside and killing one U.S. Marine.”
That lead paragraph could have appeared today in any media outlet, but the story took place on Nov. 21, 1979. It seems little has changed in 27 years.
Local author Victoria Montes was the daughter of a U.S. diplomat to Pakistan in 1979, and she was lucky enough to have departed the country just prior to the attack on the on the embassy. Still, she was deeply affected by the siege, having left many friends behind, including the 19-years-old Marine who lost his life that day defending the compound.
She chronicles much of her experiences as the child of a member of the U.S. diplomatic corps in her new novel, “A Diplomat’s Daughter.”
“It is based on my experiences and the events unfolding at the time I was the daughter of a diplomat,” said Montes. However, she emphasizes that the work is fictional – a novel based on historical events.
She said the story’s main character, like Montes, is the daughter of a U.S. diplomat during the 1970s.
“(It is) a book about different cultures clashing yet understanding each other at the same time.” She added: “It’s about how we are more alike than different.”
She said she wants the book to teach tolerance of different cultures and different people and, perhaps, to provide an understanding of what motivates the feelings of different people.
“It’s about seeing someone else’s view, and I know that is not real popular these days,” said Montes.
Montes spent 10 years abroad in her childhood traveling with her diplomatic father: four years in Nigeria, two in Morocco and her last four in Pakistan.
“I’m using this book as vehicle for giving back,” said Montes who plans on donating $2 from the sale of each book at her book signings to the host venue. Her first signing will take place at the Tehachapi Kern County Library on Sept. 15, from 10:30 a.m. until noon. She is also paying the sales tax for anyone who purchases the book. Montes is hoping to have several more signings in the Tehachapi area and is attempting to arrange one with the Tehachapi VFW where she said she would donate the proceeds of her book sales there to the troops now based overseas.
“To me, it feels like the right thing to do,” she said.
She said the book targets young adults in hopes that they can learn from history, but said all who read the work would benefit from its historical information and the familial lessons learned by the main character and her father.
The book will also be available at many bookstores, including Barnes and Noble and online at Amazon.com.
