Thursday, May 3, 2018

BACKCOUNTRY BRIDES COLLECTION. What inspired Denise Weimer's story, ACROSS THREE AUTUMNS?


Deb, here, and I'm happy to host fellow author Denise Weimer. As we celebrate The Backcountry Brides Collection this month, we'll learn more about these colonial era novellas!

First up, the Inspiration for Across Three Autumns



As an author, I’ve written novels set across Georgia, from mountains to piedmont to coast. Some of these feature modern characters who uncover tantalizing tidbits of history that reveal a mystery and change their current lives. Some are historicals set primarily during the nineteenth century. I’ve leaned toward that time period due to a background in mid-1800s living history and vintage dance, and also for another reason … inland Georgia doesn’t boast many homes or historic sites dating prior!
But for a long time I’ve been aware of mysterious signage directing travelers to a stone-and-iron gate in the piney woods of Middle Georgia, with a dirt road that leads to the site of Kettle Creek Battlefield. Finally, on a chilly February day a couple of years ago, my husband and I attended a re-enactment in nearby Washington, Georgia, as part of the town’s Revolutionary War Days, followed by a ceremony at the battlefield.

In 1779, English forces captured Savannah as part of the “southern strategy” to subdue the lower colonies. That included recruiting Loyalists in the backcountry.  On February 14, British Colonel James Boyd and 650 Loyalist recruits broke camp in Piedmont Georgia to rendezvous with a company of horsemen under Captain John Hamilton. Instead, their beating drums alerted Patriot Colonel Andrew Pickens, Colonel John Dooly, and Lt. Colonel Elijah Clark to ready their 400 frontiersmen for battle. For details of their encounter, the National Park Service provides a good summary: https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/july/2011/kettle_creek_battlefield.htm
In the back of my mind, I’d been waiting for an opportunity to center a story around Kettle Creek. I also wanted to portray an atypical protagonist, a tall, strong frontierswoman modeled after Georgia’s Rev War heroine, Nancy Hart. When I started to research, the extent of struggle, privation, and courage exhibited by Piedmont Georgia’s settlers as they fought off both Tories and Indians in the “Hornet’s Nest” astonished me. I didn’t have to invent much action for Across Three Autumns! Basically, setting and heroine melded to inspire a compelling story. And I’m so glad it’s told in the Backcountry Brides collection.

Thanks so much, Denise! I love it when there's so much in historical events that it's hard to pick one part of an event or person's life to focus on! This collection is full of such stories!

Denise Weimer holds a journalism degree with a minor in history from Asbury University. A former magazine writer, she is a substantive editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas as well as the author of The Georgia Gold Series, The Restoration Trilogy and a number of romantic novellas. Represented by Hartline Literary Agency, Denise is a wife and swim mom of two daughters who always pauses for old houses, coffee and chocolate!




The Backcountry Brides Collection from Barbour Publishing is available now 
in digital ebook and paperback!

Love on Colonial America’s Frontier

Travel into Colonial America where eight women seek love, but they each know a future husband requires the necessary skills to survive in the backcountry. Living in areas exposed to nature’s ferocity, prone to Indian attack, and cut off from regular supplies, can hearts overcome the dangers to find lasting love?

Shenandoah Hearts by Carrie Fancett Pagels
1754 - Great Wagon Road, into the Shenandoah Valley (Virginia)
As the French-Indian War commences, Magda Sehler wonders if Jacob Owens lost his mind to have abandoned his Philadelphia business and moved to the Shenandoah Valley. Or has he lost his heart?

Heart of Nantahala by Jennifer Hudson Taylor
1757 - (North Carolina)
Joseph Gregory plans to buy a lumber mill, but Mabel Walker becomes a formidable opponent. When she’s forced to make a painful decision, she must choose between survival and love.

Her Redcoat by Pegg Thomas
1763 - Fort Michilimackinac (Michigan) during Pontiac’s Rebellion
Laurette Pettigrew grew up in the northern frontier. Henry Bedlow arrived against his will. Their chance meeting changes everything. Will a deadly clash of cultures keep them from finding happiness?

A Heart So Tender by Debra E. Marvin
1764 – (New York)
As thousands of Native warriors converge on Fort Niagara, jaded British Lieutenant Archibald Walsh and idealistic schoolmistress Susannah Kimball learn the greatest risk lies in guarding their hearts.

A Worthy Groom by Angela K. Couch
1771 - Sapling Grove settlement on the Holston River (Tennessee)
The Cowden temper has been Marcus’s lifelong bane. A trait Lorinda Cowden curses. Now, winning the heart of his bride hinges on fighting a war without raising a fist.

Across Three Autumns by Denise Weimer
1778-1780 – (Georgia)
Fighting Loyalists and Indians, Jenny White settles for strength over love . . .until Scottish scout Caylan McIntosh leads her family on a harrowing exodus out of Georgia’s Revolutionary “Hornet’s Nest.”

The Counterfeit Tory by Shannon McNear
1781 – (South Carolina)
Tasked with infiltrating an infamous Tory gang, Jed Wheeler has no wish to endanger the leader’s cousin, Lizzy Cunningham. He risks not only his life. . .but his heart.

Love’s Undoing by Gabrielle Meyer
1792 - Fur Post on the Upper Mississippi River (Minnesota)
When Englishman Henry Kingsley meets Abi McCrea, the daughter of a Scottish fur trader and Indian mother, will their worlds keep them apart, or have they finally found somewhere they truly belong?


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3 comments:

  1. It's wonderful to start off the month with your story, Denise! Being part of this Barbour Collection has been an exciting way to bring stories of this era to readers, and allow me to learn a bit more about all these settings. Thanks so much for your dedication to quality historical fiction!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for hosting me on your blog, Debra! An honor to work with you!

      Delete
  2. I loved Jenny! I loved how Caylan sees her.

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