THE QUAKER AND THE REBEL - Mary Ellis - One Free Book

Welcome back, Mary. Why did you become an author?

I couldn’t not become an author. Stories constantly percolated in my head and spilled out at rather inappropriate times. If I didn’t start putting them down on paper, and then typed into my laptop, people would have definitely started to worry.

If you weren’t an author, what would be your dream job?

Truly, I’ve worked so many jobs over the years this is the only dream job for me.

Me, too, but I believe all those jobs have made me a better author. If you could have lived at another time in history, what would it be and why?

I guess I would have enjoyed living in colonial America, but I’m certain it looks much quainter than it actually was.

What place in the United States have you not visited that you would like to?

I would love to visit Alaska, but definitely in the summer. The variety of wildlife up there is incredible.

I’d love to go to Alaska, too. James served in Alaska in the army before we met, and he’s wanted to take me, but we haven’t made it yet. And yes, it would have to be in the summer. How about a foreign country you hope to visit?

I would love to visit Provence, Italy. I’m enchanted by the mountainous countryside. I don’t speak a word of Italian, but Italy is definitely on my bucket list!

What lesson has the Lord taught you recently?

Patience, patience, patience. When I trust in Him, it’s truly magnificent how things fall into place. It’s hard though sometimes to sit back and wait.

Tell us about the featured book.

What happens when an Underground Railroad conductor falls in love with a man loyal to the Confederacy? Emily Harrison’s life has turned upside down. At the beginning of the Civil War, she bravely attempts to continue her parents’ work in the Underground Railroad until their Ohio farm is sold in foreclosure. Now alone and without a home, she accepts a position as a governess with a doctor’s family in slave-holding Virginia. Though it’s dangerous, she decides to continue her rescue efforts from there.

Alexander Hunt, the doctor’s handsome nephew, does not deny a growing attraction to his uncle’s newest employee. But he cannot take time to pursue Emily, for Alexander isn’t what he seems—rich, spoiled, and indolent. He has a secret identity. He is the elusive Gray Wraith, a fearless man who fights the war from the shadows, stealing Union supplies and diverting them to the Southern cause.

The path before Alexander and Emily is complicated. The war brings betrayal, entrapment, and danger. Amid their growing feelings for each other, can they trust God with the challenges they face to provide them with a bright future?

I started reading the book late yesterday without realizing it was today’s interview. Your writing is amazing, and the first two chapters captured me. But please give us the first page of the book for my readers.

Bennington Island, in the Ohio River, Summer 1861

“Miss Harrison?” the soft voice queried. “Please come in and take a seat.”

Emily, startled from her open-mouth perusal of the painted ceiling, stared in the direction of the voice. She thought she’d been shown to an empty room to wait, but a wren-sized woman sat near the windows in a wicker chair with wheels. She hurried to the woman’s side, bobbed her head and then bent her knee in a small curtsey. “Mrs. Bennington,” she said. Never in her life had Emily done such a thing. She’d only seen a curtsey in theater presentations, but the astounding elegance of the house seemed to warrant one.

“Oh, my, what lovely manners you have,” the woman said, patting a chair beside her.

“Thank you, ma’am,” she said, perching on the edge. Emily judged her to be around thirty-five, younger than her mother had been, with an unlined forehead, green eyes and dusky blond hair. Delicate, that’s what Mama would have called her.

“Your letters of reference from Mrs. Ames and Miss Turner glowed with praise of your accomplishments. We’re glad you’ve come to our backwater island to polish the rough edges off our girls. They both attended grammar school in Parkersburg for six months of the year and we’ve had tutors here, but now they require refinement. They still run wild through the garden like savages. Annie, especially, needs to learn deportment.” She inhaled a deep breath and sighed. “I am aware of your loss, Miss Harrison. And in time I hope you will come to regard us as your family.”

Annoyed by the statement, Emily drew back from the lavender-scented aristocrat. “I’m afraid the situation will be temporary, Mrs. Bennington, since I’m engaged to be married. When my fiancé returns from Washington, I shall return to Marietta.”

Her voice sounded haughty, but she couldn’t help herself. From the moment the flatboat rounded the turn and she viewed Bennington Plantation, she’d been on unfamiliar ground. A carriage had been waiting at the dock to drive her to the mansion. Then an elderly black gentleman in finer clothes than any owned by her father opened the door, bowed, and ushered her into a foyer larger than her entire house. Pink and cream marble lay beneath her feet while the crystal chandelier overhead cast harlequin patterns on the polished steps to the second floor. The butler had to wrestle her portmanteau away as she stood gaping at her surroundings. The butler spoke perfectly-inflected Queen’s English without a trace of the slang she’d expected from a slave. He was a slave, wasn’t he? She’d followed him to this salon, and here she was—behaving rudely to her new employer without other options for her future.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Readers can find me at:

www.maryellis.net 

http://www.maryeellis.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mary-Ellis/126995058236

Thank you, Mary, for sharing this new book with us.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
The Quaker and the Rebel - Christianbook.com
The Quaker and the Rebel (Civil War Heroines Series) - Amazon.com
The Quaker and the Rebel: 1 (Civil War Heroines Series) - Kindle

Christian Book Store

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