This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing ORCHARD OF HOPE (Revell March 1, 2007) by Ann Gabhart

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Ann H. Gabhart has published a number of adult and young adult novels with several different publishers. The author of The Scent of Lilacs, Ann and her husband live a mile from where she was born in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky. She is active in her country church, and her husband sings bass in a southern gospel quartet.





ABOUT THE BOOK:

Nothing will be the same after the summer of 1964.

Drought has gripped the quiet Kentucky town of Hollyhill, and the town seems as if it is holding its breath--waiting. Jocie Brooke is nervous about starting high school. Her sister Tabitha is experiencing the weariness of waiting for a new baby. Her father David is feeling the timidity of those first steps toward true love. All of these pivotal steps in life are awaiting the Brooke family.

Into this cloud of tense anticipation, a black family from Chicago, the Hearndons move here to plant an orchard outside of town. Fresh off the Freedom Train, Myra Hearndon is sensitive to what the color of her skin may mean in a Southern town. Her family will have to contend with more than the dry ground and blazing sun as they try to create their ORCHARD OF HOPE.

Jocie finds herself befrending a boy that some townspeople shun. Due to unspoken racial lines in this southern town, the presence of these newcomers sparks a smoldering fire of unrest that will change Hollyhill..and Jocie...forever.

In this close-knit community, everything is about to change.

Let this riveting novel take you along to experience unexpected love, new life, and renewed faith amid life's trials.

Tagged again

Okay, Becky wants to play the "tag you're it game." This is what incredibly silly people like us do when we've run out of ideas. I haven't posted in a while because it's spring. It gets a bit nuts around here in spring. Baseball, softball, fishing...you know, the important stuff.

Let me fill me friends in on my latest venture. After attending a United Methodist conference (I know, not as boring as it sounds) last week, I came away with a desire to get involved in our church's fledgling Emerging Worship program. For those of you who don't know what that is, Google it. It's pretty interesting. I volunteered to be the drama coordinator. Which means I get to write my own skits. Unless I get a block, then I "borrow" one.

So that's what's going on in my life. Now, the eight things you didn't know about me:

1. I have three siblings (one deceased), and we were all born in different states.
2. I started elementary school in Hawaii.
3. My favorite place to live as a Navy brat was Washington state.
4. That's where I learned to snag "shiners" in Puget Sound.
5. I wrote my first story in Junior High. It was about a werewolf.
6. I had every intention of going to school for journalism after the Navy, but chickened out and went into engineering.
7. I am a Shellback, meaning I crossed the equator while in the Navy.
8. One of my favorite things to do is follow my wife around the Ice House in Grayling. It's a quilt shop that actually used to be an ice house. Of course, after that I go fly-fishing.

I don't know 8 people who haven't already been tagged. So this ends here!