This year is also the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I. My hero, Seth, was a witness to the terrible events of that war as an ambulance driver. Sara discovers his letters home in a trunk hidden in the attic of the island house she's renting.
Along with the excerpts, I'll be sharing some photographs that inspired me as I was writing the novel.
Along with the excerpts, I'll be sharing some photographs that inspired me as I was writing the novel.
In today's excerpt, Seth talks about the African-American heroes who fought bravely during the war, only to come home to a society which still refused to accept them as equals:
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Sara searched for another video she knew she had saved in her archives, Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
“This speech was given in 1963 by Dr. Martin Luther King,” she commented. “This man was one of the leaders of what we call the Civil Rights Movement. He never lived to see his dream become reality, but today, African-Americans have the same rights as white people and prejudice against them is considered by most people to be ignorant and shameful. That doesn’t mean it’s not there, of course, but society is getting better.”
“They weren’t even allowed to serve in the same units as whites during the war,” Seth said in soft wonderment. “But their units served bravely and the French honored them for it.”“The same was true during the Second World War.”
Seth’s eyes widened and he looked so horrified, Sara wondered if a ghost could faint. “There was another one? The Great War was supposed to be the end of it, the war to end all wars.”
Sara explained how the Treaty of Versailles had led to Hitler’s rise to power, the Holocaust, all of it. It was hard to believe he didn’t know about it, but there were no newspapers delivered to the island, no television. He had been cut off from the world and history had marched onward without him. She had just finished up with Vietnam when he shook his head and said he didn’t want to hear any more.
“All of it for nothing,” he said bitterly. His uniform jacket darkened with spreading blood.
“It wasn’t for nothing. You were protecting freedom. Maybe everyone thought at the time it would be the final conflict mankind had before settling down into a civilized peace, but humans aren’t like that. There will always be wars as long as people want what others have, or want to rule over others.”
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About the book:
Newly single, unemployed, and with her savings dwindling to an all-time low, Sara thinks things are finally looking up when she lands a job ghostwriting a popular politician’s biography, and rents the affordable island home of her favorite author, Seth Fortner, who mysteriously disappeared in 1925. Strange things begin to happen as objects break, go missing, and terrifying visions appear, making Sara wonder if Seth ever left, or if she is slowly losing her mind.
She gets no answers from his family who closely guards the secret of his disappearance. Through an old trunk of letters Sara discovers in the attic of her seaside cottage, Sara unravels the mystery and becomes caught up in a tale of greed, lost love, and the horrors of WWI. Will she be the one to break the “Fortner Curse” by helping Seth conquer his demons, and heal both of their hearts in the process?
Available from:
TWCS
Abe Books
Powell's
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