Stepping back in time with Lisa Carter
Crossing paths with wonderful writers who’ve later become good friends has been one of the biggest surprises of this writing journey. Today, I’d love for you to meet the award-winning, super sweet , wonderful historical writer LISA CARTER.
I’m a great believer in treasure hunts. When my husband and I went to Ireland, I searched high and low for obscure Celtic crosses—often found in the middle of a pasture filled with grazing cows. Much to the amusement of Irish farmers, who laughed and shook their red Irish heads at the antics of those crazy Americans.
Then there was last summer when I—read family—researched Beyond the Cherokee Trail. In 1838, the United States government forced the Cherokee to leave their ancestral homeland and marched the Cherokee from Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina to what was then called the Indian Territory. Imagine hundreds of souls trudging through these rugged mountains in what today is still one of America’s last wilderness regions. Six thousand men, women and children would die before reaching modern-day Oklahoma.
One of the great pleasures of researching my books is the people I meet along the way. One such person was Cherokee cultural historian, T.J. Holland who told me of a place deep in the woods where portions of the Tatham Gap Road along which the Cherokee were force-marched yet remained. There, just as T.J. had told us, underneath the bracken and overgrowth of 180 years, we found the deep gouge marks made by the wagon spokes. The ruts are still visible. The trees haven’t quite grown back together even after all this time. Birds trilled in this peaceful forest setting. Through the tree canopy, sunlight dappled the path. We felt an almost holy hush. It was a beautiful, yet slightly haunted place as if the earth itself remembered the pain and agony once perpetrated here.
Bio—Lisa Carter’s novel, Under a Turquoise Sky, won the 2015 Carol Award for Romantic Suspense. Her latest, Beyond the Cherokee Trail is a 4 1/2 star Romantic Times September Top Pick. The author of seven romantic suspense novels and a Coast Guard series, Lisa enjoys traveling to romantic locales and researching her next exotic adventure. A native North Carolinian, she has strong opinions on barbecue and ACC basketball. She loves to hear from readers. http://www.lisacarterauthor.com
