E-Book Deal on The Refuge – $1.99
I like books about sisters. I like to read them and I like to write about sisters in my books. Maybe that’s because I have two sisters and no brothers. Maybe because my mother had three sisters and no brothers. Maybe because my dad had one sister and no brothers. Maybe just because I think sisters have a special bond.
The Merrit sisters in my Rosey Corner books were inspired by my mother and her sisters. The dynamics of sister relationships were threaded throughout those stories. They were sometimes irritated with one another as all sisters surely are at times. At the same time, they were continually supportive of one another as most sisters are.
But another way I’ve written about sisters is in my Shaker novels. The Shakers lived together in villages they hoped to make into heavens on earth. Since they didn’t believe there would be marriage relationships in heaven, they embraced celibacy and lived as sisters and brothers. When married couples joined with the Shakers, they renounced their marriage vows and lived separately. The Shaker sisters lived on one side of the houses and the brethren on the other side. They had separate doors and separate stairways to avoid incidental touches that might tempt them to forget the Shaker rules and be plummeted into sin, as one Shaker elder explained.
While many, including me, can’t understand or imagine embracing their opposition to individual family units, it is easy to imagine the close ties the women may have forged with one another as they worked and lived together. The same could no doubt be said about the brethren as well, but in my Shaker stories, I dwell more on the relationships between the sisters.
That is especially true in my most recent Shaker novel, The Refuge. Darcie finds herself a new widow with a baby on the way in the midst of the the celibate Shakers. With no family or other resources, Darcie feels she has no other options except to stay in the village. She shares a sleeping room with three other women. Two are women like Darcie who are being trained in the Shaker way and the other is a devout Shaker sister doing her best to guide them on their journey. The four become sisters of the heart and the challenges they face as sisters, who differ in what they want and believe, is an important part of the story.
If you like to read e-books, you can grab a copy of The Refuge for $1.99 or less at most internet book sites. Here’s a link to more information about the book and with some buy links to find the book on sale. Do always check the price before you download to be sure you are getting the price you thought you were getting. These e-book sales come and go quickly, and this one won’t last long. But if you haven’t ever visited my fictional Shaker village of Harmony Hill, this is your chance to get the book at a super low price.
So do you have a sister or sisters? Maybe one of those, like Darcie’s, a sister of the heart? What is the best thing about having a sister?