Born and raised in the South, Tamera Alexander returns to her roots with her new series, set at Nashville’s historic antebellum manor, Belmont Mansion.
A Lasting Impression, the first of three standalone novels, is the sweeping love story of artist Claire Laurent and attorney Sutton Monroe, as America, shattered by civil war, takes tentative steps towards healing.
“Growing up in Atlanta and visiting antebellum mansions, I developed an early appreciation for that era of our nation’s history. Through the years, that appreciation matured into a deeper love and respect for the people and events of that time,” shares Tamera. “In 1853, Mrs. Adelicia Acklen—a dynamic, born-before-her-time woman, and one of the richest women in America in the 1860s—built a magnificent Italianate-style antebellum mansion that still stands today (the Belmont Mansion) and that remains the largest house museum in Tennessee.”
Inspired by the servants who worked at Belmont and the people who visited there, Tamera has based many of her characters on real people, with Adelicia herself a secondary character. The theme for A Lasting Impression—being authentic and genuine—stems from Tamera’s own struggles, “I’ve wrestled with what it means to be authentic in my faith, and to be authentic with God, and others, as well as myself.”
While she never sets out with a “message” in mind as she starts to write, the subtle faith elements develop naturally as her characters grow and respond to the conflicts they experience. “I believe in planting the seed of hope and in pointing others to Christ, and then trusting Him to do the drawing.”
Tamera teams her historical research and spiritual themes with romance because she loves love stories. “God is a pursuer. He pursues us with a relentless and jealous love, and He’s by far my greatest inspiration in writing romance. The deepest and most satisfying loves are those when all aspects of a person’s being—heart, soul, and mind—are intertwined.”