Our special guest today is Sarah
Norkus. Sarah is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, National Society
Daughters of the American Revolution and Toastmasters International. She has published four books, The Eleventh Summer, a creative
non-fiction, Until the Wind Changes,
a young adult coming of age journey, and two historical fiction/fantasy novels,
The Secret Diary of Sarah Chamberlain
and Treasure of the Battersea Bluff. She
spent her childhood in the horse country of Lexington, Kentucky and now resides
in Virginia with her husband, Michael.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In
the old factory district of Petersburg, near the Appomattox River, sits a rundown
Palladian Villa known as Battersea. Hidden beneath the floorboards of the east
wing lies a skeleton that hasn’t been disturbed for two hundred and forty
years.
During
the Battersea Days celebration, a panicked mare charges through the villa and
opens a hole in the floorboards with her plunging hooves. Sixteen year-old Emily Grace and her
boyfriend, Josh, stand frozen beside a display table as the horse is captured.
Curiosity overshadowing caution, Em steps over to the hole and peers
inside. Spying something in the cavity,
Em reaches under the planks and unknowingly grasps the delicate finger bones of
a skeleton. A vision explodes in her
mind. A young girl in colonial style clothes struggles with a man twice her
size. The man slaps her and she falls, hitting her head on a stack of bricks. Em jerks her hand back in horror as she
begs, “no, God, no.” She pushes to her feet and vertigo hits her with a
vengeance. She staggers a few steps, collapses to the floor, and passes out.
When Em awakens, she knows immediately that something is wrong. The display
table has disappeared along with the panes of glass from the windows. And it’s
quiet as a tomb. She looks through a pane less window. Two hundred people have
vanished into thin air.
AN EXCERPT
Sam pulled Em off his shoulder dropping her in
a puddle at his feet. Blackburn picked up the knife he had dropped to grab the
cart horse’s halter and shoved it back into his boot. He strode to Em and
yanked her to her feet. With a self-satisfied grin, he brought the pistol up to
her temple. He glanced over at Ezra as he twisted to his knees and tried to
push to his feet.
“Sam,
it does appear as if Ezra wishes to gain his feet. Pull the rope taut to assist
him.”
Ezra
felt himself being pulled up, the rope strangling him until he gained his feet,
and then the rope slackened again.
“Now,
lad, your choice.” Blackburn’s voice was
rich with triumph. “Shall I hang the Negro or shoot the lass?”
Josh’s
mind went blank with shock. Ezra stood
with the noose around his neck and his face full of defiance. Em was plastered
against Blackburn, the pistol to her head and her face a mixture of fear and
anger.
SPECIAL LINKS
