When I give a book talk, I like the question and answer part the best. One of the questions I’m often asked is “What is your favorite book?” I always tell whoever asked what a hard question that is for an author to answer. It’s something like asking a mother which is her favorite child.
All these books shown in the picture are favorites in some way. I could pick Scent of Lilacs because I love those Hollyhill characters and had such fun writing all the Jupiter stories Wes and Jocie shared. It’s also the book that brought me into the inspirational fiction market that turned out to be a great place for the type of stories I love to write.
I could pick The Outsider, my first Shaker book, because it opened some new doors for me and brought me new readers. I could say Murder at the Courthouse because I love reading mysteries and it was such fun writing those Hidden Springs mysteries. I could pick Words Spoken True because it truly has some amazing Louisville history in the story and mystery mixed with romance too. I really enjoyed researching the Frontier Nursing Service and heading to the Appalachian Mountains to come up with my story, These Healing Hills.
And then there’s that amazing true story about the slave Louis in the town of Springfield during the 1833 cholera epidemic that inspired my book River to Redemption. The line I let Louis say over and over, “pray believing” has touched many of the book’s readers. Then there was the e-mail I got once about my book, Orchard of Hope, where the reader said my book had inspired her to rededicate her life to Christ. How could I not include that as a great reason for a favorite book?
But if I am pushed for an answer of one favorite book, I always have to name Angel Sister. That’s because my mother’s stories of growing up during the Great Depression inspired the story. The book is fiction but there are so many echoes of the stories my mother and her sisters loved to tell woven into the background of that story. And then my characters gave me some heart touching, dramatic scenes like the one below.
Scene from Angel Sister
(Setting the scene- Kate, Lorena and Graham have just survived a flash fire in a dry woods. Now they’re finding their way home.)
It was very dark with the rain falling around them and the clouds blotting out any sign of the moon or stars. Kate had walked between her house and Graham’s pond a hundred times, but now nothing was the same. She had no idea if they were going the right direction or not as they made their way between snags of burned tree trunks and fallen branches. The lingering smoke burned her nose even with the wet rag to filter out the worst of the ash. Kate couldn’t imagine what the place would look like in the morning light. She didn’t want to imagine it. Sunrise would bring the truth soon enough.
And then they stepped into a different world. A world where the trees were still standing and the rain was filtering through a canopy of leaves over their heads. Graham stopped and looked back at Kate. “See I told you the old girls would make it through.” He stepped up beside one of the oak trees and laughed as he laid his hand on its trunk.
Kate looked up. It was still very dark but she could sense the trees towering over her. Trees that had been there since long before Rosey Corner had been settled. The fire had gone through but it hadn’t taken any of the trees down. When the song rose up inside her, she let it out. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Kate always wanted to sing when she was in under the great trees and never more than now.
Graham joined in with her. He didn’t have much of a singing voice, but he sounded joyful. “Praise him all creatures here below.”
Lorena sang the amen with them.
“The strong find a way to keep standing. No matter what happens.” Graham patted the tree trunk closest to him. Then he put one hand on Lorena’s head and the other on Kate’s shoulder. “That’s us. Strong. We’re still standing.”
“Because you knew where the pond was.” Kate wasn’t feeling very strong, just blessed. Mightily blessed.
“It’s the Lord who gives us strength,” Graham said. “To face all the fires of life.”
“You sound like Grandfather Reece,” Kate said.
“If a fellow can’t preach a little after what we’ve seen tonight, there’s something wrong inside his heart.”
“Can we go on home now?” Lorena asked in a small voice. “Or are we lost?”
Kate picked up Lorena. “No, sweetie. We aren’t lost. We know where we are and who we are. Why don’t you say your name now?”
“Okay, but put me down so I can say it right.” Lorena stood down on the ground and lifted up her head to shout at the tops of the trees. “My name is Lorena Birdsong.”
Kate laughed and shouted after her. “My name is Katherine Merritt.”
Graham echoed his name right behind them. “My name is Graham Lindell.”
Then Kate shouted. “And we are alive.”
The word alive bounced off the trees around them. She pulled in a deep breath and wanted to sing again. And dance. And laugh. She’d never before thought about how good it felt to breathe.
~~
I hope you enjoyed that scene from Angel Sister and that if you haven’t tried some of my “favorite” stories, that you will give one of them a read. Or all of them. 🙂
If you have read some of my books, did you have a favorite? Or a favorite fiction book by any author?
Comments 22
I have to admit that my favorite book is the one I happen to currently be reading, but of yours. . . . it has to be Angel Sister.
Author
Glad you’re really enjoying your current read, Nancy. Always fun to be swallowed up by a great story.
They are all favorites that I have read but I carry a soft spot for The Scent of Lilacs. Thank you for sharing. Blessings
Author
Thank you, Lucy. I so appreciate you reading my stories. And I did have fun writing about Jocie and friends in Hollyhill.
My favorite is These Healing Hills . I can identify with these characters , the region and dialect. My KY great- grandma told many stories of her mother being a midwife and herb DR , and how she helped the mountain people in the early days .I recently read a book about the Pack Horse Library Project in KY and the Blue People in the area. A work of fiction based on factual information entitled “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek ” . Ann, perhaps this WPA program would be interesting subject matter for your next book ?!
Author
Actually, Nancy, that is the history I’m using for my current work in progress. I had already pitched the idea of a story about the Packhorse Librarians a couple of years ago to my publishers and they were enthusiastic about the idea. But I had another book to write before I could get to that idea. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the book you mention come out and then just a few months ago another book came out about the Packhorse Librarians. That recent one has already been optioned for a movie with some big name actors. I feel like I was a little too slow getting my book out. But mine will be different. I haven’t read either of the other books and won’t before I finish my own, but I have read something about the stories and a controversy the first writer has brought up in thinking the second book has too many scenes too much like the ones in her book. So those scenes are the ones I’ve read about. I’m not sure they read the same research material that I did since it sounds as if they have a different take on the the mountain people’s acceptance of the librarians. So I guess we’ll see. Readers may decide the other writers have it right and not me.
I have read about the “blue” people, but they aren’t part of my story. Did you like the book that you read?
Hi Ann, I loved reading the Shaker series, these Healing Hills and River to Redemption. I have just loaned these to a sweet young friend at church. Of course I put my name in them. I can’t name one favorite but I do enjoy your books! I have not read the Hidden Springs Mysteries. Maybe I will try these next! Keep on writing and be safe! I think of you when I come to Lawrenceburg.
Author
Thank you, Janice. I’ve really glad you’ve enjoyed some of my stories and hope you will try some of the ones you still haven’t read. The mysteries are a little different from my historical novels but fun. Well, except for the poor people that turn up dead. You can’t have a murder mystery without a body here and there, but as I sometimes tell people when I’m explaining cozy mysteries, the victim is never anyone the reader has learned to like and often somebody you don’t mind being a victim. That sounds bad, doesn’t it? But it’s all made up. LOL. No one is really injured in the making of those mystery books.
Cozy Mysteries—Are those three books- Murder at the Courthouse, Murder Comes by Mail and…….can’t remember the third. 🙄 I loved that series and hated to see it end! You have been blessed with a vivid imagination! Thank you, Ann!!!
Author
I do feel blessed to have been able to bring so many characters to life to share their stories. The mysteries were fun and who knows? Maybe someday I’ll get to write that fourth one.
Ann I have enjoyed every one of your books I have read so far. Your characters are so real one feels like they know that person well. My favorites are the Hidden Springs mysteries. I am looking forward to more about those characters. I had a problem saying characters. They feel almost like special friends!
You truly have a gift from our Heavenly Father!
Author
That’s so kind of you to say, Gail. I appreciate you taking my fictional people to your heart. I’m glad you enjoyed the mysteries. I had fun trying to be a mystery writer for those Hidden Springs mysteries.
I’ve just got to get to Angel Sister. I believe I have it just waiting to come off of the burgeoning stack. I have read about a half dozen of your books, so far the the cozy mysteries have been my favorite. Would sure like to read a follow-up on that!
Author
I hope my scene I posted won’t be a spoiler for you when you get around to reading Angel Sister, Loretta. And I hope you’ll like getting to know those characters. For sure, you can follow those sisters through a few years since I let them grow up and face the challenges of WW 2 and marriage and so much more in the second and third Rosey Corner books. Small Town Girl and Love Comes Home. It was hard leaving those characters behind to start in new fictional directions.
It is hard to pinpoint a favorite book. It seems every time I read a book it is my favorite at the time. However Angel Sister stands out as an exceptional book, as does Night Road by Kristen Hannah and also Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.
Author
I’ve read some books by Kristen Hannah, but not that title, Donna. I’ll have make a note and look for it sometime. I did watch the television series based on Lonesome Dove back several years ago. I heard on the radio the other day that when we only had the three channels to watch in the 50’s and 60’s that more than half of the shows on television were westerns. We did like our cowboys.
I’ve had a couple of least favorites and only one that I put down after reading a third of it and never went back. As far as a favorite, perhaps the one I’m reading at the moment that I am asked! 😊 You know how much I enjoyed reading about Jocie and River to Redemption is one of your books that I thoroughly enjoyed. The characters still remain in my memory. Be safe Ann. Looking forward to your next book. 😊
Author
I hope those least favorites weren’t mine, Karen, but don’t tell me if they were. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. 🙂 Actually I’ve had some least favorites of book I’ve read too (again not my own.) Mostly what makes a book a least favorite for me is a bad ending or perhaps something that is just not my “cup of tea,” as the saying goes.
I do appreciate you being a Jocie fan and so glad you liked River to Redemption too. I hope you’ll like An Appalachian Summer when you get a chance to read it.
I have read 14 of your books. Loved them all. It would be hard to pick a favorite but maybe Angel 😇 Sister. Also loved the Hidden Springs mysteries. Blessings, keep writing, you are an awesome writer.
Author
Thank you, Marjorie. I so appreciate you reading my books. I suppose I shouldn’t have asked that question. Seems like I’m asking for compliments, but I am always curious to know what readers think. Of course it’s more fun when readers say nice things the way you did. 🙂
My favorite was These Healing Hills .I like all different kinds of books but that one really hooked me.
Author
I’m like you, Donna. I like all kinds of books and don’t just read or write in only one genre. I like small town stories and I like mysteries. I like historical fiction that tells me about events in the past. But mostly I like stories with great characters that I can really like and that somehow let me live the story through them.