Merry Christmas

Book 1 - The Visitor - 1862

Is free to download on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Book 6 -As yet unnamed will be top priority when I get home later this week.  Share the free download with family and friends and

Have

A

Great

Christmas....!


Barb

Thank You!!

Just a little ditty

sort of like a soft kitty

to thank you

for following the story

in a thunderstorms pomp and glory

as the adventure begins

and no one ever wins

another day

in the life of a changing way!

 

 

Thank you to all my followers for a great weekend of downloads taking

Book IV to #53 on the top historical romance genre.

 

I am working on Book V - and have no title but have no fear it will

work itself out as it usually does but I'm taking you back to New York for the

winter as we drop into the life of Washington politics

and the New York charities...and of course more assignments and death.

 

 

barb

Honeymoon In Hawaii

I do have the laptop with me so I can work on Book IV but it's not getting much attention since I am on my honeymoon in Hawaii - some 2 plus years after getting remarried.   I was one of those people who believed once I married it would definitely be 'till death do us part' but that didn't happen and after adjusting to the left turn in the story of life I met someone I knew in another life and it doesn't matter whether it is forever or not because I am enjoying every second of every day.  Book IV will be done soon and my honeymoon will be one worth remembering.

barb

Thank You!!

The free download on Kindle was a great success for both Book I and Book II.  Thank you to everyone who downloaded the books. 

I have now moved on to Book III and hopefully won't take 6 months like Book II.  So, enjoy!!

barb

City of Natchez and the Lanfear Family

Located on the Mississippi River, some 90 miles southwest of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, and 85 miles north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the city of Natchez is named for the Natchez tribe of Native Americans who lived in the vicinity through the arrival of Europeans in the eighteenth century.

Established by French colonists in 1716, Natchez is one of the oldest and most important European settlements in the lower Mississippi River Valley, and served as the capital of the Mississippi Territory and then the state of Mississippi. It predates Jackson, which replaced Natchez as the capital in 1822, by more than a century. The strategic location of Natchez, on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, ensured that it would become a pivotal center of trade, commerce, and the interchange of Native American, European, and African-American cultures in the region for the first two centuries of its existence. In U. S. history, it is recognized particularly for its role in the development of the Old Southwest during the first half of the nineteenth century. It was the southern terminus of the historic Natchez Trace, which provided many pilots of flatboats and keelboats a road back to their homes in the Ohio River Valley after unloading their cargo in the city.

The Lanfear family immigrated to the territory of New Orleans from France as the French began to settle along the Mississippi river.  Dominic's ancestors moved up the river and settled in Natchez, Mississippi which was the home of several Indian Nations including the Natchez Indians and the Choctaw Nation.  Skirmishes and wars broke out as the French attempted to seize the land and build their plantations to grow indigo, cotton and tobacco.  It was a dangerous and hard time with the slaughter of many.

As the Civil War grips the nation, our story begins in the peaceful community of Natchez where life seems to be normal but a current of uneasiness is coming to the surface as the living and the dead clash in an attempt to lift a family curse.  Mirisa finds herself absorbed into the past as she deals with the isolation of living on the Lanfear plantation.

The Violin and Old English Roses

I am a sculpture glass artist...I am!  I work on a small torch designed for glass artists and I work with 6-8 mm glass rods in the greatest colors.  I began my adventure in glass in 2005 and though it was a hobby for many years, it is now a wonderful expansion of my love for music, for flowers and for romance.  I am the ultimate romantic who was plucked from the days of yesteryear and dropped into a fast moving, over achieving world where art has to work hard to rise to consciousness.

The above piece is a 1901 violin that I found at a 'barn sale'.  It is normal size, a little rough around the edges and will never again hear the sound of it's own strings.  I have created Old English Roses in several colors of pink glass rods from light pink to dark purple pink.  It talks secretly of romance, the Waltz on a summer night when the roses bloom and the jasmine dances in the moonlight.  It is these things that make our hearts soar and our belief in possibilities escape the world.

Writing is my inner spirit dancing with the memories of past lives.  Like with my glass, I don't plan a story I just write it down as it comes back in my memories.  Romance is love bursting quietly and softly through the veil of those memories.  Romance is about those dreams we hope for and those who fulfill the dreams.   Intertwined in my world are the words, the music and the flower gardens and inspire each day with possibilities. 

The Visitor was always written while I was wearing my Ipod with the inspiration of Chris Isaac who does love and pain so beautifully and the Eagles, Bob Seger and other musicians from my early days but mostly I love romantic music without words.  It's all a circle as I continue to create art and write the next chapter of The Visitor. 

The Characters of The Visitor

Like a mystery, learning the characters is sometimes challenging and my readers seem to want a synopsis of the characters.  The first book - The Visitor 1862 - introduces you to the characters - some minor but the five characters that continue through the entire story are Mirisa Eppes, Dominic Lanfear, Garnett Alexander, James Alcorn and Alexander Meeks.  It is their relationship that is the basis of the story.

The Visitor is a series that takes you through the life of Mirisa Eppes from the age of sixteen until the end of her life. The beginning of the story takes place at the beginning of the Civil War when her father sends her to his birth home of Natchez, Mississippi, as the family is torn apart by the events of the war.

The story is about a curse placed on the Lanfear family after the slaughter of the Natchez Indian Chief in the 1700s and the spirits that haunt the Lanfear Plantation who are seeking a way to lift the curse by returning the ancestors spirits to the sitting Chief completing the circle. The small neck piece woven from the hair of each chief as he passes on is sacred to the people of the tribe. It is stolen by the Lanfear ancestor during the slaughter of their most powerful chief bringing sorrow on the tribe and a curse on the family of the man who killed him. The Lanfear family and the Eppes family cross paths as the neck piece unknowingly falls into the hands of Dr. Richard Eppes but it is not until Mirisa Eppes sets foot in Dominic Lanfear's home that hope rises to return the necklace and lift the curse.

Eppes Family:

Dr. Richard Eppes is a country physician and a Virginia plantation owner. He was born in Natchez and raised by his grandmother, a descendant of the Choctaw nation. After completing medical training, he marries a woman from a rich Philadelphia family who borders on frequent and uncontrollable bouts of mental illness. They settle in Virginia and have seven sons before the birth of their youngest and only daughter, Mirisa.

Thomas Eppes is the eldest son born with the luxuries afforded by a well to do family; he marries and moves to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to raise horses. A graduate of Virginia Military Institute he gives his allegiance to the President.

Charlie Eppes is the second son who has a passion for animals and takes up animal husbandry living by his brother and raising a large family. He as well pledges his allegiance to the President.

The three youngest sons, Jed, Jes and Gus, are triplets born a few years before Mirisa. They are still living at home when the war starts and take up arms with their father for the South.

Mirisa Eppes is a young, naive gentle girl who is raised surrounded by brothers and without the love of a mother. Her greatest hope and dream is to find love and raise a family.

Lanfear Family:

Conrad Lanfear was born in the 1700s and lived on the family plantation until he was sixteen when he takes up with a maiden, Algonquin, from the Natchez tribe living along the Mississippi River. He is a hired gun who rides with Algonquin's brother, Sequasi. After the unfortunate death of his parents and all but one brother, he seeks a way to lift the curse and restore the ancestors of the Natchez. He has been waiting for Mirisa to step across the threshold of the Lanfear Plantation for many years.

Jake Lanfear is Conrad's youngest brother and after the death of their entire family he continues running the plantation. He marries Sara and they raise a family including Conrad's first son but she haunts the house seeking peace that has always been so elusive. Her constant companion, Simone', is a large cat who travels between worlds.

Dominic Lanfear is a descendant of the Lanfear family and has inherited the Natchez plantation and continues to grow and trade indigo, tobacco and cotton. The family has been beset with tragedy after tragedy since the raid by his ancestors on the local natives. His mother died at his birth, leaving him to be raised by a grieving and angry father who ruled with beatings and heavy drinking. When he was old enough, he left home and enrolled at VMI and began a military career that kept him away from home until the war began. His father died while he was gone leaving all his holdings to his youngest son. Like his ancestor Conrad, Dominic's life is one of a mercenary with a cold hearted belief that killing is a necessary part of life.

Suzanna Lanfear is the niece of Dominic and raised with everything money can offer.

Garnett Alexander is a lawyer who attended VMI then served with Dominic in the army. He was raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi and practices up and down the Mississippi River. Despite having a normal upbringing, he is beset with demons that struggle with his constant attempts to find peace in his life.

James Alcorn is a banker and investor who served with Dominic and Garnett in the army. He was born in New York but raised in Natchez and spent most of his childhood as a close friend to Dominic. Intelligent and compassionate, his ability to kill is more instinctual then desirable.

Alexander Meeks is an independently wealthy entrepreneur who graduated in the same class of VMI with Garnett and James and served in the army with Dominic, Garnett and James. He was born in New York City but took up with the other three at VMI forming a lifelong friendship.

HOUSE EMPLOYEES:

Mrs. Chauvin is the housekeeper at the Lanfear Plantation. Her life as a root woman and guide to the other world and her working at the plantation was not by accident.

Jasmine is a personal maid who like Mrs. Chauvin is at the Plantation for the sole purpose of protecting Mirisa as she is taken into the other world by Conrad.

Minnie is the head cook who was raised in the bayou by her grandmother and works with the many concoctions and herbs to heal and to travel into another world.

Simone' the large house cat is the protector of the spirits who haunt the plantation.