Only two months until Release Day for Ladies of the Lake! 

There is so much I want to share with you about the research for this book, and the story behind the story.  But this month, because we celebrate Mother’s Day, I want to share with you how my mother impacted my thinking and inspired one of the characters.

You may already know that part of this book is set in Nova Scotia—beautiful Prince Edward Island and Halifax—the city of the Great Halifax Explosion of WWI, the world’s most destructive manmade explosion prior to the dropping of the atomic bomb.  Thousands died in that Explosion.  Hundreds more were scarred and/or blinded.

How could I possibly write about that?  How could I have any idea what that devastation might have meant in a person’s life?  It was because of hearing family stories and witnessing my mother’s life.

When Mom (Bernice) was a very little girl living through the Great Depression, she was given a comb—a wonderful gift in her two-year-old world.  Joyfully she played with her treasure, unmindful of the open fire that heated their house, or how near she danced.

Before she could cry out her clothes and hair were engulfed in flames.  Burns covered her small body.  Doctors doubted she’d live.  If by some miracle they were wrong, they believed she would not see, would never walk again.  After multiple surgeries, skin grafts and a three months hospital stay, Bernice defied every doctor’s prediction.  She walked, she ran, she danced, she saw, she graduated high school, she married, birthed, and raised four children, worked a full career as a legal secretary, participated in church and lived a life of active service.  At this writing, she is 95 years of age.

Bernice (Mom) inspired the character of Bernadette in Ladies of the Lake.  Like Mom, Bernadette was self-conscious of her scars, but did not let them define her.  They never kept her from living a full, rich life or from giving unreservedly to others.

Mom and me wearing our Mother/Daughter shirtwaists, a few years before her stroke

Though she is now blind, bedridden, and often confused, my mother’s stalwart faith has not wavered.  My siblings and I are blessed by her example.  We honor her this Mother’s Day as a true Proverbs 31 Woman.  I pray that Ladies of the Lake does the same.

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