The Character Series
It’s the characters in my novels who compel me to write. I am not overly analytical as a writer or as a reader. I’m an intuitive storyteller. The process happens mostly in my heart, gut, and subconscious. Since characters are the key for me, I thought it might be fun to write about some of my characters in a blog post series. So here goes with my first one.
Meet Diana from Beloved
Book #3, Where the Heart Lives series
Releases September 2013
Diana is the youngest of the three Brennan children who were sent west on an orphan train in 1881. Unlike her siblings (Felicia in Belonging and Hugh in Betrayal), Diana was welcomed into a loving home by Gloria and Byron Fisher. Although not wealthy, the Fishers were quite comfortable and Diana never knew want as she grew up.
When Diana was 17, she met Tyson Applegate, the handsome and charming son of a mining tycoon. She fell hard for him. But Tyson’s father had great ambitions for him, and his plans didn’t include an Irish orphan girl without important connections in society. Tyson married Diana in defiance of his father’s wishes.
Diana already had abandonment issues. Her father deserted the Brennan family. Her mother died. Her brother and sister were taken away from her when she was only six years old. But then, in a fit of rage toward his father, Tyson left too. And he stayed away. One year. Two years. Five years. Then came the war in Cuba and the news that Tyson had been killed on the battlefield, his body never recovered.
When Beloved opens, Tyson is about to be declared legally dead, and Diana, ready to get on with her life, is about to announce her engagement to another man. Enter the missing husband, very much alive and wanting his wife by his side.
The first book in the series took place in a small Idaho town where Felicia is the new school teacher and the second took place on a small Wyoming cattle ranch where Hugh finds temporary employment. Both Felicia and Hugh have little to their names except a willingness to work hard and a strong faith in God.
In Beloved, the story moves to Boise, the capital city of Idaho. The year is 1900. Tyson is wealthy and he moves in powerful circles, and now the same can be said for his wife. Because of those aforementioned abandonment issues, Diana also has a propensity for taking in strays, and Tyson’s household is turned a little upside down.
I loved watching Diana grow and blossom over the course of the story. I hope readers will enjoy her journey as well.
~ robin
Countdown to the release of Beloved
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