Welcome back,
Christine. What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about?
Because my father, brother, and sister are all alcoholics,
and because I also relinquished my first child to adoption, I’ve had my share
of suffering. We all suffer, and God uses pain to draw us closer to Him. I
write stories about people in really tough situations, and through the plot and
characters show my readers that they can trust God implicitly to save them and
help them through their lives
.
Healing from childhood sadness is a biggy for me. Often how
we’ve been treated in our youth affects the choices we make as adults.
But I love to write about the new person those characters
become after they have yielded to Christ. All my characters are flawed and
often at the beginning of a book you want to clobber that character over the
head. Such as the case with my Captain Cam Fraser in Veiled at Midnight.
The Lord is in the business of changing people, though, to
make them like His son, Jesus Christ. I’ve seen this in my brother’s life two
years ago when he gave his life to Christ and chose sobriety.
I love showing those changes in my characters in the hope of
inspiring a reader to hear the gospel of Christ and surrender to that loving
call.
Showing that there is great light and hope for those who put
their hand in Christ’s.
What other books of
yours are coming out soon?
I have two books coming out this 2015. One is from Pelican
Book Group called Sofi’s Bridge, a
light historical romance set in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State in
1913. The spiritual theme of this book is that we cannot save the ones we
love—only Christ can do that.
The other book I am currently finishing is a non-fiction
book about the relinquishment of my child to adoption, and about our painful
reunion twenty years later. This story will be entwined with other adoption
reunion stories, good and bad, to show a balanced view, but most importantly to
illustrate the El Shaddai love of our Heavenly Father.
If you could spend an
evening with one contemporary person (not a family member of yours), who would
it be and why?
I would love to spend an evening with Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth. As a British immigrant to Canada ,
I consider her as the royal sovereign of Canada even though we rule
ourselves. But the present Queen has always struck me as a very decent woman.
Did you know that she claims to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
and often refers to Him during her Christmas messages?
But she’s also so down to earth, when she gets a chance to
put aside her royal duties. She loves animals and takes an avid interest in
gardening.
Her Majesty has served Britain well these past 60 years,
and was set a wonderful example by her parents during WW2 during the Blitz. She
is one of my true-life heroes.
I loved her entrance
into the last Olympics in London .
It revealed her whimsical nature. What
historical person would you like to meet (besides Jesus) and why?
Dr. Ida Scudder, that great American missionary to India .
She built the largest private hospital that is still in existence today in the
south of India .
When I was in India
in 2010 for a short missions’ trip, I was in her area. While on trains
traveling past emerald green rice paddies and banana plantations, I kept
feeling as though I was walking in her shoes. I feature the true-life figure of
Dr. Ida Scudder briefly in Captured by
Moonlight Book 2 in my trilogy.
How can you encourage
authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?
You must realize from the start that becoming a published
writer takes a long, long, long, long, time—for most of us anyway. I started
writing in 1999, my first book wasn’t published until 2011 even though it won
the ACFW Genesis. And even though my books receive critical acclaim in awards they
don’t sell as much as others because I’m with a small press. Here I am on book
6 and I’m still not selling a lot.
But I wouldn’t change a thing. God has been so good to me in
this journey. Each time I want to give up, He does something to encourage me to
keep going. Like I said, here I am looking forward to the publishing of my
sixth novel this year. That’s progress—slow progress, but still wonderful
progress. Hang in there. Keep working, but always, always, always, put the Lord
and your family before your writing.
Tell us about the
featured book.
To me, Veiled at Midnight is a historical
about a terrible time in British/Indian history, but what I also call a Big
Love Story. My historicals are not in the romance genre, but that doesn’t mean
there isn’t some delicious romance in them.
VEILED AT MIDNIGHT—Explosive and Passionate Finale to the
series Twilight of the British Raj
As the British Empire comes
to an end, millions flee to the roads. Caught up in the turbulent wake is
Captain Cam Fraser, his sister Miriam, and the beautiful Indian Dassah.
As this becomes clear to Dassah, she has no option but to
run. Cam may hold her heart—but she cannot let
him break it again.
Miriam rails against the separation of the land of her
birth, but is Lieutenant Colonel Jack Sunderland her soulmate or a distraction
from what God has called her to do?
The 1947 Partition has separated the country these three
love … but can they find their true homes before it separates them forever?
Please give us the
first page of the book.
The last arrow of sunlight shot back from the train’s brass
trim, blinding Cam Fraser. As he narrowed his eyes, he recognized a face at the
edge of his vision. A train whistle shrieked, steam hissed. A young woman in a
green sari mingled within a crowd of Indian passengers. In an instant, his legs
felt encased in steel. Out of that teeming mass on the platform, she stared
back. Her skin the color of milky tea, her hair a thick braid of silk over one
shoulder. The fast sinking sun set her awash in a glow of apricot. Then
crimson. She’d been looking straight at him. Then in the descending dark she
was gone.
“Hadassah.”
His sister, Miriam, gripped him by the elbow. “Hadassah? Cam , you said Dassah.”
“I thought I saw her.” He shook his head, the pain nearly
splitting it in two. He squinted to see into the crowd as the rapid Indian dusk
fell. Ten long years….
With her hand on his shoulder to steady herself, Miriam
strained on her tiptoes to see over the throng. “It’s been simply ages! Cam , are you sure? Where’d you see her?”
At that moment, whistles blew, and conductors ushered
passengers aboard the night train bound for New Delhi . Miriam sent a pleading look over
her shoulder. “Find her, Cam , before the train
leaves.”
He didn’t need any goading from his sister, and while the
steward urged Miriam up the steps of their carriage, he dodged passengers along
the side of the train. Hundreds scrambled to their seats, more well-to-do
Indians to first and second class. At least that injustice had been corrected
somewhat since his childhood. The plush elegance of first class was no longer
assigned to the British alone. Still, hoards of poor mashed into the
cattle-like carriages called fourth. But it wasn’t fourth he’d seen Dassah
standing outside of.
For as long as he could remember, Dassah as a scrawny little
girl tagged after him when he visited the mission. He and Miriam had played
with the muddle of orphans—Hari, Ameera, Zakir—to name a few—enjoying the usual
sort of games, soccer, rugby, marbles. But the last time he’d seen Dassah she’d
been anything but scrawny. Nor had she been a little girl.
Intriguing. How can
readers find you on the Internet?
Please drop by my website http://www.christinelindsay.com/
join me on Twitter
be my pal on Pinterest
“Like” my Facebook Page,
Or follow me on Goodreads
My latest book Veiled at Midnight can be found at
the following sites.
VEILED
AT MIDNIGHT Christian Books.comReaders, leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)
Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.
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I'm wanting to know - can they find their true homes before it separates them forever? Enjoyed meeting you today!
ReplyDeleteDee From NE
Yes, we all do suffer at some point. We need to use this to draw closer to him as I can see you have. I very much enjoyed reading the excerpt. I would love to read a paper back copy of this book in my Fort Loudon, PA home.
ReplyDeleteDeanne
Cnnamongirl(at)aol(dot)com
that cover is so pretty!!!!! yay for another new author :D
ReplyDeleteSierra
Indiana
I love discovering new-to-me authors! It opens my book reading world a little wider! Thank you for the chance to win a fantastic sounding book! Blessings
ReplyDeleteTrixi from Oregon
Oh, India! :-) This sounds like a series I'll be reading. It was refreshing to hear that you don't ignore pain and suffering in your books but use it as an opportunity to show the transforming hope of Jesus Christ. (Thanks for offering the giveaway.)
ReplyDeleteI love reading stories that show the redemptive nature of Christ. I would love to read VEILED AT MIDNIGHT. Thank you for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteCaryl in TEXAS
This is a very beautiful cover. Thank you for the fabulous first page.
ReplyDeleteMary P
QLD AUSTRALIA
I am inspired by Christine's testimony and would love to read one of her books. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!!
ReplyDeletebonnieroof60(at)yahoo(dot)com
Kentucky
We really enjoy Washington State and have travelled there a lot. We have a trip planned in June to the Cascades NP and I would enjoy your new book, Sofi's Bridge, as it's set in the Cascades. sm CA wileygreen1(at)yahoo(dot)com
ReplyDeleteEnter me in your great giveaway!!
ReplyDeleteConway, SC.
please enter me in your wonderful drawing! Shelia Hall from Mississippi
ReplyDeleteHi Christine & Lena! Goodness, have I got goosebumps! I have the first two books in this series and have been looking to get Veiled at Midnight as well so I can read all three together! I think I'm even more excited to get started now after reading that!
ReplyDeleteKristen in OK
kam110476 at gmail dot com