Shannon here: Rose Allen McCauley shares the insiration for her latest novella, Hidden Courage. Comment or answer the question at the end of the post to enter the drawing for a copy of The Courageous Brides Collection, a nine novella collection which includes Hidden Courage. Deadline: Sept 10th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Rose:
Romantic Letters by Rose Allen McCauley
My latest book, The Courageous Brides Collection, by Barbour Publishing, is set in Kentucky in 1833. My story, which is one of nine novellas in the collection, is called Hidden Courage, and my heroine’s hidden courage leads her to get involved in the Underground Railroad. This story is based on the home my son and his wife and daughter named Elinor currently live in, so I named my heroine after my granddaughter. The house was built in Pre-Civil War days. When my daughter-in-law’s parents first remodeled the house, they discovered a hidden room in the basement that was the impetus for my idea for the whole story!
The heroine is sent to her aunt’s house in Washington, KY, to get her away from the hero, where she meets Harriet Beecher (who after she married a Mr. Stowe, later wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin). While away from each other for a couple weeks, the young couple resort to the only means they had to stay in touch—letter-writing. In fact, they had only met a couple times before she was sent away, and her parents forbade her to see him when she returns, so much of their courting is done through romantic letters.
This led a friend and I to discuss our letters under our beds from when our husbands were overseas during the Viet Nam war over forty years ago. My husband and I had been married less than a year when he enlisted in the Air Force. In fact, we spent our first three anniversaries apart due to his deployments. This was before the era of Facebook, twitter, or even cell phones. His family had a dial-up phone in their house, but my family didn’t, so I had to go to a neighbor’s house to call him on rare occasions. So, those letters are very precious to me, like the fictional letters Elinor and her hero William wrote to one another.
About Rose: Rose has been writing for over a decade and has four books published. She is thrilled for this to be her second novella collection with Barbour. A retired schoolteacher who has been happily married to her college sweetheart for over forty years, they enjoy their growing family of three children and their spouses and five lovely, lively grandkids! She loves to hear from her readers. Learn more and connect:
Rose’s Website Rose’s Twitter Rose’s Facebook
About the book – The Courageous Brides Collection:
Ride into adventures alongside nine determined women of yesteryear whose acts of compassion and bravery attract male attention. Marcy helps displaced Indians. Emmy tends wounds at Fort Snelling. Ronnie stows away on a cattle drive. Daisy disguises herself as a Pony Express rider. Elinor becomes an abolitionist. Mae tames wild horses. Hannah gets help for accident victims. Lucy’s curiosity unnerves criminals. Kate nurses soldiers on the battlefield. Will real dangers douse the sparks of love?
Question for Readers: How about you—do you or someone else in your family have a collection of letters they have kept over the years?
Can’t wait for the drawing? Purchase now: Courageous Brides Print Courageous Brides Kindle
Come back Sept 1st for Marji Laine!
yes i have a bundle from my brother when he was in Germany. how i learned a little dutch!
One of my aunts has a bunch of letters from their parents from right before and after they were married, which would be in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s.
My cousin used to write my grandmother when they lived in different states. My cousin came to visit last summer and brought some of the letters. Grandma is gone now and we all really enjoyed reading her letters.
Thanks to Shannon for hosting me again, and I hope your readers will visit you on my blog at rosemccauley.com this Thursday, Sept.1st. And thanks to Sandra and Shelia and Shannon for continuing our discussion on letters!
I have my letters from my husband saved, and we only lived 20 miles away from one another when dating. My kids don’t believe that dad actually wrote letters. I love your story concept, hope to read the whole thing!
What an interesting interview, including the background of the historic house with a secret room! After my parents passed away, I found some letters they had written to each other during the WWII time frame. Thanks for the opportunity to participate. The Barbour Collection books are always very enjoyable reads.
The only collection of “letters” I’ve ever kept is birthday cards. I’ve got years worths of them from grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, parents, great-great-aunts, daycare kids, etc.
I absolutely LOVE these Barbour collections! I own ten of them and have one checked out from the library that I’m reading right now. I haven’t read this one yet. I’m so excited about this giveaway!!!
Elly -Indiana-
I just recently moved, and ran across many old cards and letters while packing up. Some precious ones from my grandmother, and others from friends who wrote while I was away working at a camp one summer when I was in high school…
Not to my knowledge. But they would be so cool if there was some.
I have one beautiful Valentine card my Father gave me when I was about 10 years old that I treasure.
I’m a packrat and recently found some cards from my children’s birthdays that I had been meaning to put in their baby books that I never did get around to do….. they’re all adults now
and probably will make their own baby books.
Yes, I have letters that my husband wrote me while he was in the army. Many beautiful cards and wonderful thoughts and dreams on paper!
Hope you can find a copy if you don’t win, Melody D. I found out today they are sold in WalMarts! Glad you also enjoy the Barbour collections, Cathy C. and Elly. Glad you all collect cards, Susieq, Patty, and Joye, especially the special one from your father. Karen, that would be a great story starter–a lady finding a stack of letters that her parents or someone else kept for years! And Melanie, I love that you also kept the cards and letters from your hubby. Mind are very precious to me!
My mother-in-law kept the letters from her husband when he was in the service during WWII. They got lost in a fire back in 2000.
That’s so sad, Karen. Maybe even worse than losing pictures.
I have the letters my hubby wrote me when he was in the Army and stationed in Germany.
I’m not sure there are any letters in my family that have been handed down through the generations, however, my mother is 91 years old and has kept a detailed diary since she was a young girl. I have often had her check her diaries for info/dates I’ve forgotten.
Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!!
I have letters written to and from my paternal grandmother from her parents. These have helped me in my search for Irish ancestors.
Yes. My sis-in-law already answered that question. My mom saved the letters from my dad from World War II but they got lost in a fire along with his and my brother’s medals. They were kept in my mom’s hope chest and my brother and sis-in-law wanted to move the hope chest to their home but it was too late. There were lots of pictures, too.
Yes I do My and a couple of my friends were just talking about it and I was saying that I still had Elementary and High School Letters/Notes Back and Forth between each other. Thanks for the chance to win a copy of the book. It looks Great My email is iamabho (at) gmail (dot) com
Anne Ellison, I knew we had a lot in common! So sad about the pics and letters being lost in a fire, Kaylee and Karen. I love the diary and the letter from the grandmothers for doing ancestry searches. You all are a fount of ideas, girls! Wish you could all win a copy, but hope you can find it at WMart or a bookstore near you if you don’t, or you can always ask your library to order it for you. Mine will usually do that if I ask. I love the Barbour collections, too. In fact, this is my second collection with Barbour– the first was a Christmas 4-in-1 and I think it is only available on kindle now. And I am sending off a proposal today for another Barbour historical collection. Pray that it gets picked up as it will be exciting! I am setting my story in Pearl Harbor in 1941!
I have a winner! Sandra Padgett won the drawing. I appreciate Rose for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.