Author's character interview: Chasing Down a Reluctant Heroine

Chasing Down a Reluctant Heroine

By Lynn Gentry

Authors love to introduce their characters and I’m no exception. I can’t wait for you to meet

Dr. Lisbeth Hastings.

Lisbeth is a driven, young professional with her life as a doctor all planned out. However, that was before her tragic mistake. I won’t say too much about the mistake (after all I want you to read the book) but I will say her error in judgment thrust her into a world stranger than anything her archeologist father ever dug up in one of his forgotten caves.

You’d think the threat of medical malpractice would have humbled this young intern a bit, but … well … I’ll let you be the judge of her current emotional state.

She’s the one being drug to the baths of a third-century villa.

Be warned … she’s ticked.

Me: Excuse me, Dr. Hastings. Could I speak to you for a minute?

Lisbeth: In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a little busy. Hey, what is this place?

Me: It’s a bathroom.

Lisbeth: A bathroom? It’s bigger than my entire apartment back in Dallas.

Me: Nothing is too good for the wealthy Roman, Cyprianus Thascius.

Lisbeth: Roman?

Me: Calm down. I’m sure you’ll come to appreciate every amenity I dropped into this story.

Lisbeth: I don’t want to appreciate anything. I want you to get me out of this nightmare.

Me: Well, I can’t. I put you into the third century to change the world.

(Lisbeth has crossed her arms and is tapping her foot. She seems a bit too snarky, but I can see how unexpected time travel could have a tendency to make someone a tad defensive. Besides, if I sent Lisbeth home before she met the handsome hero what kind of love story would this be?)

I take a deep breath and continue.

Me: Maybe I went overboard a bit with the floor-to-ceiling murals, cascading water, and exquisite tile mosaics, but I actually toured the ruins of a Roman bath in England and thought the Romans masters of luxury. In fact, I think you’d find their medical knowledge equally as impressive. Frankly, Lisbeth, I’m jealous.

Lisbeth: Jealous?

Me: You’re going to wear some of the most beautiful gowns, have the most amazing adventures, and meet the most incredible hunk, and—

Lisbeth: You’re obviously not the one stuck in the past, half drowned, stripped to your birthday suit, and staring at woman coming at you with a metal claw.

Me: (Looking quickly over my shoulder, I sigh with relief.) Oh, that’s not a claw. The Roman’s call that a strigil. 

Lisbeth: A what?

Me: An exfoliation tool. First a slave slathers you with oil, then scrapes the blade over your skin … Lisbeth … Lisbeth … wait. I can explain.

(As she tries to bolt past me, I really have no choice but to push her into the tub. I’ll try to take up this interview once she’s dry, but I don’t have high hopes. Lisbeth Hastings seldom cooperates...with anyone.)

I also have this video that you can use if you’d like.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imh1AwR698Y

HEALER OF CARTHAGE:

First-year medical resident Dr. Lisbeth Hastings uses her father’s bizarre summons to escape her tragic mistake.

While Lisbeth searches the haunted cave of her father’s archaeological dig, she falls through a hidden portal. When the currents of time spew her onto the slave auction block in third century Carthage, her arrival ignites a fierce bidding war. 

Unable to escape, Lisbeth becomes the property of Cyprian Thascius, a wealthy Roman entangled with a group of people under siege from political persecution and a deadly plague.

Lisbeth resists using her medical skills to combat the epidemic until she stumbles upon a buried secret. To save her family, she must unite with Cyprian to save Carthage. But every revolutionary step they take in the past threatens their future.

MEET LYNN GENTRY