IDEAS
Most of the time, my idea for a book comes after I have visited a place that intrigues me. Or I discover a little-known historical fact, person, or event that needs showcasing. Here are my latest Works-In-Progress with a few reasons why I chose to tell these stories.
TRILBY’S PROMISE
In 1910, during the industrial revolution in North Carolina, a powerless sixteen-year-old girl has little more to hope for than unending work in a cotton mill under manipulative bosses. But Trilby King, with a voice like a nightingale, has dreams: dreams of going to music school and teaching others to sing. When fate disables her parents, Trilby must somehow keep the family afloat. How can she possibly make her dreams come true now? TRILBY’S PROMISE is a story of determination, of family love and conflict, of desperation and lies, of budding romance. Ultimately, it is the story of how one girl conquers the odds stacked against her and literally finds her own voice.
When I was a child, my family attended a church in a rural area. We passed this property every Sunday. Imagine this lovely home with a forest of trees in front of it, with vines and underbrush growing within the forest. We could barely see that there was a dilapidated house behind the trees. Did anyone live there? Was the house filled with ghosts? Little did I know then that the house had been built in the 1890's and was the home of the local mill owner.
Many years passed before I discovered the actual mill village that was on two streets behind the mill owner's house. These simple structures housed families who worked in the cotton mill. I was struck by the disparity between them and the mill owner's home. I began to investigate what life was like for a mill worker in the early 1900's and was shocked to learn that children as young as nine worked in the mills six days a week, twelve hours a day.
The more I explored the mill village, the mill, and the mill owner's house, ideas for a novel formed. I created the King family whose teenage daughter is forced to work in the mill to help the family survive. The main problem...she wants to finish high school and attend a music academy. Her parents agree to Trilby returning to high school if she works for a year in the mill. But soon Trilby is solely responsible for the welfare of her family. Her desperation leads to lies and deceit that can ruin them all.
Following is an excerpt from TRILBY’S PROMISE:
In my sixteen years of living I’d never woke up in a bed by myself. But there I was, stretching my bare legs from one side to the other, and the only things I felt were the lumpy mattress underneath and the quilt on top. Cousin Esther’s smelly breath wasn’t blowing in my face, and Cousin Pauline’s rump wasn’t planted square in the middle of my back.
Bright morning light beat my eyelids open like steam on a sealed letter and reminded me my year of misery had begun. It was time to get dressed for my first day of mill work. A knot of dread lay hard and cold in my stomach, anchoring me to my bed.
I looked around the bedroom in the unfamiliar house, noticing patches of dull wood that fought their way through old blue paint. A small fireplace held an empty grate. Diffy, my seven-year-old brother snored softly in his bed. Yellow-white hair curled on top of his head, and his normal foot stuck out from under his quilt. His shriveled leg and club foot lay hidden under the covers.
Usually I greeted the day with singing. Most times I’d just as soon sing as eat. But for weeks, the thought of quitting school and moving away from everything I’d ever known dried up every song in my mouth. In my heart.