The Frasier Entries are in! Now all we can do is sit down, cuddle up with our bags of popcorn, and wait for the results. In the meantime though, My Book Therapy will spend Fridays introducing you to the work of our all-powerful judges.
This week we are pleased to introduce you to Tracey Bateman and her new book: The Widow of Saunders Creek.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the story?
A:
A grief that knows no boundary.
A love without any limit.
A need that doesn’t end at death.
Corrie Saunders grew up in a life of privilege. But she gave it all up for Jarrod, her Army husband, a man she knew was a hero when she vowed to spend her life with him. She just didn’t expect her hero to sacrifice his life taking on an Iraqi suicide bomber.
Six months after Jarrod’s death, Corrie retreats to the family home her husband inherited deep in the Missouri Ozarks. She doesn’t know how to live without Jarrod—she doesn’t want to. By moving to Saunders Creek and living in a house beloved by him, she hopes that somehow her Jarrod will come back to her.
Something about the house suggests maybe he has. Corrie begins to wonder if she can feel Jarrod’s presence.
Jarrod’s cousin Eli is helping Corrie with the house’s restoration and he knows that his dead cousin is not what Corrie senses. Eli, as a believing man and at odds with his mystically-oriented family members, thinks friendly visits from beyond are hogwash. But he takes spirits with dark intentions seriously. Can he convince Corrie that letting go of Jarrod will lead to finding her footing again— and to the One she can truly put her faith into?
Q: What is one piece of writing advice you could give to the MBT Audience?
A: In writing The Widow of Saunders Creek, I drew heavily on three things: 1.) Since it’s heavy on the supernatural, I had to stay closely tuned in to God, His voice, His protection, and His peace. 2.) My emotional response based on my husband’s deployment and my own fear and imaginings over how my heart would respond if my husband didn’t come home. 3.) The reality of witchcraft and ghost sightings in our culture.
So if I were going to give advice to up and coming writers I’d say first of all, Make God central to your life and let him Guide you as you write, be emotionally driven by your characters, and keep it real. Those three things will make for characters that draw your reader into the story.
Q: Do you have a story excerpt to share?
A: Prologue
An easy spring wind blew through my open Jeep, lifting my hair and ruffling the cloth seat covers as I turned off the interstate and traveled east toward Saunders Creek. It was the last leg of my nine-hour drive from Dallas to the tiny, unassuming Ozarks town that bore my husband’s family name.
Towering oaks, full maples, and evergreens hugged the narrow, winding road in a way that even a few months ago might have felt intrusive. But today the trees seemed to embrace me, welcoming me.
Déjà vu came over me, as though the scene before me came out of my own childhood memories instead of recollections of stories my husband told about growing up here.
I wanted him beside me, flashing his Top Gun Maverick grin. Jarrod had died the way he lived—reckless, but heroic. Saving at least fifty lives in a little Iraqi settlement on the east bank of the Tigris River. Leaving me to pine after him, sick with love for a man who would never hold me again. I couldn’t breathe. God, just take me too. But every day my eyes opened, air filled my lungs, and I forced myself to go on.
Six months ago, I buried him according to his wishes, in the Saunders family graveyard. After the funeral, my mother demanded that I return home to Dallas to grieve—as though I could just put the last seven years behind me and move on. Forget the consuming, crazy, once-in-a-lifetime love who had rescued me from her in the first place. Every night since then I had dreamed of my husband’s childhood home. A force compelled me to come here, and I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
Jarrod was gone, but as I drove my Jeep up the path that led to the two-story farmhouse, I finally understood why I had been so drawn to this place.
I had come here to find the man I loved.
Q: Do you have a testimonial/review you’d like to include?
A: Fascinating Tale of Love, Loss and Ghosts May 12, 2012
By Lilibet King
Format:Paperback
Corrie Saunders is a young widow. Having lost her husband Jarrod to the war in Iraq, she moves to his hometown of Saunders Creek to remodel the family homestead that his grandparents left to him.
Poor Corrie faces problems on all sides. The majority of her husband’s relatives are complete strangers, and she fears that they resent her decision to live in the farmhouse. Her own mother expects Corrie to come to her senses and return to the life of a socialite in Dallas. Jarrod’s cousin Eli has offered to help with the remodeling, but his presence confuses Corrie.
And then there’s Jarrod’s Aunt Trudy, a witchcraft practitioner who warns Corrie that Jarrod’s spirit is in the farmhouse trying to reach her. Is the farmhouse haunted? Is it really Jarrod’s ghost, or another spirit, or something else entirely?
Tracey Bateman weaves a thoughtful, fascinating story about love, loss, and family members with beliefs that are diametrically opposite of each other. I was completely engrossed in the story and didn’t want it to end. The possibility of a ghost adds a unique slant to the story.
***
Tracey Bateman lives in the beautiful Missouri Ozarks which provide much of her inspiration for the books she writes. She has approximately one million books in print. Tracey loves to hear from readers you can find her on facebook, or visit her website at traceybateman.com