April 2013 FREE BOOK!
I’m delighted to offer the glorious novel, SCENT OF LILACS by Ann H. Gabhart as our April 2013 Free Book! This is a delight of a book, and I’m sure you’ll be pulled in from page one as you travel back to 1964 and meet sweet quirky Jocie Brooke, wise beyond her years and a member of a family that has built a life on a precarious foundation of secrets.
From the back cover, “As Jocie digs into her family’s past, she stirs up a whirlwind of discoveries. Will she find the answers everyone so desperately needs? Or will her questions lead to truths better left hidden?”
Our give-away edition is in trade paperback format AND signed by the author!
To qualify for the drawing, please answer this question:
We’re told that every family has skeletons in the closet. I know mine does, including truths about a mixed ethnicity and also about a particular great-great grandfather who got himself into so much trouble he had to change his name and go into hiding for the remainder of his life. And oh, by the way, he was medical doctor.
Does your family closet hide any skeletons? (A yes or no answer will do!)
Blessings!
Sue
(Lilac photograph, Wikipedia Commons/Marisa DeMeglio.)
Thanks for offering my book, Scent of Lilacs, as a giveaway here, Sue. Love your question. Maybe I’ll do a blog on that someday. Not my skeletons in particular, but the fact that most all families have a few interesting stories in their pasts. Yours certainly does. Sounds like the plot for a great novel!
As a genealogist, I unearthed a lot of skeletons–which made me see family members from a different and often more sympathetic light. We do well to share those secrets with our family members–if only to remind them of “what could have been.”
I think so. My mother always suspected that her father who was a farmer and house mover in the thumb of Michigan had a second family in North Dakota. He was gone for months every year taking care of a business he owned there but was very closed mouth about it and would never take any of his Michigan family with him. Some day I will do the research to see if my mother ‘s intuition was correct.iooo
Yep. And seriously, I can’t imagine any family with no skeletons. Shameful actions on a relative’s part, imprisonment, drugs, abuse. Our response to them is what is important to the Lord.
i would love to win and read this book, thanks a lot for the chance
Yes, yes, yes, private matters that have been swept under the rug
Yes, I doubt there isn’t a family anywhere that doesn’t have skeletons, or at least a few secrets. Some of the things thought to be in need of hiding once upon a time are now commonplace. Probably a sad commentary about our society!
LOL I think I was the skeleton, didn’t find out until I was in my late 40s that I was half adopted and had birth family out there somewhere….when God led them to me it was awesome…..there are things I will never know or understand, but I am trusting. I’m suppose to have a twin, and still trust God on having that person….or not finding them, as He wills. Ginny L.(which is what my husband calls me) go forth and search…if he had another family they were probably married search marriage records.
God always has journeys …we just have to take them…and trust
An interesting twist, Virginia, to be the “skeleton.” And yes, God sends us on amazing journeys!
Sometimes it is a sad commentary, Connie, but some of my family “skeletons” have to do with Native American heritage and Jewish ethnicity, and so I’m glad that I don’t have to hide those things in today’s society.
You’re welcome, Shirley!
Wow, Ginny, a very interesting story! That would make a good book!
I agree, Michelle. Sharing is the best solution, and that’s something that Ann brings out in SCENT OF LILACS.
Yes! I would love to read this book! I have some mysteries I would like to solve!
Yes !
I would think my brother is the skeleton. Have not seen or heard from him in 42 years. We know where he is (found out thru peoplefinder) but he will not respond to our letters. My mother is 94 and it would be nice if he called or showed up. So I would say he is the skeleton because we don’t mention him to anyone.
Well, I was a skeleton perhaps. A baby put up for adoption because my birthmom was just before the age of 16 when I was born. My birthfather, who was in love with my birhtmother, also had a fling with someone else and she had to marry him. I have a 1/2 brother that is 3 months older than I am. When I turned 18 and found my birthmom, she had also had another baby by her true love when she was 19. It had caused a lot of problems with the woman whom he had married and divorced. Everyone thought it best if my half-brother and his mom didn’t find out who I was. Ultimately, when my birthfather was dying, I flew with my sister to see him. Our half brother thought I was there for comfort and was SHOCKED to discover me. We were all SHOCKED to discover another skeleton. We had another half sister!! Our family tree just grows and grows! One might think my birthfather was named Casanova.
Of course, I am sure someone in the future will find skeletons in my generation.
I am sure there is … There will probably be some in every family.. I would love to win this book .. thanks.
Yes, I can’t imagine a family anywhere without a skeleton in their closet…wouldn’t be normal! Thanks for the opportunity to win…Love Ann Gabhart’s books….Linda
Yes I think every family has something. Some things are best not talked about. I personally donot hide things I am what I am. Thanks for a chance at this book love to have it.
Blessings
joeym11@frontier.com
Sue just saw the log house on your website, ours is NOT that pretty but it does have a porch all the way around with hummingbirds flying about and plenty of rockers…and coffee or tea….you all need to come to the porch!!!!!!!
Wouldn’t that be fun! A gathering on Virginia’s porch! I love hummingbirds (and tea)!
I’m in on that plan, Virginia and Sue. We can sit there and watch the hummingbirds and tell skeleton stories. Oh and drink tea too. I’m enjoying all of your stories. Some of them are making me say, wow, that would make an interesting plot of a novel. And I like Dana’s answer too. “Yes.” Somehow that tweaks my writer imagination too. What’s behind that yes? That’s sort of where a fiction writer starts – with a what if question.
Carol James…we have known each other how long and we haven’t discussed this in detail…..my siblings dad was a casanova with several families….and oddly in my search for mine, I found them too….and the ones I talked to said, you can be “our” sister!!!!!!! it’s a wild and wonderful and sometimes freaky world….and Ann Gabhart grab as many as you can and come rock!!!!!!! you know Sue you opened a closet of “skeletons” and maybe pandora’s box!!!!!
I can’t answer yes or no. I am not sure. Interesting to consider……..