NJT Welcome!
HB Thanks for having me!
NJT Where do you live? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
HB I live in south eastern Pennsylvania in Lancaster County. I’m married to a wonderful man and have two lovely daughters. I’m originally from a small western Pennsylvania town called Latrobe.
A poignant read, ROMANCING OLIVE is an inspired, emotion-packed historical story that will touch your heart. Olive has lived her whole life in the city; always waiting for the next event to happen that would allow her to show her Christian spirit, be it the demise of a neighbor or the aging of her parents. But she has never really allowed herself to experience life. She has given up on love, expecting to spend her life as a spinster. But then she receives a letter and makes the trip of a lifetime to rescue her niece and nephew and finds herself being rescued instead. A beautifully written story, packed with complex, engaging characters, the trials of farm life, humor, childlike wonder, horrors that no child should ever witness, grief and the joys of true love, it is one that you will want to read again and again. I highly recommend ROMANCING OLIVE. Do not miss it!
KD: When and how did Olive’s story come to you?
HB: I’m not sure how to explain this without sounding odd but I see my characters in my head. They lodge themselves there. I saw Olive seated on the train west to Ohio, purse strings looped over her arm, bonnet tied and traveling coat buttoned-up, staring out the window at the passing landscape. She was very consciously not engaging other passengers and dreaming her dreams about raising her niece and nephew in her family home in Philadelphia. I didn’t have a clear picture yet of why Olive had to rescue these children, only that she did.
In 1891, a spinster librarian, Olive Wilkens left the quietness and stability of her Philadelphia home on a mission to rescue her now orphaned niece and nephew in Spencer, Ohio. All she knew when she embarked on her journey was that the children, Mary and John, were taken in by a neighboring farmer Jacob Butler after the deaths of her brother and wife. What she learned was that her brother was not living the respectable farm life he led her to believe in his letters. In fact, the quaint little farm house he painted in his letters was nothing more than a shack on overrun land. He was drunken gambler married to a whore who didn’t do much by way of their children. What starts out to be a saintly mission turns into a journey of self discovery for Olive and a lesson in opening your heart and mind to the world around you.
Romancing Olive is set in Ohio. The story begins in 1891 with the title character, librarian Olive Wilkins, entering a sheriff’s office in the small town of Spencer. The story is intriguing from the outset. The reader wonders straight away why Olive has had to visit the sheriff and what she is waiting for.
Short Bio: I grew up in a home surrounded by books and cut my reading teeth on Nancy Drew, Agnes Sligh Turnbull and John Jakes. I am happily married with two children and live in Lancaster County in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, USA.
I confess, I began reading "Romancing Olive" somewhat reluctantly. I generally tend to avoid both western historical novels (the story takes place in Ohio, which is west enough for me, in 1891,) as well as romances where the Heroine is significantly older than the Hero (Olive is in her mid-to-late 30s and Jacob is in his mid-to-late 20s,) and this book has both. I ended up reading this book anyway thanks to the urging of a good friend, and much to my surprise, I found myself unable to put it down after just a few short pages!
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