Lynn Hones visits this week to talk about where she met hers.
I love to write about historic
events. If I don’t write about a specific event, I seem to find a way to slip
one into my stories. I love the era of the Civil War. I think it was a horrific
time to go through, and yet, in a way, romantic, too. Not that I’d ever like
that kind of romance, but it showed people what was important in life. The love
of one’s significant other became all encompassing and held most people up
under dire circumstances. Love became the courage that held men up in battle
and raised women up from the pits of despair.
In my book, Those Who Wait, my
character, Victoria Wentworth, was someone I’d love to sit next to on a crisp,
fall day and sip tea with. In the story, she is a woman close to one hundred
years old, who holds the devotion of her first husband, Hugh, in her heart.
Hubert died in World War I, not long after they married, but she never felt the
need or urge to find another mate. She still felt him around her and considered
him her husband even though no one else felt his presence or understood her
passion.
The First World War is of great
interest to me, so I managed to slip it into the story. My grandfather fought
in it and lost his younger brother, who, at the age of sixteen, lied about his
age and joined the army. Not unlike the movie, Legend of the Falls, my grandpa
felt responsible to keep him safe and I always felt he blamed himself for his
death.
I have both wars in my book, not
because I like war, no one does, but as I said before, it tends to bring our
human emotions to new heights and lifts our eyes to things of greater glory. We
are in a war now. Everyday we hear of someone who has been killed or hurt. My
heart breaks every time I hear about a young person taken. I think of the
wives, husbands, mothers, fathers and children they left behind. These mourners
wait for the day when they will see their loved one again. They remember the
little things, not the big things. Smells, a favorite show, a particularly
hearty laugh, all the things that make us individuals, live on in the minds of
grieving family members.
When the Japanese
mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with
gold. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a
history it becomes more beautiful.
Billie Mobayed
That’s how I feel about my
character, Victoria Wentworth. A person with a true heart, brave and forgiving,
someone willing to take what is dealt and although takes the time to forage in
the dark jungle of self pity, and rightly so, comes out of it shining like a
piece of clay removed from the hot, relentless fires of a kiln.
For those with eyes and hearts that
seek the truth, it’s not super models or the Kardashians who are the most
beautiful people in the world, but those who have suffered the most and remain
calm and accepting of that suffering, who carry the true loveliness of life.
The exquisite lines of wear on an old face, and the broken heart of a young
widow struggling to make it alone in a cold world are absolutely stunning in
their heroic countenance and peaceful understanding. These are the people I
like to sit next to on a cool day and talk with, and I guess write about, too.
Next week I'll be hosting Ann Tracy Marr and visiting Lynn Hones at lynnhones.wordpress.com
Be sure to leave a comment for our weekly giveaway and to be entered into our $50 grand prize at the end of out tour!
