Interview of characters from Historical Romance Shadowed in Silk by Christine Lindsay. EBook is available now, paper version Sept. 2011.
Leave a comment and your name will be put into the hat to win a free E-copy of Shadowed in Silk. [Draw is now closed, Stephanie is our winner, and I hope she enjoys the novel as much as I did. Thank you to everyone who commented!]
Christine Lindsay, author of Shadowed in Silk: First of all, on behalf of Major Geoff Richards and Abby Fraser, I’d like to thank you, Janet, for inviting all 5 of us, real and fictional. We brought along Eshana, Abby’s maid, and of course, Abby’s little 3-year-old son, Cam.
Christine: So Abby, let’s start with you. Why did you decide to sail to India in Dec. 1918?
Abby: The war in Europe was over at last. I’d waited 4 years, so it was time for my husband, Nick Fraser, and I to be reunited. He’s a soldier in the British army and served the entire war here in India. We had a whirlwind romance at the beginning of the war, and unfortunately don’t know each other very well.
Christine: I’ll bet Nick was thrilled to see you at the pier in Bombay after such a long separation.
Abby: I wish that were so. But Nick didn’t meet me when my ship docked. With Geoff’s help I found my own way to the bungalow that Nick rented for me. Since then my relationship with my husband has been . . . well he’s hardly ever home.
Christine: Oh, that must be terribly disappointing.
Eshana: If I may say a word, it has been most upsetting for my dear friend, Abby. Perhaps we should talk of something more cheerful. Her husband, Lieutenant Fraser, is no longer even at home with her. He has been banished to a station in the wilds of Waziristan.
Christine: You don’t say. Do I smell a bit of mystery?
Geoff: If I may interject as this is upsetting the ladies. Nick Fraser’s commanding officer transferred him to a non-family station due to ah . . . improprieties on Nick’s part.
Christine: Of course, Major. Let’s chat instead about you and your career as a Cavalry officer in His Majesty’s army in colonial India.
Geoff: Be pleased to. My Indian troops and I have just been demobilized after the war in Europe. I can’t be more proud of them than I am. It is my prayer that England will keep her promise to India and grant them independence that was promised a few years ago.
Christine: I hear revolution is in the wind—all this talk of Gandhi and his peaceful rebellion.
Eshana: But the revolution might not be peaceful. There are many Indian people who wish the British to leave, and they will resort to violence to make this happen. It is the same sort of people who show violence to Christians in India. What is worse, the British are terrified and they will retaliate. We are living in fearful days.
Christine: You are an Indian Christian, Eshana? Not a Hindu?
Eshana: I was born into a Hindu family, but when I was 13 the boy I was married to died of cholera and I was sent away to live in poverty as a child widow. But I became a follower of Christ. Now I am trying to show Abby that it is only Christ who can lift the veil of sin from us, so that God can look upon us face-to-face.
Geoff: Yes, my dear little sister-in-Christ, Eshana, has been a great help to Abby and Cam.
Christine: I hear that you, Geoff, are also a great help to Abby and Cam. It’s hard on a little boy when his father is not a loving parent.
Geoff: Well . . . ahem . . . I take Cam out for rides on my charger. The child does get lonely.
Christine: Cam, how do you like the rides on Major Geoff’s horse?
Three-year-old Cam (smiling): I like Geoff’s horse. His name is Sampson. And Major Geoff is my best friend.
Christine: But, Cam, don’t you miss your daddy?
Cam: Nope. I’m glad my dad is far away. He’s not very nice, and he smells funny when he drinks that brown stuff.
Christine: Abby, tell me more about you and Nick. Have things been difficult since you were reunited?
Abby: It is not easy for me to talk about this. I suppose . . . well I think Nick married me only to further his career. My father was a famous general . . . and well it’s Nick’s drinking and his gambling. And he can be rather nasty. Once . . . well once . . . he became abusive. I gave him an ultimatum—if he ever strikes me again, or hurts Cam . . . well I don’t believe a wife should put up with that sort of thing.
Geoff: Abby is in a tough spot. I’ve encouraged her to befriend other Christian women. She needs the friendship of Godly women to help her through this unhappy situation, women such as Eshana. But I agree, a wife should not subject herself to abuse like that. I pray for Nick—only God can change him though.
Christine: And you, Geoff, are you Abby’s friend, like you are Cam’s friend?
Abby (flustered): I must object to the inappropriate tone of your question, Christine. Major Geoff Richards is an honourable man. A friend of our family. I’m grateful for his interest in my son. A boy needs a man to take an interest in him, especially when his father shows no interest what-so-ever. And there’s enough gossip in this town already. I was warned when I came out to British India that flirtation is the national sport. But Geoff is nothing like that. And neither am I. I’m doing all I can to save my marriage.
Christine: Oh dear Abby, I didn’t mean to offend. But tell me, Geoff, are you married?
Geoff: My wife died a year before the war began. No one could ever take my wife’s place.
Christine: You seem to have suffered greatly during the war. I notice your right hand shakes quite a bit. Can you tell us of your experience during the war?
Geoff (shifting in his chair): Not really . . . ahem . . . nightmares . . . the men dying . . .
Christine: I can see this is distressing to you . . .
Eshana: Yes, it is distressing to my brother in Christ. And I fear for Geoff’s safety and of all the soldiers. If there is going to be war between Britain and Afghanistan many men may lose their lives. But I am praying that in time, Geoff will come to see that there is still goodness in the land of the living. Right now, his heart is too sore to see this.
Christine: One last question, Geoff, is there any truth to the rumours that there is a Russian spy in our midst, stirring up the Indian people to revolt against British rule in India?
Geoff: My dear lady, it is never wise to listen to rumours. Besides, whatever befalls us here in India, you can be sure everything will be done to protect all our citizens—British and Indian. That is my vow to you, and to the Indian people I love.
Christine: Thank you all of you for coming all the way from India for this interview. I’ll just let our readers know that Shadowed in Silk can be purchased on EBook at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and anywhere else EBooks are sold.
A suspenseful, romantic read for less than the price of a couple of coffees.
The printed version comes out Sept. 2011 and can be purchased on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble as well.
Shadowed in Silk
She was invisible to those who should have loved her.
After the Great War, Abby Fraser returns to India with her small son, where her husband is stationed with the British army. She has longed to go home to the land of glittering palaces and veiled women . . . but Nick has become a cruel stranger. It will take more than her American pluck to survive.
Major Geoff Richards, broken over the loss of so many of his men in the trenches of France, returns to his cavalry post in Amritsar. But his faith does little to help him understand the ruthlessness of his British peers toward the Indian people he loves. Nor does it explain how he is to protect Abby Fraser and her child from the husband who mistreats them.
Amid political unrest, inhospitable deserts, and Russian spies, tensions rise in India as the people cry for the freedom espoused by Gandhi. Caught between their own ideals and duty, Geoff and Abby stumble into sinister secrets . . . secrets that will thrust them out of the shadows and straight into the fire of revolution.
An interesting note to readers, the model for the front cover art and in the book trailer is Christine’s birth-daughter—the child she relinquished to adoption when she was 3 days old and was reunited with 20 years later.
Here’s the book trailer for Shadowed in Silk: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV3YX94ntSI]
Since A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider: Words to Stimulate the Mind and Delight the Spirit was released in May, the anthology’s 37 writers have participated in more than 150 readings and signings in seven provinces.
Janice Hanna