BELONGING - Robin Lee Hatcher - Free Book

What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about?

I suppose the one theme that is woven through all of my books is God’s grace. I have been such a recipient of it just flows out of me naturally, no matter what else the story is about. Themes that are more specific to individual books are usually direct results of what God has recently taught me or is currently teaching me as I write. I am often not aware of a book’s theme until I’m done writing it.

What other books of yours are coming out soon?

I’m delighted to announce that a number of my older titles that have been out of print for some time are now or will soon be available in digital editions (Kindle, Nook, iBook, etc.).

Firstborn, Greenbrier Publishing (originally from Tyndale)

Beyond the Shadows, Greenbrier Publishing (originally from Tyndale)

The Forgiving Hour, Zondervan (originally from WaterBrook)

Whispers from Yesterday, Zondervan (originally from WaterBrook)

The Shepherd’s Voice, Zondervan (originally from WaterBrook)

In addition, I have a new historical romance coming out from Women of Faith Fiction in February 2012 called Heart of Gold. The setting is in an Idaho gold camp during the Civil War.

A really good lineup of things to read. If you could spend an evening with one contemporary person (not a family member of yours), who would it be and why?

Beth Moore. I love her teaching style, and I think it would be great fun to sit with her and just talk about the Lord and all He has done in our lives.

I've been in the studio audience when she and her husband were on the James Robison show. What historical person would you like to meet (besides Jesus) and why?

Abraham Lincoln. The more biographies and histories I’ve read about him, the more I’ve come to admire him.

How can you encourage authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?

Publishing is a business of rejection, so first of all I would say, get used to it. Second, if you feel that God has called you to write, then write. There may be other reasons than being published for that call. Obedience is more important than anything else. Write and leave the results in His hands.

I so agree with you on that, Robin. Tell us about the featured book.

Belonging is the first book in the Where The Heart Lives series. The series will follow the adult lives of three orphans who were sent west on an orphan train as they seek to reunite with their siblings.

Here’s the blurb for Belonging:

Can two bitter pasts make one sweet future?

In the high desert town of Frenchman’s Bluff, Idaho, Felicia Kristoffersen has set out to create a future for herself that is better than her painful past. Alone in the world with only her faith to sustain her, she must prove herself as this tiny community’s new school teacher. She cannot, must not, fail. But there are those who never wanted her there to begin with.

Five years after the death of his wife, local merchant Colin Murphy cares about just one thing: raising his daughter, Charity. Colin wants to give her the educational advantages he never had. The new schoolmarm’s inexperience doesn’t sit well with him, and if this teacher up and marries like the last one did, Charity’s heart will be broken once again.

A woman who hasn’t known love. A man who lost the love he had.

In the midst of the wide, sage-covered plains, each is about to discover that life’s bitterest circumstances truly can work together for good.

Sounds like a book I could really get into. Please give us the first page of the book.

Since I don’t have a copy of the book as I answer this, I don’t know how much is the first page. This may be more like two pages:

PROLOGUE

Chicago, Illinois, January 1881

Icy tentacles reached through the thin walls of the tenement building where Elethea Brennan lay dying, her three children standing at her bedside. There was Hugh, thirteen and the only boy, as handsome as his father ever was, with his dark hair and eyes. Next to him was ten-year-old Felicia, the quiet bookish Brennan, her blue eyes seeming to understand far too much. And next to her was Diana, at six, the youngest, and the only one to inherit her mother’s red hair and green eyes.

Oh, how she loved them, these three. Loved them more than she’d ever thought possible when she married Sweeney Brennan and came with him to Chicago to build a new life. How she hated to leave them. She was ready for heaven, but it broke her heart all the same to say goodbye to the ones who’d made life worth living.

It took enormous effort, but somehow she managed to lift her left arm and take hold of her son’s hand. “Promise … me.”

Hugh, still a boy but with the suggestion of manhood on his beloved face, leaned close. “Promise what, Mum?”

“See … Dr. Cray … Leave … Chicago.”

“Where should we go?”

“Away.”

“What about Dad?”

She closed her eyes but didn’t release his hand. How did a mother tell a boy of thirteen that his father would never return to them, that his father loved his whiskey more than his wife or his son and daughters? But she didn’t have to tell him. Hugh was a bright boy. He knew the truth, even if he didn’t want to accept it.

Elethea wanted a better life for her children. Perhaps her death could give them one. Dr. Cray had explained to her how poor and orphaned children of Chicago were being placed with families in the West, families who promised to care for them and love them and even to see that they were educated. There was little hope for the likes of Sweeney Brennan’s offspring in Chicago. Here, they were just three more street urchins who would soon be completely alone in the world.

“Promise … me … Hugh,” she whispered.

“I promise, Mum. I promise I’ll go to Dr. Cray.”

Drawing a deep breath, she forced her eyes open one last time and drank in the beauty of her children. It mattered not that they were dressed in tattered, worn clothes or that their faces could use a good washing. They were beautiful and perfect to their mother.

The darkness that had lingered around the edges of the room began to close in.

“Don’t ever … be forgettin’ … that I … love you … me dear ones.”

I know I’ll love it. Can’t wait to hold it in my hands and dive in. How can readers find you on the Internet?

My web site is: http://www.robinleehatcher.com

My blog is: http://blog.robinleehatcher.com

My Facebook Page is: http://www.facebook.com/robinleehatcher

My Twitter Profile is: http://twitter.com/#!/robinleehatcher


It's always a pleasure to have you stop by my blog, Robin. Thank you.


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