Lyn Cote's Blog, page 55
August 31, 2014
Sarah and Angelina Grimke & Honor Cathwell–Sisters of the Heart
I bet you’re like most people and haven’t heard of Sarah and Angelina Grimke. That is unless you’ve read the latest Oprah Pick, The Invention of Wings by Author Sue Monk Kidd. I discovered the Grimke sisters when I was researching my latest book, out today, Honor, the first in my new “Quaker Brides” series.
Most of my readers are acquainted with my other Quaker series, “The Gabriel Sisters” series and my subsequent series, “Wilderness Brides,” also had Quaker characters. Do you remember Noah Whitmore and his cousin Rachel, the baker?
This month I will be hosting a dialogue with three other authors of other “Plain People,” such as the Amish. Hope you’ll drop by each Monday and learn more about them and their authors.
Sarah and Angelina Grimke lived at the same time as my fictitious heroine, Honor Penworthy Cathwell, and shared the same passion for freeing slaves. Sarah and Angelina weren’t born Quakers like Honor was but they became Quakers and worked for the causes of abolition and women’s rights. Here’s a video that tells much about their work.
I believe that if Honor had been real, she would have run into Sarah and Angelina at many meetings!
Tomorrow I will share more about my latest historical. And begin an extended excerpt. I will be giving away two copies of Honor this week. So be sure to leave a comment this week.
QUESTION: Do you enjoy reading books about Quakers, Amish or Shakers? Why or why not? And have you read any of my Quaker books?–Lyn
Send to Kindle
The post Sarah and Angelina Grimke & Honor Cathwell–Sisters of the Heart appeared first on booksbylyncote.com.
August 24, 2014
British Mystery Author Veronica Heley & The Truth Can Hurt
My guest today is British Mystery author Veronica Heley. She shares about her experiences as a child in England during WWII. Here’s Veronica and THE TRUTH CAN HURT:
Only six years old
I was six when the war started. My three younger sisters and I were sent away and didn’t return home until the bombing stopped. Our mother divided her time between looking after us in the country, and looking after our father back home. He was not strong, but he worked in his office in the daytime and as a fire watcher at night. We hardly ever saw him.
Well, that is not an unusual story. (Lyn adds–”at the time”)
Peace time but not better
We adapted to peacetime, starting new schools, making new friends, but he remained a distant figure in our lives. Too busy, too stressed . . . not well. We children were often farmed out to stay with friends. It never occurred to me to ask why. It was the era of ‘Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies’.
And, ‘Don’t make a noise. Don’t disturb your father.’
A holiday in London,
staying in a hotel – what a treat! Oh, Daddy was seeing a doctor? We waited in the hotel room for a phone call from the hospital, and when it came, my mother burst into tears.
‘It’s good news,’ she told us.
I was thirteen. Her reaction didn’t make sense. ‘Then why are you crying?’
‘Because I’m so happy.’
The Truth Concealed
In fact, she’d been told they’d found an inoperable cancer, but she had decided that we were not to know. Was she right? Should she, perhaps, have risked telling the older children, and kept the younger ones in ignorance?
Back at home, I gradually came to realise that our father was dying, though it was never discussed.
No Tears Allowed
Eighteen months after the operation, he died. The day of the funeral we went off to school as usual. There was no weeping, except in private.
It takes a strong woman to keep secrets in a family. Did our mother keep silence for her sake, or for ours?
To purchase, click here. Murder in Time: An Ellie Quicke British murder mystery (An Ellie Quicke Mystery)
My Mystery Heroine Ellie Quicke
Ellie Quicke is another strong woman, and she can keep quiet when she thinks it best to do so. Sometimes she learns a secret or two, when she’s talking to friends and neighbours about their various problems. She has this dilemma in Murder in Time. Her young housekeeper Vera tells Ellie the secret of her son’s conception, but doesn’t want it publicly known. Now that’s a difficult one because Ellie has to decide if it is right to keep quiet about a rape, or risk it becoming public knowledge. Vera doesn’t want anyone to know about it – is she right to make that decision, or not?
Ellie finds her own way out of this dilemma by choosing to discover what really happened on the night of the rape, and by questioning those involved – who are also anxious that the truth should not come out.
Sometimes it seems right that some people should be told the truth, and others left in happy ignorance . . . but perhaps that’s something to be decided from case to case.
The truth can hurt.”–Veronica
Veronica, you bring up some really good situations and questions about when to reveal the truth or not. It’s never an easy question. I know that when my dh and I were having some marital problems during our childrend’s younger years, I took pains not to let on. I think that was right at that time. If our marriage had ended that would have been enough time to discuss why and what would be happening. Thanks for sharing your story.
QUESTION: SHOULD WE ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH? WHY OR WHY NOT?–Lyn
Online:
http://blog.veronicaheley.com/
Murder in Time (Publishers Weekly: Heley’s prose is sure, her characters well-drawn, and though her tone is light, the plot is satisfyingly dark and sinister.)
Send to Kindle
The post British Mystery Author Veronica Heley & The Truth Can Hurt appeared first on booksbylyncote.com.
August 19, 2014
August 17, 2014
Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, A Quaker Who Changed Lives
My upcoming book, Honor, features a Quaker heroine of that name who is fired with a desire to benefit the lives of others. She was not alone in her time.
Quakers are not as unusual or distinctive now as they were in the 18th and 19th centuries. Then the Quakers were at the forefront of social reforms that most of us take for granted now. Elizabeth Fry made a difference in the lives of thousands. Here is a video that introduces her and her Quaker faith.
If you’d like to learn more about Elizabeth Fry and her faith, clickbooksbylyncote.com.
August 12, 2014
Lyn Interviews Author Leann Harris
Today it’s my pleasure to interview Author Leann Harris who has written for Love Inspired Romance and is now branching out with something new. Here’s Leann:
Tell us a little about your writing and your real life.
I taught until I had babies. When they started school and I was home alone, the desire to write sprang up in me. It was aided when my husband brought home a TI pc, which used DOS, and WordStar. God gave me stories and although I have a mild form of dyslexia, I knew I had to write.
That reminded me of my dh’s first purchase of a PC–yes, it was DOS and was made by ZENITH! Can you imagine?
2-Was there a time in your life when you think God challenged you to become stronger? Please share.
I could start with having babies, for which I was totally unprepared. I remember crying on the way home from the hospital, because now I was supposed to know how to care for this child. It was natural, wasn’t it? I was totally clueless. I felt I did such a rotten job at being a mother, and I feared I’d ruin my daughter’s life. One day when I was praying God brought to mind the verse in Joel 2:25–And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.
With those words, God reassured me my mistakes with my daughter were healed. She wouldn’t be scarred for life and I was freed of guilt. Both child and mother were whole.
3-What is special about your most recent book to you?
When this spy story occurred to me, God said the book wouldn’t sell immediately. There was a perfect time for it and it wasn’t when I wrote it. After my battle with cancer, God brought people into my life to put the book out as an ebook–the cover artist, and the formatter. I got the message now was the time. It was a healing exercise to read the story, do some rewrites and let my brain, after the radiation, form new pathways in my head. Heaven pushed and I walked through the door. “–Leann
To purchase, click here. The Last Lie: Inspirational Romantic Suspense
The Last Lie Blurb
When Catherine Lyons comes home from college she discovers her family has disappeared, vanished, leaving her alone. Fifteen years later when Catherine is on vacation in France, she sees her father getting on a bus, but he’s had a stroke. When she tries to talk to him, the nurse taking care of him won’t allow it. Cat shows up at the clinic the next day, but the people there claim to know nothing of the man. This time Cat isn’t going to give up. Cat learns the name of the nurse she talked to earlier and goes to her apartment and finds her dead.
Colin Montrose is with MI-6 and doesn’t know who this woman is who has stumbled into his operation, but he wants to know. He follows Cat and asks if she murdered the woman. Before she can answer, they hear police sirens and flee. Together, Cat and Colin chase after Cat’s father, trying to discover the truth behind her life and her parent’s lives
Online:
August 10, 2014
Lyn Interviews Book Blogger Parchment Girl
I ran across book blogger Parchment Girl’s blog and thought it would be of interest to my readers. She hasn’t reviewed any of my books but I’m not going to take that personally!
If you’d like to see what Kate Scott, otherwise known as Parchment Girl looks like, here’s the link to my pinterest page.
August 3, 2014
Author Tracy Higley & Her Adventures in Cairo (Egypt, not Illinois!)
My guest today is author Tracy Higley who is a writer who loves exotic settings for her stories and the opportunities to research those! Here’s Tracy:
Traveling to research my novels has been terrific fun!
I’ve been to Greece, Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Italy, and Egypt (some of them several times), in hot pursuit of adventure. Here’s my adventures in Cairo.
One of my favorite memories is of a long night in Cairo.
My husband and I took the
subway to visit an American family living outside the city. After a lovely evening we boarded the subway at about midnight and took it to the last stop, deep in Cairo. From there we tried to flag a bus to our hotel. (In Egypt the “buses” are just vans that fly by. You step out and wave to get them to stop, then ask if they’re going where you want to go.) Many buses later, we still hadn’t found the right one.
An Egyptian woman took pity on us
and explained in broken English that we needed to take a bus to another location to catch the one we wanted. She kindly traveled with us and flagged down the correct bus at the next stop.
My husband jumped into the van, already jammed with Egyptian men, and then another man hopped in behind him, leaving no seats for me. They started to slide the door closed and leave without me! The woman who had been helping us yelled and beat on the van door until they stopped and the last man gave me his seat. He wasn’t about to wait, however, and instead got into the van after me and stood hanging over me while we took off.
Several minutes later it occurred to me that I was
in a van packed with about fifteen Egyptian men, none of whom seemed to speak English, driving through the slums of Cairo, in the middle of the night, with no idea if I was actually on the right bus or not. I’ll admit, the thought “I’m going to die in Cairo” crossed my mind!
But awhile later we saw a street we recognized and did some of our own yelling. (“Hilton! Hilton!) The bus screeched to a stop on the highway, slid its doors open and tossed us out. We high-fived each other in the parking lot, somewhat astonished that we had made it!
To purchase, click here. Awakening
In my new book
That night was only one of my adventures in Egypt, but in my new book, Awakening, the main character, Kallie, has even better adventures than mine! Seven years ago she woke in a New York City museum – badly injured and with no memory of her past.
Now she’s fought to become an expert in Greek culture, but hallucinations and lost moments of time have her questioning her sanity. Against her therapist’s advice, Kallie agrees to join a wealthy philanthropist’s quest for a lost artifact, and as the two follow clues across the globe, from the hot sands of Egypt to the romantic floating city of Venice, their business partnership becomes much more. But the mission has turned deadly and Kallie’s journaling is revealing a story that might be better left untold.”–Tracy
Tracy is much more adventurous than I am and her book sounds amazing.
QUESTION: Have you ever had an experience on one or your trips?
Online:
July 29, 2014
July 27, 2014
Lyn Interviews Author Donita K Paul
My guest today is Author Donita K Paul. She has been my guest before and I’m glad to host her again. Here’s Donita.
1-Share one fun or interesting fact about your life or books.
I used to get in trouble as a child for lying. My parents had me headed the right direction through a lot of hard work on their part. Then I became a Christian, and the Holy Spirit polished up the will to be truthful. When I was in my 40s, I was waylaid by a particular nasty virus and couldn’t work a nine to five job. My mother said, “Why don’t you try writing? You’ve always wanted to.” Thus my mother, at long last, gave me permission to lie. Well, in truth, to create fiction. And God has blessed my endeavors with readers who actually enjoy my tale-spinning.
2-Why do you write?
It may be that I am a control freak. My characters are at my mercy for what happens in their lives and how they will respond. In the pages of a book, I can make it rain, steer the police to the criminal, fix fantastic gourmet food, and erase any phase of the plot that doesn’t turn out as I want it to. However, I think more likely, I write because as I’m exploring characters and plots, I learn more intimately what I believe about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. He is always teaching me.
3-In what ways does your heroine show strength? And where does she draw this strength?
Ida is perhaps the most grounded Christian character I have ever developed. She worships God, depends on Him, and seeks His will. She isn’t without fault. She’s rather proud and blind to her own disobedience. Her strength is in her acceptance of her situation and ultimately that leads her to the acceptance and repentance of the wild winds in her spirit.”–Donita
To purchase, click here.Taming the Wild Wind
Blurb: Ida has always gone her own way like a gentle breeze, drifting through social barriers as if they weren’t even there. Like the breeze, her comings and goings are hard to keep track of, and her family assumes Ida’s activities are the same as the other society debutantes of Pittsburgh. When she responds to the wilder wind of the Oklahoma prairie, she recognizes the untamed quality in her personality. She also comes to realize that even the wild wind has a Master. She submits to the hand of her Creator, her loving Heavenly Father, and allows Him to tame her willful nature.
Online:
