Episode 32 - Author Chat with Heidi Chiavaroli

05/18/21 • 24 min

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The Orchard HouseAward-winning author Heidi Chiavaroli transports readers across time and place in this time-slip novel that will appeal to fans of Little Women.
Two women, one living in present day Massachusetts and another in Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House soon after the Civil War, overcome their own personal demons and search for a place to belong.
2001
Abandoned by her own family, Taylor is determined not to mess up her chance at joining the home of her best friend, Victoria Bennett. But despite attending summer camp at Louisa May Alcott’s historic Orchard House with Victoria and sharing dreams of becoming famous authors, Taylor struggles to fit in. As she enters college and begins dating, it feels like Taylor is finally finding her place and some stability . . . until Victoria’s betrayal changes everything.
1865
While Louisa May Alcott is off traveling the world, Johanna Suhre accepts a job tending Louisa’s aging parents and their home in Concord. Soon after arriving at Orchard House, Johanna meets Nathan Bancroft and, ignoring Louisa’s words of caution, falls in love and accepts Nathan’s proposal. But before long, Johanna experiences her husband’s dark side, and she can’t hide the bruises that appear.
2019
After receiving news of Lorraine Bennett’s cancer diagnosis, Taylor knows she must return home to see her adoptive mother again. Now a successful author, Taylor is determined to spend little time in Concord. Yet she becomes drawn into the story of a woman who lived there centuries before. And through her story, Taylor may just find forgiveness and a place to belong.
Purchase a copy of The Orchard House
Heidi Chiavaroli (pronounced shev-uh-roli...sort of like Chevrolet and ravioli mushed together!) wrote her first story in third grade, titled I'd Cross the Desert for Milk. It wasn't until years later that she revisited writing, using her two small boys’ nap times to pursue what she thought at the time was a foolish dream. Despite a long road to publication, she hasn’t stopped writing since!

Heidi writes women's fiction, combining her love of history and literature to write split time stories. Her debut novel, Freedom's Ring, was a Carol Award winner and a Christy Award finalist, a Romantic Times Top Pick and a Booklist Top Ten Romance Debut. Heidi loves exploring places that whisper of historical secrets, especially with her family. She loves running, hiking, baking, and dates with her husband. Her latest dual timeline novel, The Orchard House, is inspired by the lesser-known events in Louisa May Alcott's life. Heidi makes her home in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.
Learn more about Heidi by visiting her website.

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Episode 31 - Author Chat with Michelle Griep

Christian Historical Fiction Talk is listener supported. When you buy things through this site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
The Thief of Blackfriar's LaneThere’s Often a Fine Line Between a Criminal and a Saint
Constable Jackson Forge intends to make the world safer, or at least the streets of Victorian London. But that’s Kit Turner’s domain, a swindler who runs a crew that acquires money the old-fashioned way—conning the rich to give to the poor. When a local cab driver goes missing, Jackson is tasked with finding the man, and the only way to do that is by enlisting Kit’s help. If Jackson doesn’t find the cabby, he’ll be fired. If Kit doesn’t help Jackson, he’ll arrest her for thievery. Yet neither of them realize those are the least of their problems.
Purchase a copy of The Thief of Blackfriar's Lane.
Author Michelle Griep was born in Minneapolis. She says she hears voices, which are loud and incessant and extremely real. It gave her two options: write fiction or take a bunch of Prozac. She chose to write fiction, as it is way cheaper.

She has been writing since she discovered blank wall space and Crayolas. She seeks to glorify God in everything she writes, except for the graffiti phase she went through in her teenage years.
Be sure to visit Michelle's website.

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Episode 33 - Author Chat with Stephanie Landsem

Christian Historical Fiction Talk is listener supported. When you buy things through this site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
In a Far-Off LandA story about the price of fame, the truth sacrificed on its altar, and the love that brings a prodigal daughter home.
As the Great Depression hits the Midwest, Minerva Sinclaire runs away to Hollywood, determined to make it big and save the family farm. But beauty and moxie don’t pay the bills in Tinseltown, and she’s caught in a downward spiral of poverty, desperation, and compromise. Finally, she’s about to sign with a major studio and make up for it all. Instead, she wakes up next to a dead film star and is on the run for a murder she didn’t commit.
Only two unwilling men—Oscar, a Mexican gardener in danger of deportation, and Max, a too-handsome agent battling his own demons—can help Mina escape corrupt police on the take and the studio big shots trying to frame her. But even her quick thinking and grit can't protect her from herself. Alone, penniless, and carrying a shameful secret, Mina faces the consequences of the heartbreaking choices that brought her to ruin . . . and just might bring her back to where she belongs.
Click here to get your copy of In a Far-Off Land.
Stephanie Landsem has traveled since she was a teenager—backpacking through Germany and Eastern Europe, studying German in Salzburg, eating gelato in Italy, and riding camels in Morocco. Travel is the best kind of research.
When she can’t travel, she reads. She loves fiction, of course, but she's often found behind a stack of history books or searching the web for historical tidbits. How people lived together, worked, what they ate and what they wore are questions that inspire her imagination and fuel her writing.
She makes her home in Minnesota with her husband of 30 years, occasional adult children, two cats, a dog, and a tortoise named Moe. When she's not writing historical fiction, she's gardening, cooking, volunteering at church, and dreaming about her next adventure – whether it be in person or on the page.
Visit Stephanie's website.