Marian P. Merritt - Lagniappe: Christine Lindsay

Good Monday Morning Readers!

Today, Christine Lindsay visits Lagniappe where she shares the most awkward situation she put her characters into.

Welcome, Christine!

Tell us a little about Veiled at Midnight.

Christine: Veiled at Midnight is the final installment to my 3-book historical series Twilight of the British Raj. The hero and heroine of Veiled at Midnight were only little children or newly born in the first book Shadowed in Silk.

As a grown man Captain Cam Fraser is in love with an Indian woman, Dassah. Cam has known Dassah since they played together as children when she was an orphan at a Christian mission in northern India. But in 1946 it’s still taboo for an Englishman to marry an Indian women, especially if he has the prestigious position of being aide to the last British Viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten. To make matters worse, Cam struggles with addiction to alcohol handed down to him from his natural father.

The passionate and explosion conclusion to this series is set against the violent partition of India when Britain gives independence to India and the world watches the British Empire come to an end.

Give readers your brand/tagline and share how you came up with it.

Christine: My brand/tagline has evolved over the past few years out of my speaking ministry. The song title “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” rang in my ears as I shared with women at events and conferences, so I simply took off the last word. My brand is now, “What Becomes of the Broken?”

I’ve never met anyone whose heart hasn’t been broken. But what do we do with that—allow it to make us bitter? Or is there a way to hand it over to God and have Him create something wonderful out of that brokenness? These are the things I learned when my heart was broken relinquishing my first child to adoption back in 1979.

My books are all about that too. My characters all learn the same lesson—what are they going to do with their broken heart. What can be made out of a black hole?

What is your hope for the readers of your books?

Christine: It’s my hope that readers will be entertained for a day or so, that they will be swept away on a romantic, riveting, high-stakes story so they can relax a bit from their own busy life. At the same time I hope they will be encouraged in their faith as they are being entertained.

Do you read your reviews? Do you respond to them, good or bad? Do you have any advice on how to deal with the bad?

Christine: Oh yes, I read them avidly. I smile over the 5 or 4 star reviews. I cringe a bit over the few not so favorable reviews. Thank the Lord they are few. But I never respond. Reviewers need the freedom to express their true opinion. As far as I’m concerned all news is good news. I think that if someone reads a 1 star review about me they may discover that the reviewer’s reason for that poor review is not the same criteria that they consider important. They thing that someone does not like about my novels may be the very thing the other person is looking for. My advice—consider it all good.

What is your least favorite part of the publishing / writing process?

Christine: Marketing. I hate marketing. Can I say it again, I hate marketing. I love all of the writing process but having to publicize myself is very uncomfortable.

What is the most awkward situation you've ever put your character(s) into?

Christine: There are two situations that pop out. One is when I had my heroine Abby Fraser from Shadowed in Silk suffer a slap across the face from her abusive husband. It was a delicate tightrope to write that scene without it being overly graphic and yet show bravery and strength on the part of my heroine. And hope for the reader. Shadowed in Silk is about standing up to abuse, refusing to be invisible.

In the final book Veiled at Midnight to that series, I had another awkward situation. That was with Cam the grown up son of Abby from Shadowed in Silk. Cam struggles to stop drinking and I have to show him as an alcoholic, but how do you make a hero struggle with that and still make him likeable? So I started the book off with Cam forced on the road to sobriety by sticking him in a military situation where he can’t get his hands on a drink. I also have him not show his weakness until much later in the book after the reader has had a chance to see his true heart.

What can we expect from you in the future?

Christine: Pelican Book Group is releasing a historical romance of mine called Sofi’s Bridge in 2015.

And I am currently writing my non-fiction account of relinquishing my first child to adoption in 1978 and our reunion twenty years later in 1999. That’s when my heart was truly broken when I relived my original loss of her as my child. But the Lord healed my broken heart when He showed me how much He loved me. I could never understand a father’s love. My own dad was a neglectful alcoholic father. All I understood was a mother’s love.

So the verses in Isaiah 49:15, 16a showed me the truth. “Can a woman forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. See…I have engraved you on the palms on my hands.

That book will be released in November, and I hope it will encourage others whose hearts have been broken for whatever reason, and that they will find the greatest of joy in seeing God turn that brokenness into something new and wonderful.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Laptop or Desktop?

Christine: Laptop, I need to work in various rooms of my house. I’m always on the move.

Dogs or Cats?

Christine: Both. I love my critters, and we have 2 dogs and 1 cat.

Nora Roberts or Diana Gabaldon?

Christine: Diana Gabaldon---love her historical novels and my goodness what passion!!!

Superman or Batman?

Christine: Batman—I like the darkness of his brokenness and how it spurs him on to help others.

Vacation: Beach or Mountains?

Christine: Both. Anytime. Just let me know, I’ll meet you there.

Hugs to all,

Christine

ABOUT VEILED AT MIDNIGHT Book 3 of the series Twilight of the British Raj

As the British Empire comes to an end, millions flee to the roads. Caught up in the turbulent wake is Captain Cam Fraser, his sister Miriam, and the beautiful Indian Dassah.

Cam has never been able to put Dassah from his mind, ever since the days when he played with the orphans at the mission as a boy. But a British officer and the aide to the last viceroy cannot marry a poor Indian woman, can he?

As this becomes clear to Dassah, she has no option but to run. Cam may hold her heart—but she cannot let him break it again.

Miriam rails against the separation of the land of her birth, but is Lieutenant Colonel Jack Sunderland her soulmate or a distraction from what God has called her to do?

The 1947 Partition has separated the country these three love…but can they find their true homes before it separates them forever.

ABOUT CHRISTINE LINDSAY:

Christine Lindsay was born in Ireland, and is proud of the fact that she was once patted on the head by Prince Philip when she was a baby. Her great grandfather, and her grandfather—yes father and son—were both riveters on the building of the Titanic. Tongue in cheek, Christine states that as a family they accept no responsibility for the sinking of that great ship.

It was stories of her ancestors who served in the British Cavalry in Colonial India that inspired her Multi-award-winning, historical series Twilight of the British Raj. Book 1 Shadowed in Silk, Book 2 Captured by Moonlight, and the final installment to that series, Veiled at Midnight just released October 2014.

Londonderry Dreaming is Christine’s first romance which is set in Ireland.

Christine makes her home in British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada with her husband and their grown up family. Her cat Scottie is chief editor on all Christine’s books.

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