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
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
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.
“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:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mary-Ellis/126995058236Thank 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.comThe Quaker and the Rebel: 1 (Civil War Heroines Series) - Kindle
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