Ready to Read

Ready to Read
Historical Novels -Bobi Andrews

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

DEAR MAMA, LOVE SARAH SCORES AGAIN!










You can imagine my pleasure in opening an e-mail
 
and finding the message,  "I've just finished reading
 
Dear Mama, Love Sarah, and I so loved being caught up in the story that
 
I wanted to write you straight away."  Melody Di Piazza goes on to say
 
she is kin to Reuben and Sarah, and like for me, Sarah is our fourth
 
generation Great Grandmother. 
 

One of the pleasures of writing from family histories is that you run into

kin you otherwise would never know about.  After all, at the level of 4x

grandparents the number is 32 to share with some kin.  We all have scads of

cousins.
 

Melody goes on to say, "I was overwhelmed to stumble across your book. 

It was absolutely delightful the way you took this couple out of the dank

of history and breathed such a robust life into them."

 
Melody and I have wondered about the same thing were it us living in those

difficult times.  She states it very well:  "Through these years of research

I had often wondered about Reuben and his Loyalist sympathies.  We

Americans  so readily wave the flag, and truly most of my own ancestors

were Patriots.  However, I've always wondered what I would have done

and thought during those Revolutionary times.   Would I have betrayed

my King and "God given" system of government I had been brought up

to love and respect?  It is a complicated question and one I do not think

we can honesty answer today. "

 
Most family researchers are delighted to find  "stories" of their ancestors. 

We are just as likely to draw conclusions and judge harshly some who have
 
been considered "black sheep."  I like Melody's point of view:

 
"One thing I learned decades ago in this business of family researching

is not to judge my ancestors.   They were who they were in the times and

places they lived.  We cannot ask them to live by our mores.  I must

compliment you on your writing as I found myself engrossed in the Loyalist

cause.  You did a splendid job of building Reuben's case while setting

Sarah's misery against it.  What a heart rending time it must have been

for the entire family. Thank you for writing a lovely tale of what might

have been."

 
To Melody, my heart-felt thanks for your comments and insight.     

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Amazing, Really Amazing


  
Feedback from readers is always a thrill, but can you beat the
following?  I don't think so! 

Bernice found out about Dear Mama, Love Sarah from my sister,
Rose, who lives in Bettendorf, Iowa.  Bernice is not just an ordinary
 reader--she is 98 years old and loves a good story.  

Seems Bernice has a younger sister (age 96) who lives in a
San Diego nursing home. This sister is very alert but has poor eyesight.
The sisters call each other frequently, and as we might do, they inquire
 about what each is doing.  On a recent occasion,  Bernice replied
that she was reading a really good book written by a friend's sister and
illustrated by her friend.

Not to be bested,  the San Diego sister told her daughter about the
book, to which the daughter bought Dear Mama, Love Sarah for
her coming visit on Mother's Day.  As a surprise, she will read the
book to her mom so the  two sisters can "talk" about it. 

Bernice is ecstatic that they had this "special phone call" and is looking
to share the book over the phone.  Says she can't wait for my next
book to come out and is ready to read Dear Mama again!

What could be more inspiring in our golden, golden years than to
be able to find a good book to share and enjoy.  

PS.  Dear Mama, Love Sarah is set during the revolutionary war
and I don't think for a moment that either sister could be fooled as to
the times and customs of the period since they grew up with the stories
their grandparents told.  Bernice had a new one I hadn't heard of.
Back then, they would butcher a hog and fry pork chops for storing--
immersing the chops in a lard crock pot for storage in the cellar. 
Hmmm. Sarah's Cukes and Bernice's Pork Chops--pretty nifty
wouldn't you say?