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Book: The Whispering Sentinel by Ruth Kyser

categories: Book, Inspirational Fiction, Civil War, Charleston, South Carolina, Inspirational Romance, Canada, Underground Railroad, Christian Mystery, Clean Romance, Christian Fiction

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Ruth Kyser

about this book: Sandy Martin doesn't have any plans to stay in her hometown when she returns to settle her dad's estate. Then she drives past many of her old haunts--the high school, the church she used to attend--and her grandmother's old house. When she sees the realtor sign out front, she asks for a tour of the place, never planning to purchase it. But once the memories come back, she makes the decision to leave her painful past in Ohio behind, buy the old house of her childhood, and fix it up, and start over where it all began--her hometown in Michigan. And of course, in the process of remodeling, she ends up hiring a handsome man who turns out to be the one man she had a crush on back in high school.

I actually wrote the first six chapters of this book many years ago. There was no real plan for a novel back then--it was more of a trip down memory lane for me as a lot of the description of Sandy's grandmother's house are really memories of my own grandmother's house. There are a great deal of childhood recollections in between these pages--and the book even includes a recipe for my grandma's chili sauce.

Like the house in the story, my grandma also had a huge pine tree in the front yard, and I have many happy memories of playing under the whispering boughs--making up stories to tell my cousins. I never finished the book back when I started it, and recently found the old manuscript and read through it again. Right away, I knew the rest of the story--and of course, the tree had to be the main character.

Once I knew how I wanted the story to unfold, the rest of the book wrote itself.

There was a great deal of research involved because of the historical events discussed: The Civil War, slavery, The Underground Railroad. But I happen to love doing research. Sometimes I think it's my favorite part of writing. "The Whispering Sentinel" takes you from Ohio, to Michigan, to South Carolina, to Canada.

I would hope that my readers find this book to be inspirational to them. As Sandy struggles to find answers about her house and its past she never knew about, she also searches her own soul and finally comes to the realization that she not only needs to return to the place of her childhood, but she also needs to return to the faith of her childhood.

I hope everyone who reads it will enjoy the story. I had a lot of fun writing it.