Fresh from her series Winds Across the Prairie, Martha Rogers crafts a new set of novels titled Seasons of the Heart. The first, Summer Dream, takes place in Connecticut in 1888. Rachel Winston, the daughter of a minister, is caught between two suitors, one of which has turned his back on God and the church. It takes a devastating blizzard, “The White Hurricane,” to change hearts forever.
WHAT LED YOU TO WRITE SUMMER DREAM?
I read an account of the great blizzard of 1888 and then saw a documentary on great storms in history that featured this “Great White Hurricane.” From that I decided to use it in a story and came up with the idea for Summer Dream.
STARTING OUT, WHO WERE THE AUTHORS WHO INSPIRED YOU? WHO INSPIRES YOU NOW?
As a pre-teen I began reading Grace Livingston Hill and Janet Lambert books. I loved those books. Since I had been making up stories for my dolls and paper dolls, I decided to write stories like those. DiAnn Mills, Janet Thompson, Kathleen Y’ Barbo, Deborah Raney, and Kim Sawyer all inspire me now.
HOW DOES YOUR FAITH INFLUENCE YOUR WRITING?
Without my faith and belief that God understands, guides, protects, and provides, I could not do the the things that I do nor could I have gone through the things that have happened in my life. I use those personal experiences to give my characters situations that only God can resolve through their faith in Him.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN YOU WANTED TO BE AN AUTHOR?
Since I was old enough to hold a pencil. I made up stories and “wrote” them out in what I thought were words, and I liked to tell stories and made up stories for my cousins to “act out” at family gatherings.
WHAT DO YOU MOST HOPE THAT READERS GET FROM READING YOUR WORK?
I hope that my readers will see that Christians have the same trials and temptations found in every walk of life, but their faith brings them through to see God’s love, mercy, and grace in His forgiveness of our sins. My characters are not perfect and have flaws that are common to most of us.