Inspiration AMONG THE FAIR MAGNOLIAS

Hi. Winnie Griggs here, back with more on what’s new and intriguing on the Inspirational Romance front. Today I’m talking to the four fabulous authors who participated in the AMONG THE FAIR MAGNOLIAS novella collection. I asked these talented ladies to discuss their particular stories and their inspiration for stories and I think you’ll enjoy reading their responses.

First, what is the focus or uniting theme of this collection?

In the most turbulent decade of our nation's history, four Southern women—destinies forged by birth, hearts steeled by war—face near impossible choices on their journeys in life . . . and in love.

As an added bonus, each novella includes discussion questions and a scrumptious Southern dessert, perfect for book club meetings

Sounds fabulous! So please tell us how your story in this collection came about?

Tamera Alexander

As I wrote TO WIN HER FAVOR, a Belle Meade Plantation novel, a secondary character in that story grabbed my heart and wouldn’t let go. Savannah Darby’s stubborn courage and determination to love and to not grow bitter over the tragedies in her life really spoke to me—as did her dogged determination to find something hidden in her former family home—and I knew I wanted to write her story. So when Harper Collins Christian Publishing approached me about writing a novella to be included in a Southern romance collection, I knew exactly who I wanted to write about.

Shelley Gray:

Several years ago, I published the Heart of the Hero series. It was a trilogy set in my home state of Texas and I enjoyed every minute of writing A TEXAN'S PROMISE, A TEXAN'S HONOR, and A TEXAN'S CHOICE . The books were about a group of rough, brave men who attempt to overcome their pasts. For a variety of reasons, I wasn’t able to continue that series but I always wished that I’d had the opportunity to give one of my favorite characters his own book.

Because of that, I jumped at the chance to write AN OUTLAW'S HEART in the AMONG THE FAIR MAGNOLIAS collection! I loved revisiting this series and most especially the hero of the novel, Russell Champion. In the series, Russell had been a very young member of an outlaw gang. His past was heartbreaking and his character was complex. He’s all grown up AN OUTLAW'S HEART and I relished the chance to discover what kind of man he became. I hope readers will enjoy getting to know Russell, too.

Dorothy Love:

I've always been interested (and appalled, too) at how little control women of the 19th century wielded over their own lives. For much of the century, they couldn't own property, or enter into legal contracts. When they married, all of their inheritances, any money they might have earned on their own, and any decisions about their children were controlled by their husbands. Among the aristocratic families of the old South, marriages were often entered into in order to increase the wealth of the families involved. Sometimes, love had little to do with the decision. A woman went from obeying her father to obeying her husband and in many cases the only decision she was permitted was the choice of her church. I wanted to write a story about such a young woman confronted with the hard choice of marrying for love versus marrying to please her family..

Elizabeth Musser:

I was actually doing research for a novel that takes place both in present day and in the second half of the 19th century. As I researched the Reconstruction Period (1863-1877), particularly in Georgia, I was both saddened and intrigued. Saddened (really horrified) that the rights which were given to African Americans after the Civil War were soon revoked and that it took another hundred years for those rights to be granted. Intrigued that our great nation did indeed survive the aftermath of the Civil War, despite all odds, with two such diametrically opposing worldviews in the North and the South.

And now, please tell us a little about your story in this collection

TO MEND A DREAM by Tamera Alexander

My story is TO MEND A DREAM which aptly describes what Savannah Darby, a master seamstress, is attempting to do in this novella. She’s a young woman struggling to hold her world together in a nation that’s fallen apart. And her demure yet tenacious spirit drives her to do something she never thought she’d do.

Here’s a peek at the back cover copy:
Savannah Darby would do almost anything to revisit her family home. So when new owner, Aidan Bedford, a Boston attorney and former Union soldier, seeks to redecorate the house for his fiancée, Savannah jumps at the opportunity. But the clock is ticking. Can she find the box her father supposedly hid there during the war before her assignment is completed? And before she sees yet another battle lost on the home front. This time, one of the heart.

AN OUTLAW'S HEART by Shelley Gray:

Well, there’s an old adage that basically states you can’t go home again. Russell Champion reckons that saying is probably true, but he can’t resist returning back to his home one last time before he keeps his past firmly in the past. He’d been driven away after he killed his stepfather at fifteen. Since then he’s ridden with an outlaw gang and done more than a couple of things that he’s ashamed about. When he walks into his old house, he doesn’t expect anything more than to see his mother one last time. However, what follows is a series of events that allows him to reconnect with Nora, the one woman who always claimed his heart. Suddenly the future is out of Russell’s hands. It, and his heart, are now firmly in Nora’s control. It’s up to her whether he stays in Texas and tries to rebuild what he lost, or walk away one last time from everything he knows and loves.

A HEART SO TRUE by Dorothy Love:

In A HEART SO TRUE, Abigail Clayton knows she is expected to wed her distant cousin, Charles Kittridge, who has shown himself to be less than a considerate gentleman. Abby's heart belongs to Dr. Wade Bennett, a physician who is engaged in developing new medicines. Abby dreams of a life in which she might also contribute something meaningful to the world. When her father unexpectedly announces her engagement to Charles at the annual barbecue on Pawleys island, her fate is sealed. Unless she can find the courage to make an impossible choice.

LOVE BEYOND LIMITS by Elizabeth Musser:

Emily Derracott loves her childhood friend Thomas McGinnis, but she cannot marry a man who doesn’t share her strong convictions about the freedmen. Besides, she harbors a secret love for someone else, Leroy, a former slave—now a freedman—on her father’s plantation. But the prospect of becoming his wife is not improbable. It is completely impossible. And yet.

***

Winnie Griggs grew up in south Louisiana in an undeveloped area her friends thought of as the back of beyond. She and her two younger siblings spent many an hour exploring the overgrown land around her home, cutting jungle trails, building forts and frontier camps, and looking for pirate ships on the nearby bayou. Once she ‘grew up' she found other outlets for dealing with all those wonderful, adventurous imaginary friends by filling notebooks with their stories.

Eventually she found her own Prince Charming, a rancher whose white steed takes the form of a tractor and whose kingdom is situated in a small rural community that she loves to call home, and together they've built their own storybook happily–ever–after that includes four now grown children, two of whom are twins.

Now a multi–published, award winning author, Winnie feels blessed to be able to share her stories with readers through her writings for Love Inspired Historical books.

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