I’m happy to welcome author Lisa Ard. Today, Lisa shares her new release, Brighter Than Her Fears, based on her great-great-grandmother’s experience in 19th century North Carolina.
Blurb
The 19th century women’s rights movement and the rise of public education intertwine with one woman’s story of struggle, perseverance, and love.
When her father dies and the family inn falls to ruin in 1882, western North Carolina, thirty-year-old Alice Harris is compelled to marry Jasper Carter, a Civil War veteran twice her age. Far from home and a stranger in a new family, Alice remakes herself. She learns to farm tobacco, mothers her stepson, and comes to love her husband.
However, Alice uncovers pending trouble with the family’s land holdings, which threatens their livelihood on the farm. The growth in Asheville promises a different future—one of manufacturing, transportation, tourism, and wealth. Alice believes this future demands an education and she rebels against the limited rural instruction. She joins forces with other women campaigning for Asheville’s first public schools. Her actions spark the rebuke of the Carter men.
Tragedy strikes and Alice’s newfound security is ripped away. The family challenges her property rights and files for guardianship of her stepson. Battered but determined, Alice turns to the law—and a friendly court clerk—to fight for her independence. Will Alice lose everything? Not if she can help it.
Lisa Ard’s debut historical fiction novel will resonate with readers for its parallels, between then and now, on women’s rights, inequality, and racism.
Excerpt
The dressmaker probably saw every kind of bride—joyful, nervous, excited, even frightened, yet rarely two sisters on the same day and seldom ones of our advanced age. At thirty years old, I’d long since abandoned the idea of marriage. The War had ended when I was thirteen and with battlefields turned to cemeteries, the marriage prospects in the South had dimmed considerably. I didn’t favor the title spinster, but I valued my independence. Especially now, as it slipped from my grasp.
“Shorter, Miss Harris?” Miss Shackton asked. “You might wear it after the wedding.”
“Yes, thank you. It’ll make a fine church dress.” My cheeks warmed at the suggestion for thrift. My thoughts thundered over my family’s losses. A hastily arranged marriage to a man I barely knew was my only option.
While Miss Shackton circled to pin the dress’s hem, my eyes swept the neatly kept shop. It was narrow, not two wagons’ breadth across with a front counter crafted from a rich, dark slab of wood laid on top of postmaster shelving. The many nooks and crannies held the dressmaker’s tools of the trade: threads, spools, pin cushions, bolts of fabric, scissors, and more. The orderliness soothed me.
“I’m almost finished here. Be with you in a minute,” Miss Shackton announced to my sister.
Jennie slumped on a faded settee and dabbed her eyes with a damp handkerchief. She’d always been delicate and our rushed marriages, and that of our two sisters, Louise and Ina, didn’t help.”
Author Bio and Links
Lisa Ard is the author of the new historical fiction novel Brighter Than Her Fears, which is based on her great-great-grandmother’s experience in 19th century western North Carolina. Her previously published children’s books include Fright Flight, Dream Team, and the Kay Snow award finalist Saving Halloween. When not writing, Lisa enjoys reading, hiking, golfing and sharing her love of history as a bike tour docent with the Palm Springs Historical Society. She and her husband live (and golf) in both Palm Springs and Portland, Oregon.
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Giveaway
Lisa Ard will award a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.
Follow Lisa on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.
Ms. Ard has crafted a powerful novel set against the backdrop of the post-Civil War period in western North Carolina.
Thirty-year-old Alice Harris (the author’s great-great-grandmother) faces an uncertain future after the sudden death of her father and the family’s subsequent financial ruin. She enters a marriage with Jasper Carter, a Civil War veteran who is twice her age, with low expectations. To her astonishment, she survives and thrives as she learns to farm tobacco, love her husband, and raise her stepson. When tragedy strikes, she is forced to reinvent herself once more and fight for her independence and property rights.
Told in the first person, we are privy to Alice’s innermost thoughts and feelings. The use of letters between Alice, her sister, and her friends further advances the plot and provides insights into the lives and motivations of the secondary characters.
If you enjoy reading historical fiction about women who persevere despite their circumstances, you will love this book.
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