Character interview Tim Beatrice Carraway from the novel The Girl From the Papers by Jennifer L. Wright

August 8, 2023September 10, 2023 ~ Cindy Thomson ~ Leave a comment

Inspired by one of America’s most notorious couples, Bonnie and Clyde, Jennifer L. Wright delivers a riveting tale set during the public enemy era of the Great Depression.

Welcome to NovelPASTimes! Today we’re joined by Miss Beatrice Carraway. Welcome, Beatrice!

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Beatrice: Thank you for having me.

Why don’t you go ahead and tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

Beatrice: Well, my name is Beatrice Carraway, but I guess you’ve already told them that. I’m nineteen years old, and I live in Dallas, Texas, with my mother and my little sister, Eleanor.

Dallas! That sounds exciting!

Beatrice: Well . . . West Dallas.

Oh.

Beatrice: But I work across the river in Dallas proper! It’s my grandparents’ house, you see, over there in West Dallas, and my mom, sister, and I are just living there until we can save up some money. We don’t plan on actually staying in that dirty, mosquito-infested, smoke-covered pit. I mean, I trust you’ve heard what they call it?

No, actually.

Beatrice: The Devil’s Back Porch.

Oh my.

Beatrice: Exactly. Nothing but petty thieves, drunks, and factory workers. No thank you. But it won’t be long before I’m across that Trinity River for good, like I’m supposed to be. I’ll have the fancy house, fancy car, fancy clothes. All of it. I mean, having you seen some of the dresses they sell downtown? Silk with dropped waists and creeping hemlines? Goodness. I’d just die to have some of those frocks in my closet.

Well, you look very lovely as it is, Beatrice.

Beatrice: Thank you. I do my best with what I have. This one I’m wearing today I altered from an old dress that had grown thin in the collar. See how I cut the neckline into a V shape and added some fringe? And I added this patch of white cotton to the left shoulder, which I also fringed, to make it a bit more with the times. I based it on a dress I saw in a window display downtown.

You seem to know a lot about fashion.

Beatrice: Well, I have to. It’s part of the job.

The job?

Beatrice: I’m an actress. And we actresses have to stay on top of the latest trends. I mean, what would our fans think if they saw us out in a prairie dress or hobble skirt? Would you want to watch a woman dressed like that up on the stage?

I—

Beatrice: You wouldn’t. Trust me. I may have been born with a face fit for the silver screen, but the clothes are what really make a dame stand out above all the rest.

Is that so? Well, that’s very interesting, Beatrice. I’ve never met an actress. What shows have you been in? Anything I might have seen?

Beatrice: Umm . . . well . . . nothing in Dallas. Yet. I’m fairly new to the city, and I’m still waiting for the directors here to finally figure out what a talent has landed on their doorstop. I mean, I was Little Miss Firecracker, 1916. I performed a rendition of “Alabama Jubilee” that had the judges two-steppin’ faster than a three-legged cat on a Texas sidewalk at noontime in July.

Interesting metaphor.

Beatrice: Thank you.

Well, so, what are you doing in the meantime? As you wait for the actress thing to pan out?

Beatrice: Right now I’m waiting tables at Hargrave’s. It’s right downtown, and the tips are pretty good, especially being so close to the medical school. Lot of lonely college boys looking for a good time, if you know what I mean.

I’m not sure I do. By “tips” you do mean just extra change for good service and a quick meal, don’t you?

Beatrice. Yes . . . *winks* and no.

*Coughs*

Beatrice: Oh, stop. It’s not like that. They just like to take us waitresses out for drinks and dancing sometimes. It’s nice to have a night out on the town. I certainly wouldn’t be able to afford it on my paycheck.

So I’m guessing you have your fair share of beaus, then?

Beatrice: *shrugs* I’ve been on a lot of dates, but none of them have been keepers. I’m still looking. But I’ll tell you one thing.

What’s that?

Beatrice: When I do find the right man, it’s going to be forever. Just me and him until the very end, whenever and however that may be.

Well, thank you for your time, Beatrice. I look forward to seeing your name up in lights—or in print—very soon.

Beatrice: Oh, you will. I guarantee it.

About the Author

Jennifer L. Wright has been writing since middle school, eventually earning a master’s degree in journalism at Indiana University. However, it took only a few short months of covering the local news for her to realize that writing fiction is much better for the soul and definitely way more fun. A born and bred Hoosier, she was plucked from the Heartland after being swept off her feet by an Air Force pilot and has spent the past decade traveling the world and, every few years, attempting to make old curtains fit in the windows of a new home. She currently resides in New Mexico with her husband, two children, one grumpy old dachshund, and her newest obsession—a guinea pig named Peanut Butter Cup.

Helpful Links:

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The Girl from the Papers Media Center Page
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Meet Percy from Wish Me Home West Virginia by Valerie Banfield

May 29, 2019May 28, 2019 ~ Cindy Thomson ~ Leave a comment

Introducing Percy Bigler, a homespun boy who lives within the pages of Wish Me Home West Virginia, by Valerie Banfield

Novel PASTimes: With me this morning is Percy Bigler, a native of Elizabeth, West Virginia and a participant of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s highly acclaimed, yet widely controversial, Civilian Conservation Corps. Good morning, Percy.

PERCY: Morning, ma’am.

Novel PASTimes: I know the purpose of the CCC is to take young men off public assistance, to provide for their families financially, and to build or improve the country’s infrastructure, among other things. How did you come to enroll in the program?

PERCY: When the stock market crashed back in 1929, it took a while for its effects to trickle into West Virginia. During the five years since, that trickle’s washed away livelihoods, swept food off the tables, and drenched folks with fear. My family managed to tread water until 1934, but when the incessant flow hit flood stage, it was time for me to man the lifeboat and get them out of harm’s way. It was President Roosevelt who tossed the ropes to me, and it was in the form of the CCC.

Novel PASTimes: That’s an unusual way to frame the consequences of the Great Depression.

PERCY: Flooding is all too common in the hills and hollows, so I reckon that’s why it seems a fitting comparison. Truth of the matter is that some counties in West Virginia have unemployment as high as eighty percent.

Novel PASTimes: Oh my. In that case, flood stage may be an understatement. Tell me about your experience with the president’s program.

PERCY: Some people are downright scornful when it comes to the CCC, but I’m proud of the work we’re doing. Sure, it takes a heap of money to set up a work force like President Roosevelt designed, but we’re saving forests, preventing fires, building roads and dams, and employing conservation techniques that protect our land. A hundred years from now, when someone snags a fish out of a lake in a national forest, or a father takes his family camping at a state park, evidence of our work will remain, and I hope those folks know that it was the men of the CCC who prepared the way.

Novel PASTimes: Is it true that you have been the subject of disciplinary action?

PERCY: Yes, ma’am. I’m embarrassed to say that the sergeant overseeing my training at the conditioning camp and the camp commander in Nevada both took me to task.

Novel PASTimes: Would you mind sharing what happened?

PERCY: I’d rather you got to know me a mite better before I spill the story, especially since my defense won’t sound credible without retelling the events that led up to each indiscretion. I will say that I’m a peaceable person who practices compromise, but in both situations, I ended up on my backside before I could offer another remedy. It’s funny how fast things can go downhill—not that either occasion was laughable. That’s not what I mean.

Novel PASTimes: My notes indicate your education ended after the eighth grade. How do you account for your vocabulary?

PERCY: I may not be schoolhouse smart, but I’m what the folks in the hollow call book learned. They pronounce that ler-ned. When I saw the hundreds of books at the CCC camp library, it set my mouth watering. Shelves overflow with books about history and science, and good reads by authors like Mark Twain. A good story can take you anywhere, don’t you know?

Novel PASTimes: Did you ever imagine your real life travels would take you to Nevada?

PERCY: No, ma’am. It’s as hot out here as the tin roof on Bigler’s General Store, but this is where the CCC sent me, and I aim to make the best of it.

Novel PASTimes: What about your personal life, Percy? Do you have a sweetheart waiting for you to come home?

PERCY: No, ma’am. I will say that I met a nice looking gal who lives here in Hawthorne, but she’s nothing like those from back home. Pretty and smart as she is, I think she scares me more than she entices me. I reckon I’d be better off with one from my own neck of the woods, one who delights in the simple things in life. One like . . .

Novel PASTimes: Why, Mr. Bigler, I think you’re blushing. Would you care to enlighten our readers?

PERCY: No, ma’am. That’s all I have to say on that subject.

Novel PASTimes: Then, let me ask one more question. What do you fear, and what to you hope to find, when you finish your work with the CCC and go back to West Virginia?

PERCY: First off, I try not to worry. It takes more effort than living the day that’s set before me. That said, I hope the Depression ends before I go home, because I’ll need a job once I get there. I hope that when I return, I’m just a grown-up version of the country boy who left. I have faith that regardless of what I find when I walk into the only place I’ve called home, the Good Father will determine my next steps.

VALERIE BANFIELD is a talespinner to the lost, the loved, and the found. She is the author of eleven novels, co-author of three West Virginia-themed tales, and recipient of the Cascade Award for Historical Fiction. In the course of writing about West Virginia, the hills and hollows beckoned her, so she uprooted her tent stakes and planted them in the Mountain State’s red clay soil. Right now, she’s pretty sure she’s home.

www.valeriebanfield.com

www.amazon.com/dp/1091036616

Book Review: Destiny of Heart by Catherine Brakefield

February 11, 2019February 2, 2019 ~ Kathleen Rouser ~ 3 Comments

Destiny of Heart is the third book of Catherine Ulrich Brakefield’s saga of the McConnell family, the Destiny series. This novel sweeps around the country, covering events in Colorado, Michigan, and Kentucky.

While Collina battles fever and illness at Shushan, Ruby and Stephen must head to the prairies in hopes of bringing him back to health from his battle with a strange lung disease. Collina’s husband has left her and all that remains to fight for is what is left of a dwindling Shushan and her mustard seed of faith. Eventually, Ruby faces her own tragedy and returns to her family in Kentucky. Then Franklin Long, former rough-rider and Collina’s lost sweetheart, unexpectedly runs into their sister, Myra, in Detroit. This sets into effect a chain of events that will test the McConnell family even farther, into the days of the Great Depression.

Brakefield has done her research and goes to great lengths to interweave historic events into the novels she writes and this one is no different. Her characters battle not only the difficulties around them but also wrestle with relatable spiritual issues within that can be understood in today’s culture as much as in the past. Destiny of Heart is also sprinkled with bright spots, past love fulfilled, and hope in God for the future.

For readers left wondering at the end of Destiny’s Whirlwind they will find some satisfaction in this third installment of the McConnell family saga. An enjoyable and hopeful Christian fiction read!

Catherine Ulrich Brakefield is an ardent receiver of Christ’s rejuvenating love, as well as a hopeless romantic and patriot. She skillfully intertwines these elements into her writing as the author of Wilted Dandelions, published by CrossRiver Publishing, an inspirational historical romance, along with her first Christian Romance novel, “The Wind of Destiny“, and her other history books, Images of America,The Lapeer Area and The Images of America, Eastern Lapeer County. published by Arcadia Publishing.

Her short stories have been published in Guidepost Books; Extraordinary Answers to Prayers, Unexpected Answers and Desires of Your Heart; Baker Books, Revell, The Dog Next Door, and The Horse of my Heart; CrossRiver Publishing, The Benefit Package, and Abba’s Promise; and Bethany House, Jesus talked to me Today.

Catherine lives in Addison Township, MI., with her husband Edward of forty-four years, and her beautiful Arabian horses. She enjoys horseback riding, swimming, camping, and traveling the byroads across America. Her children are now grown and married with families of their own. Catherine and Edward are now the blessed recipients of two handsome grandsons and one preciously adorable granddaughter.

Book Review: Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

June 8, 2018 ~ Cindy Thomson ~ 1 Comment

41gFoKVfgBL._SX319_BO1,204,203,200_ In this book we meet William Eng, a young Chinese boy living in a Catholic orphanage in Seattle. He remembers his mother and is sure the singer who is performing in town by the name of Willow Frost is his mother Liu Song. He escapes along with his blind friend Charlotte and they search for her. The reunion is not as joyful as he was expecting, however, and we are taken back to the 1920s and learn Liu Song’s sorrowful story of abuse and a love lost. William experiences his own loss and eventually returns to the orphanage.

I’m pleased that this book, so full of heartbreak, has a happy ending. I learned a lot about the time period and American-Chinese culture. I have been a Jamie Ford fan ever since reading The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and I recommend all his books. So touching, and so well written. Worthy to have been New York Times Bestsellers.