From the back cover:
John Russell's heart aches from the loss of his wife, but the Shenandoah Valley frontiersman needs to marry again for his daughter's sake. At first he believes he has found the right young woman, despite their differences, but his faith falters when time reveals she isn't quite what she seemed. Can he truly love her?
Unlike her disgraced sister, Abigail Williams obeys the Commandments. At least, she thinks herself a Christian until a buckskin-clad newcomer courts her. He treats her kindly but also introduces her to a sermon by the controversial preacher, George Whitefield. Her self-righteousness is shattered, and she wonders about their relationship. If she confesses her lack of faith, will John continue to love her?
The first page of the book:
Chapter One
The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want;
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green; He leadeth me
The quiet waters by.
--Psalm 23:1, The Scottish Psalter, 1650
May 1744
John Russell knelt on the grass that grew over the grave. The
small hickory cross had survived the winter.
On it was carved a name.
His wife’s name.
Janet Russell
(1719-1742)
He had spent
hours over the little cross, finding the best wood, hand carving it,
engraving it,
and rubbing linseed oil into it again and again.
Still, it would
not endure the elements. Wood never did. But her soul was safe with God, and
though he had grieved long and hard, his peace was real, too. The peace that
went beyond all understanding.
He stood.
“She was a good
wife,” Sarah murmured behind him. “And she willna mind you marrying again.”
Please tell us five random things we might not know about
you.
I’m a science teacher by trade, and I’ve taught a lot of
algebra over the years—I’m definitely the nerdy type. I play the flute. I
graduated from the University of Hawaii. I married a “local boy” I met in
Geology 101.
Why
did you choose to write this book?
A
lot of things came together. My friend Douglas Bond has written a number of HF
books both for adults and young teens, and his writing inspired me. I thought,
“It’s possible to write an engaging story without sacrificing spiritual truth.”
I also realized that there were few stories written in this time period. One of
Douglas Bond’s (for juveniles) and Jack Cavanaugh’s The Colonists come to mind. But nothing exactly like I wanted to
write.
What one thing about writing do you wish non-writers would
understand?
The huge amount of labor that goes into a book you can read
in two days. Especially a genre like historical fiction. Some writers have no
problem writing a thousand words a day, every day. But sometimes I spend more
time researching that actually writing. Then you come to “The End,” but that’s
only the beginning. Next comes the rewrite, the editing, and so forth.
What is the toughest test you've faced as a writer?
My debut novel was hard (A
Twisted Strand). I’d already published a nonfiction book (Sam Houston’s Republic) but fiction is
different. The rules are different. Sometimes I felt like a grown-up going to
first grade, and I like to think of that story as my Creative Writing 101. From
conception to publication it took four years.
What
do you hope readers to take away from your novel?
I
want readers to get a sense of what it was like to live in that time period, in
every regard: daily life, cultural differences, the impact of the Great
Awakening, and even things like the flora and fauna of the time period. Did you
know that buffalo often wandered into the Shenandoah Valley? But most of all,
I’d like the reader to come away with uplifting and challenging scriptural
truth. It’s why I added the subtitle. I want readers to know upfront that it’s
not a romance per se, it’s something much more, which is why it doesn’t fit
into the “romance” genre.
What
accomplishment(s) are you most proud of, writing-related or not?
Besides my kids
and grandkids? LOL Actually, I am happy about “placing” at the Selah
Awards—tied for second place in the historical/biblical fiction category. It is
gratifying for a relatively untested writer.
What do you do for fun when not writing?
Read!
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a sequel to The Shenandoah Road. It’s set roughly ten years later, during the
time period of the French and Indian War. I won’t give anything away, except
this: I decided to create a Shawnee point of view character in addition to the
main two. I have really loved that aspect of the story.
Where else can readers find you online?
Bio
Lynne Tagawa is an author, editor, educator, and best of all,
grandma to four. She loves to writes quality fiction with solid gospel content.
Her debut novel, A Twisted Strand, is
contemporary romantic suspense, but she thinks she’s found a true home in
historical fiction. Currently she’s writing the sequel to The Shenandoah Road: A Novel of the Great Awakening.
Back cover blurb
John Russell’s heart aches from the loss of his wife, but the
Shenandoah Valley frontiersman needs to marry again for his daughter’s sake. At
first he believes he has found the right young woman, despite their differences
in background, but his faith falters when time reveals she isn’t quite what she
seemed. Can he truly love her? And what about his own failings?
Unlike her disgraced sister, Abigail Williams obeys the
Commandments. At least, she thinks herself a Christian until a buckskin-clad
newcomer courts her. He treats her kindly but also introduces her to a sermon
by the controversial preacher, George Whitefield. Her self-righteousness is
shattered, and she wonders about their relationship. If she confesses her lack
of faith, will John continue to love her?
