By Peggy Trotter
Thanks for
having me on, Ada! Such a privilege. I’m
extremely excited to share about my debut novel, Year of Jubilee! It’s been a
long time coming. I’ve written since I was a child and always dreamed of
becoming a writer and publishing novels. But you know, life can get in the way
when God places other things in front of your dreams.
My family, my
children—I was determined to do my best with them and that took most of my
energy. Mix in a full-time job of teaching, and my free time literally
disappeared. However, God impressed on my heart that my children were my most
important responsibility early on. It yearned to raise them in the best
possible way, guiding them ever towards Jesus Christ the Savior! Watching them
both be baptized set a deep sense of satisfaction in my heart. Yet when they
flew the nest, emptiness edged in! I remember praying for God to fill the void
my grown children left in my heart. Oh, boy did He!
God reminded me
of my first dreams and off I went! Only this time, I wasn’t going to just
finish another manuscript, I was going to see it published. And here it is!
I’ve been dreaming this novel in a variety of ways for probably 20 years.
But let’s get
back to Year of Jubilee. Here’s a little
excerpt for you:
“Ma’am, I
have no reason to hide facts. Your former husband cheated at cards and Mose
Brown shot him clean through.” He paused to gauge her reaction. When she gave
none, he continued. “Mose is in jail now, waiting judgment.”
She stood
with that pitiful gun. More than likely the weapon was more hazardous to her
than him. Her lack of reaction set him to digging, and he was on his way back
to start a new row when she finally spoke.
“You own
this land now?”
He stopped
again and nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”
She let out
a shuddering breath.
“I apologize
about all this being sprung on you, but Colvin never mentioned a spouse. As a
matter of fact, he assured me the place had been empty for six months.”
Rafe dug the
sharp edge of the shovel into the sod with new effort. A wife. Or worse yet, a widow. A very neglected one. Anger roiled inside him. He wished
Colvin were alive so he could thump the side of his head with this shovel. Here
he’d purchased this land in the middle of nowhere, intending to build a
successful farm, recover from humiliation, and avoid female entanglements. Now,
he’d inherited a widow.
With teeth
gritted, he tore into the soil. After turning over another three rows, he
paused. She still stood there. Fine. He’d tell her the way it had to be.
“Listen,
I’ll be glad to pay your fare anywhere. You just let me know, and I’ll go to
town and buy you a stage or a steamer ticket. Shoot, I’ll even buy you a horse
if that’s how you wanna go. Colvin had no business doing this to you and, as
his cousin, distant though we were, the least I can do is get you home.”
Rafe had
never seen hope slide off of a person’s face quite like it did from hers. Her
skin paled and her mouth parted. The small woman’s intense eyes, dark as night,
pleaded. For what? For kindness? For understanding? For help? Rafe wasn’t sure.
Despite the mixed messages, he recognized the despair in the sag of her body.
Uneasiness teemed in his gut.
She shook
her head, her voice a mere whisper. “There’s nowhere.”
“Surely
you’ve got somewhere you can go. Your folks’ house maybe? An aunt or uncle or
even a cousin?”
She glanced
away and the shotgun lowered until the barrel stabbed the ground. “I’m an
orphan.”
You can purchase Year of
Jubilee from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords or any other reputable book
sellers. You can catch up with me at these websites! Thanks for having me on
your blog, Ada!
Peggy Trotter is a small town Hoosier native who
teaches 1st and 2nd grade at a small Christian School and
writes Christian Romance in her spare time. God blessed her with a wonderful
husband who cooks and helps clean while supporting her crazy dreams. She has
two incredible grown kids, one fabulous son-in-law, and two rays of sunshine,
commonly called grandchildren.
Personal blog: http://peggytrotter.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeggyTrotterAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Peggy_Trotter
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pegtrotter/
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00UZ78ZUA
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