When a financial crisis in 1850s New York leaves three orphaned sisters nearly destitute, the oldest, Elise Neumann, knows she must take action. She's had experience as a seamstress, and the New York Children's Aid Society has established a special service: placing out seamstresses and trade girls. Even though Elise doesn't want to leave her sisters for a job in Illinois, she realizes this may be their last chance.
The son of one of New York City's wealthiest entrepreneurs, Thornton Quincy faces a dilemma. His father is dying, and in order to decide which of his sons will inherit everything, he is requiring them to do two things in six months: build a sustainable town along the Illinois Central Railroad, and get married. Thornton is tired of standing in his twin brother's shadow and is determined to win his father's challenge. He doesn't plan on meeting a feisty young woman on his way west, though.
I literally just finished the book an hour ago and my head is still in Illinois. Ms. Hedlund takes back to the 1850's, with financial crisis, orphans, and twin brothers competing to inherit everything from their dying father.
I first thought the father was a little loopy to pit his sons against each other, but in the end you see he was actually pretty smart in his thinking.
Even though Thornton is pretty much engaged to a girl back in New York, Ms. Hedlund creates quite the romantic tension between him and Elise. Thornton is swoon worthy, Elise is pretty and devoted to her sisters. There are kisses that will have you catching your breath, and a little bit of mystery to keep you turning the pages. The spiritual thread is woven perfectly through the story. It shows God not forsaking us even when we maybe fearful of trusting.
This is book one of the series, and today is release day! Happy Book Birthday, Jody Hedlund!!!
Pick up your copy at your favorite retailers.
Interview with Jody Hedlund . . .
1. What
is the inspiration behind your new Orphan Train series?
I have long been fascinated by the era of the Orphan Trains and
the heart-wrenching stories of the homeless and helpless young orphans that
were taken from the streets of New York City and other eastern cities and
shipped West by the dozens. I was familiar with stories of those scared orphans
who were placed out in what was thought to be a more wholesome, healthy
environment of the newly settled Mid-Western states. Some of the orphans found
happy endings and were adopted into loving families. Others experienced great
abuse and heartache in their new homes.
While stories of the orphans who rode the trains have been
told—and rightly so—the stories of the women who were involved in the movement
are not as well known. One of the things I particularly like to do when telling
my stories, is focus on women who have been overlooked by the pages of history.
I consider it a great privilege to be able to bring forgotten women to life for
our modern generation. Thus, throughout this series, I’ll be focusing each book
on a different aspect of the Orphan Train movement, particularly from the
perspective of women who experienced riding the trains in one form or another.
2. An
e-novella, An Awakened Heart, kicks
off the series. What is the novella about, and is it a must-read in order to
understand the series?
An
Awakened Heart is not a
must-read in order to understand the series. But I do highly recommend reading
it. (Plus it’s FREE, so you have nothing to lose by giving it a try!) The
e-novella introduces a couple, Guy and Christine, who are both passionate about
helping the poor immigrants crowded into the overflowing and dirty tenements of
New York City. The novella shows their efforts to bring about change in the
city, but also brings them together in a satisfying love story.
The novella also introduces the three orphan sisters who will each
become main characters for the three full-length novels in the series. It gives
some of the background information on their situation, particularly how they
become orphans, which I think readers will find helpful as well as informative.
3.
How did
you come up with the idea for the first book in the series, With You Always?
For this first book in the series, I decided to base the story
around the placing out of women that happened in 1857 as a result of a
financial crisis and economic panic in the autumn of that year. Women laborers
were already at a disadvantage with poor working conditions and low wages. In
September of 1857, estimates of New York unemployment ran as high as forty
percent. Female employment was cut by almost half. With prostitution already a
main source of income for many women, the recession drove even more to desperate
measures and the number of women in prison rose as well.
To meet the growing crisis, the Children’s Aid Society in New
York, along with organizations in other cities, who were already sending
children West, decided to set up special placement offices to find jobs for
seamstresses and trade girls in the West. The associations only wanted women of
“good character” and they were required to provide references. If the women met
the qualifications, then they were sent on trains to towns in Mid-Western states,
particularly central Illinois where the demand for cheap labor was prevalent.
They were presented to western employers as “helpless females left without the
means of support.” Placement of these women continued until the spring of 1858.
It was my hope through the first book in the
series, With You Always, to give
readers a glimpse into the disadvantage of women during this particular era by
showing the heroine Elise Neumann’s struggle, first in New York City and then
also the continued heartache and problems that arose after leaving her family
behind so that she could attempt to start a new life in central Illinois.
4. What special research did you do in
writing With You Always?
In
the beginning phases of writing this series, I did a great deal of reading
about the orphan train movement. In particular, I really loved Stephen
O’Conor’s book, Orphan Trains,
because he includes so many personal stories and details about real orphans,
which are heart wrenching.
I
also read, A History of New York City to
1898, by Burrows and Wallace, which gave me great insights into the lives
of immigrants, particularly immigrant women. Masses of foreigners were arriving
into New York City on a daily basis, and the book gave a detailed look into
their pathetic housing situation, the difficult working conditions, as well as
gang problems and the underworld.
Finally,
another important aspect of the story that required a concentrated amount of
research was the development of railroads. The mid-1800’s was an incredible
period of growth for the railroad industry in the Mid-West. The new railroads
aided the orphan train movement but also brought about the settlement of the
Midwestern states, including Illinois, which is one of the settings of the
book.
5. Many of your previous stories are set in
Michigan. With You Always takes place
in both New York City as well as Illinois. Why did you decide to change
settings?
I
definitely could have used Michigan as the Mid-western setting for this book
since the very first orphan train went to Dowagiac, a small town in
southwestern Michigan. However, as I studied railroads and town development, I
decided that the plains of central Illinois would really add to the story,
especially because the Illinois Central Railroad (IC) was built between 1851
and 1856 during the time of my story.
With
this new railroad that ran the length of Illinois from north to south,
investors were looking at attempting to build towns along the railroad in order
to attract new settlers who would use the railroad. Since my hero, Thornton
Quincy, is involved in the development of the IC, he and his family have an
invested interest in seeing the growth of towns along the new railroad. Adding
in a competition with Thornton’s twin brother for the development of one such
town made the story and setting in Illinois come alive.
I
also loved having my heroine, Elise Neumann, be able to travel from the crowded
dirty streets of New York City to the plains of Illinois where she experienced
a culture shock. She’s taken from a bustling city life to an isolated farming
town that consists of only a few buildings when she arrives.
6. What do you hope readers take away from With You Always?
One of my hopes in telling this story is to leave readers with the
reminder that God is walking with us in whatever dark valley we’re going
through. Often, like Elise, we tend to pull away from God and let the
bitterness of our circumstances drive us into a cave of isolation and
self-blame and heartache. But God wants us to realize that even if we pull away
from Him, He’s still there walking by our side, waiting for us to reach out our
hand and grab ahold of Him. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He’s there
waiting.
Personal Q & A
7. What is
your inspiration to write?
I
write because I love telling stories. I love the quote by Toni Morrison because
it sums up part of why I write: "If
there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you
must write it." Essentially, I write the stories that I LOVE to read!
Of course there are other, deeper reasons I write too. But mostly I just really
enjoy the process of creating imaginary people and places.
8. Is there something you tell yourself before writing?
Usually I tell myself to sit down, put my
hands to the keyboard, and get to work. I don't wait for inspiration or magical
fairy dust to hit me before writing. I just do it.
But
I also always ask myself, what could make this story better? How can I increase
the tension? How can add more excitement? What can I do to make my characters
more likeable? I'm constantly challenging myself to make my story more vibrant
and alive.
9.
What
role does faith play in your novels?
While I try not to preach at my
readers, I do weave faith themes through my books. My faith also motivates me
to keep my stories "clean." I believe Christian fiction is a much
needed alternative, especially Christian romance.
I just recently got an email from a
reader telling me she that she'd picked up several books and been really turned
off by the explicitness within them, but that she didn't realize the books
contained such content until she started reading them. She wanted to know if
there was a rating system or some way that she could tell if the book would be
"clean" before she started reading. I was glad that I could point her
to inspirational Christian fiction, that she would be guaranteed the sweet
romance she desired.
10.
With You Always is the third book
you’ve released in 2017. How do you find
time to write so many books?
I keep a very rigorous writing
schedule, usually writing six days a week. I give myself a challenging word
count goal—a certain number of words to write every day. Then, in the morning, I
sit down and write until I meet my goals. It’s as simple . . . and as hard as
that!
I like to compare being an author to a
marathon runner. The person training to run a marathon doesn’t start off
running twenty-six miles the first time she runs. Instead she begins with just
a few miles, strengthens her muscles, builds her endurance, and slowly adds
more miles.
Writing is the same way. Over the
years, I’ve strengthened my writing muscles and built up my endurance so that
now I can write faster and for longer stretches.
11.
What are you working on next?
The second book in the orphan train
series releases next summer in 2018. The story continues with Marianne Neumann.
She gets involved in the orphan train movement as one of the placing agents and
accompanies the orphans as they ride the trains west. I hope readers will enjoy
Marianne’s story and also appreciate learning more about the orphan train
movement from the eyes of the compassionate workers who tried to place the
orphans into new homes.
12. Do you have any parting words?
I love hearing from readers! Make sure you stop by one of
these places and say hello!
www.jodyhedlund.com
