Historical Fiction: Unpacked

Today, Crystal Caudill joins me on the show for the second time! We discuss the third and final novel in her Hidden Hearts of the Gilded Age series. It's entitled Counterfeit Faith, deals with the Secret Service, and is set in Philadelphia. Crystal and I discuss this newest book (which releases on Tuesday, May 16), the theme of faith and doubt that plays a role in the novel, the 19th century opiate epidemic, houses of refuge, and how an unromantic person can write historical romance!

Here's a description of Counterfeit Faith:

As matron of Final Chance House of Refuge, Gwendolyn Ellison has dedicated her life to serving the children deemed delinquents by society. She'll protect them with everything she has. So when she suspects someone is using Final Chance for criminal deeds, she's determined to investigate and put a stop to it. But villains don't like to be crossed--and they're willing to kill to get their way. Gwendolyn knows she can't quit fighting. More than her own life is on the line if counterfeiters go free. She must find someone she can trust to help her expose the criminals and protect the children under her care.

Charming and chivalrous Secret Service operative Josiah Isaacs has never been able to turn his back on a woman in trouble--and capturing counterfeiters is his job, after all. The danger he's truly worried about is his growing attraction to Gwendolyn when his heart wants to remain faithful to his deceased wife.

As both peril and interest grow, he begins to consider whether a second love may be possible--if they can live through this case. At the same time, he's put off by her faith in a God he no longer trusts. How can a future together even be possible when their beliefs are at odds?

Purchase or preorder Counterfeit Faith on Amazon (affiliate).

Preorder We Three Kings novella collection on Amazon (affiliate).

Download the free novella, Counterfeit Truth, by signing up for Crystal's newsletter.

Crystal's first episode on Historical Fiction: Unpacked.

Check out Crystal's website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram!

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Attend the Montrose Christian Writers Conference where I'll be teaching this summer!

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Purchase Alison’s historical novel, One Traveler (affiliate).

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, you help support my work without paying any more for the product. Thank you for your support!

In the midst of technological difficulties and scheduling snafus, I bring you a solo episode a mere 32 hours late. This is something I would only notice in a podcast I listen to daily, so if any of you missed me, I am beyond flattered and grateful. I'm also grateful for the latest review, which I forgot to mention two weeks in a row!

What do I actually talk about in this episode? I share some surprising news about this season. There are only two more episodes left before I break for summer. I tell you about the interviews you still have to look forward to before that break. (You won't want to miss them!) I also share where I'll be, in case you're looking for a writing retreat or conference. And I tell you about an easy and free way to sample my writing.

Enjoy this short episode featuring yours truly!

Mentioned in this episode:

Come and join us at the Inspire Writing Retreat next week!

 

Hear me teach at Montrose Christian Writers Conference July 16–21.

Subscribe to my mailing list to receive free book recs and samples of my writing!

As always:

Join my community and help support the show on Patreon!

Join the Historical Fiction: Unpacked Podcast Group on Facebook!

Be sure to visit my Instagram, Facebook, and website.

Follow the show on Instagram!

Purchase Alison’s historical novel, One Traveler (affiliate).

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, you help support my work without paying any more for the product. Thank you for your support!

Laura Frantz came back on the show to talk about her latest novel, The Rose and the Thistle. Inspired by her own family history, Laura wrote this story set in the Scottish Lowlands during the Jacobite uprising of 1715. Laura is a Christy Award winner and the ECPA bestselling author of more than a dozen novels. More importantly, she's a kind soul, and always a delight to have on the podcast!

Here is a description of the novel from Revell:

Amid the Jacobite uprising in 1715, Lady Blythe Hedley’s father is declared an enemy of the British crown because of his Jacobite sympathies. Forced to flee her home, Blythe is secreted away to Wedderburn Castle in the Scottish Lowlands to stay with longtime allies of her powerful Northumbrian family. While she awaits the crowning of the new king, she becomes acquainted with the Humes, the “Spears of Wedderburn,” who call the castle

their home. Of the seven sons, it is Everard, Lord Fast, who intrigues Blythe the most. But their faith and their politics divide them. Everard is also grappling with his own problems—a volatile brother with dangerous political leanings, an estate to manage, and a very young brother in need of comfort and direction in the wake of losing their father. It would be best for everyone if he could send this misfit heiress on her way as soon as possible.

In this whirlwind of intrigue, ambitions, and shifting alliances, Blythe yearns for someone she can trust. But the same forces that draw her and Everard together also threaten to tear them apart.

 

Purchase The Rose and the Thistle on Amazon (affiliate).

The author Laura mentioned: Elizabeth Goudge

Laura's first and second episodes on Historical Fiction: Unpacked.

Check out Laura's website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram!

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Join my community and help support the show on Patreon!

Join the Historical Fiction: Unpacked Podcast Group on Facebook!

Be sure to visit my Instagram, Facebook, and website.

Follow the show on Instagram!

Purchase Alison’s historical novel, One Traveler (affiliate).

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, you help support my work without paying any more for the product. Thank you for your support!

Kim Vogel Sawyer is known for writing "gentle stories of hope." Her latest novel, The Tapestry of Grace, is a perfect example of that legacy. On this episode, we discuss this novel and Kim's use of her own Mennonite background in her characters, why she was compelled to include orphaned children in her story, and the historical details she incorporated (including how her characters brewed coffee in 1895!).

Here's a description of The Tapestry of Grace from Kim's website:

When a group of Kansas women start a Frauenverein, a benevolent society devoted to aiding widows and orphans, life changes for more than just the hurting people they seek to help in this heartwarming romance inspired by historical events.

With classes paused for the planting season, Alexandertol’s schoolteacher Augusta Dyck is glad for some meaningful work to occupy her time. She even knows exactly who their town’s benevolence society should help first: quiet, reserved widower Konrad Rempel and his young twin sons.

Konrad Rempel, however, is adamant that he doesn’t want help. His boys are mischievous but good-hearted. And though Konrad may be struggling, he doesn’t want anyone else sticking their nose in and telling him what his sons need. Or what he needs.

For her part, the charity’s founder Martina Krahn is relieved to have a reason to spend time outside her unhappy home. It even occurs to her that she may, through her work, encounter a boy in need of a family and so find a son for her husband since they have no children of their own.

Augusta, Konrad, and Martina each have deep needs and desires, and each imagines how they should be met: by reaching out or by being left alone. But God, indeed, knows best. Will the competing agendas of Alexandertol’s residents prevent them from receiving God’s help? Or will the members of this small Mennonite community find the answers to their prayers in the very last place they expect—in one another?

Purchase The Tapestry of Grace on Amazon (affiliate).

Check out Kim's website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter!

Subscribe to my mailing list to receive the next newsletter!

Join my community and help support the show on Patreon!

Join the Historical Fiction: Unpacked Podcast Group on Facebook!

Be sure to visit my Instagram, Facebook, and website.

Follow the show on Instagram!

Purchase Alison’s historical novel, One Traveler (affiliate).

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, you help support my work without paying any more for the product. Thank you for your support!

Karen Heenan's novel Coming Apart released in October, but the sequel, Coming Closer, is out next week! These books, set during the Great Depression, portray family relationships with such beautiful, raw honesty. They're also set in my home state of Pennsylvania, which adds to the appeal for me. However, any reader of historical fiction will find them fascinating. Listen to my conversation with Karen to learn more!

Here's the description of Coming Apart:

No one knows you like a sister.

Ava has always been poor, so she doesn't think the Great Depression will change anything. But when her mother dies and her coal miner husband loses his job, Ava's certainty falters. The last thing she needs is a letter from her estranged sister, asking for the impossible.

Claire has everything she could ever want, except the child she promised her husband. When her sister's life falls apart, she reaches out to help—and finds the missing piece of her own marriage.

With everything at stake, Ava must choose: give up one child to save the rest or keep the family together and risk losing it all?

If you like strong, resourceful women, well-developed historical themes, and heartfelt family drama, then Coming Apart is your next rainy-day read.

Purchase Coming Apart on Amazon (affiliate).

Preorder Coming Closer on Amazon (affiliate).

Check out Karen's website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter!

Subscribe to my mailing list to receive the next newsletter!

Join my community and help support the show on Patreon!

Join the Historical Fiction: Unpacked Podcast Group on Facebook!

Be sure to visit my Instagram, Facebook, and website.

Follow the show on Instagram!

Purchase Alison’s historical novel, One Traveler (affiliate).

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, you help support my work without paying any more for the product. Thank you for your support!

Jaime Jo Wright is the queen of all things macabre in the Christian Historical Fiction world. Her latest book, The Vanishing at Castle Moreau, is no exception. It's set at a mysterious castle–which takes on a life of its own—in the midwestern United States. In this episode, Jaime and I discuss why she writes dark stories and how she brings redemption into them.

Here's a description of the book from Bethany House:

In 1865, orphaned Daisy Francois takes a housemaid position and finds that the eccentric Gothic authoress inside hides a story more harrowing than those in her novels. Centuries later, Cleo Clemmons uncovers an age-old mystery, and the dust of the old castle's curse threatens to rise again, this time leaving no one alive to tell its sordid tale.

Purchase The Vanishing at Castle Moreau on Amazon (affiliate).

 

Also mentioned:

Novels—

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (affiliate)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (affiliate)

Podcasts—

"Smooches and Stabs" with Jaime and Pepper Basham

"MadLit Musings" with Jaime Jo Wright

My most recent episode with Sarah Sundin.

My episode with Kimberley Woodhouse.

My episode with Pepper Basham.

Check out Jaime's website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Subscribe to my mailing list to receive the next newsletter!

Join my community and help support the show on Patreon!

Join the Historical Fiction: Unpacked Podcast Group on Facebook!

Be sure to visit my Instagram, Facebook, and website.

Follow the show on Instagram!

Purchase Alison’s historical novel, One Traveler (affiliate).

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, you help support my work without paying any more for the product. Thank you for your support!

Brian C. Johnson honors the struggles and accomplishments of the ordinary citizens who launched the Civil Rights Movement by committing himself to the advancement of multicultural and inclusive education.

On the show today, he shares his foray into writing historical fiction in his slave narrative Send Judah First, which was inspired when he took his students on an educational trip to Belle Grove Plantation. One of the park rangers at the plantation shared about an enslaved woman named Judah. Only two documents prove Judah ever lived, so Brian decided to tell her story.

Purchase Send Judah First: The Erased Life of an Enslaved Soul on Amazon (affiliate).

Also mentioned:

Belle Grove Plantation

The Belle Grove Plantation Cookbook (affiliate)

Check out Brian's website and follow him on Twitter and Instagram!

Subscribe to my mailing list to receive the next newsletter!

Join my community and help support the show on Patreon!

Join the Historical Fiction: Unpacked Podcast Group on Facebook!

Be sure to visit my Instagram, Facebook, and website.

Follow the show on Instagram!

Purchase Alison’s historical novel, One Traveler (affiliate).

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, you help support my work without paying any more for the product. Thank you for your support!

Jen Turano has been called one of the funniest voices in the inspirational genre. She's a USA Today bestselling author of historical romantic comedies, set during the Gilded Age. They usually revolve around the New York Four Hundred. If you don't know what I'm talking about, listen to the episode! We discuss the Four Hundred, as well as Jen's latest novel, A Match in the Making, how she uses real historical figures in her novels (carefully), and the value of walking the trail with her rescue dog.

Here's a description of A Match in the Making from Bethany House:

When Gwendolyn Brinley accepted a paid companion position for the Newport Season, she never imagined she'd be expected to take over responsibilities as an assistant matchmaker. Tasked with finding a wife for the Season's catch, Walter Townsend, her assignment becomes increasingly difficult when she realizes his perfect match might be . . . her.

 

Purchase A Match in the Making on Amazon (affiliate).

Also mentioned:

The Four Hundred

Society as I Have Found It by Ward McAllister (affiliate)

The Glitter and the Gold by Consuelo Vanderbilt (affiliate)

Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe (affiliate)

Check out Jen's website and follow her on Facebook, and Instagram!

Join my community and help support the show on Patreon!

Join the Historical Fiction: Unpacked Podcast Group on Facebook!

Be sure to visit my Instagram, Facebook, and website.

Follow the show on Instagram!

Purchase Alison’s historical novel, One Traveler (affiliate).

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, you help support my work without paying any more for the product. Thank you for your support!

Listen to the 100th episode of Historical Fiction: Unpacked! Scroll to the bottom of the show notes to enter a celebratory giveaway!

This episode features Jocelyn Green's twentieth book, The Metropolitan Affair. Jocelyn and I talked about Egyptology, forgery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the roaring twenties setting of her latest novel.

Here's a description from Bethany House:

With a notorious forger preying on New York's high society, Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Lauren Westlake is just the expert needed to track down the criminal. As she and Detective Joe Caravello search for the truth, the closer they get to discovering the forger's identity, the more entangled they become in a web of deception and crime.

Purchase The Metropolitan Affair on Amazon (affiliate).

 

Find out more about the inspiration for Jocelyn's main character.

Find out more about the real historical character in Jocelyn's book.

Check out Jocelyn's website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Join my community and help support the show on Patreon!

Join the Historical Fiction: Unpacked Podcast Group on Facebook!

Be sure to visit my Instagram, Facebook, and website.

Follow the show on Instagram!

Purchase Alison’s historical novel, One Traveler (affiliate).

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, you help support my work without paying any more for the product. Thank you for your support!

Finally, enter the 100th Episode Giveaway!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Photos of two of the items in the prize pack!

One Traveler by yours truly and bookish earrings made by Jessica Baker of Bakers Blessed Designs

(Click the photos for more information on these items.)

I so enjoyed this conversation with Julie Klassen. She loves all things Jane—Jane Eyre and Jane Austen. Her books have sold over a million copies, and she is a three-time recipient of the Christy Award for Historical Romance. The Secret of Pembrooke Park was honored with the Minnesota Book Award for Genre Fiction. Julie has also won the Midwest Book Award and Christian Retailing’s Best Award and has been a finalist in the RITA and Carol Awards. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Julie worked in publishing for sixteen years and now writes full-time. She and her husband live in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Julie and I talked about her research process, her fascination with England, and her newest novel, The Sisters of Sea View. Julie also asked me about my own writing, so that was a fun twist to this episode!

Here's a description of The Sisters of Sea View from Bethany House Publishers:

When their father’s death leaves the Summers sisters impoverished, Sarah Summers hatches a plan to open their seaside home to guests to provide for their ailing mother. Younger sisters Emily and Georgiana are on board, but Viola, physically and emotionally scarred, is distressed at the idea. Left with no other choice, the four sisters begin their new venture with the help of family and friends. But instead of hosting elderly invalids in need of fresh sea air, the sisters find themselves in the company of eligible gentlemen and a mysterious Scottish widower. Some guests have come for a holiday, others for hidden reasons of their own. As Sarah is torn between a growing attraction to the mysterious stranger staying at Sea View and duty to her family, their new situation also threatens to expose Viola’s scars—both the visible and those hidden deep within. The Sisters of Sea View is a story full of faith, intrigue, and the unbreakable bonds between sisters. Readers will be eager to escape into this new series set on the charming Devonshire coastline.

Purchase The Sisters of Sea View on Amazon (affiliate).

Check out Julie's website and follow her on Instagram and Facebook!

Purchase Alison's historical novel, One Traveler (affiliate).

Purchase the best screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth (affiliate).

Join my community and help support the show on Patreon!

Join the Historical Fiction: Unpacked Podcast Group on Facebook!

Be sure to visit my Instagram, Facebook, and website.

Follow the show on Instagram!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase, you help support my work without paying any more for the product. Thank you for your support!