Today romance author Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy is here to talk about two key themes in her new book, "Devlin's Grace", PTSD and learning to deal with your past. Yesterday I posted an excerpt from, and a giveaway of, the book. Lee Ann is a full-time romance
author. A native of the old historic city of St. Joseph, Missouri, one time
home to both Jesse James and the Pony Express, she now lives and writes in the
beautiful Missouri Ozark region. Her
romance novels include Love Never Fails,
Witness Protection Program, Sing We Now of Christmas, A Patient Heart, In
Love’s Own Time, Miss Good Samaritan, In The Shadow of War, Guy’s Angel, and
Heart of the Ozarks, all from Rebel
Ink Press. She also has six other novels
and several novellas available. Her work also appears in more than twenty
anthologies and she has multiple short story/non-fiction credits.
She is a member of RWA, Missouri
Writers Guild, EPIC, and the Ozarks Writers League. Her work also appears in
multiple anthologies. She earned a BA degree in both English and History from
Missouri Southern State University as well as an AA Degree in Journalism from
Crowder College. She worked in broadcast
media for a decade and also has a background in education. Her weekly column “Hindsight” appears each
week in the Neosho Daily News.
She is married to Roy W. Murphy and the couple has
three children, Emily, Megan, and Patrick Murphy. If Lee Ann – or Lee as many of
her writing friends know her – isn’t writing, she’s reading or spending time
outdoors. In Neosho, Missouri, the small
town she now calls home, she serves on the local library board, is active in
the annual Relay For Life fight against cancer, has worked with the local Arts
Council, and is active in her parish.
Find Lee Ann online:
Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4543214.Lee_Ann_Sontheimer_Murphy
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Serving
our country is a family tradition. My
dad served in the Army and so did both of his brothers as well as their
father. I have great-uncles who served
in both the Army and the Navy. Many
relatives served from their arrival on American shores during the American
Revolution, War of 1812, the Civil War, First World War, World War II, Vietnam
and even in the Persian Gulf. So I have
every respect for members of our Armed Forces.
Even in the “old country” my ancestors served in everything from Her
Majesty Queen Victoria’s Royal Navy to Frederick II’s elite Prussian Reinhard
Corps.
My latest Rebel Ink Press release, Devlin’s Grace, deals with a Marine
veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Devlin suffers from PTSD (post trauma stress disorder) and it’s a major
part of the storyline. I wanted to make
the story as realistic as possible so I did thorough research. And I drew not only on my own experiences as
someone with a family member suffering from PTSD but from many resources as
well. One of my grandfathers served in the Pacific Theater during World War II
and saw some of the heaviest fighting in the Philippines. Most of the time, he was a wonderful man and
a loving grandfather but there were also times when the demons of the war
haunted him. He drank too much then and
things happened – like the time he woke up from a nightmare and tried to
strangle my grandmother because he thought he was back in the war and she was a
Japanese soldier. My grandmother,
shortly before she died a few years ago, shared with me her belief I had the
best of my grandfather. He loved me and
spoiled me. But even so, one of our
favorite games was to re-enact the Battle of Leyte on both land and sea using
plastic boats in my grandmother’s deep kitchen sink. And that’s not all. During the Vietnam war
era, one of my cousins served and was back home on leave. We were hosting a huge family picnic in his
honor when a car backfired out in the street and he hit the dirt.
Devlin’s
Grace is more than just another love story.
Although it deals with the holiday season, it’s not only a Christmas
tale. It’s intended to be a realistic
portrait of life between two people who learn to deal with troubled pasts and
issues on a daily basis. It celebrates
the power of love and the resilience of the human spirit.
Here’s a brief excerpt dealing with
Devlin’s PTSD issues:
Understanding dawned. “It eats you
alive, doesn’t it?” Gracie asked him, voice soft and still. “The little girl
plus whatever else you did, devours you.
You’re not the devil, but you’re running from him.”
Something shone in Devlin’s eyes,
ancient and heavy. He nodded. “You got
it, babe. No one’s ever quite figured it
out before now. Oh, others who served,
they know, but you’re the first civilian who understands.”
Gracie hurt, her soul wounded by the
revelation. “You’re in a hell you made
yourself,” she said, “and afraid of ending up in the real one.”
His twisted smile shattered her
heart. “Yeah, pretty much. Ever since I got back I’ve walked in the
fiery pits, burned for my sins, and tormented myself probably more than any
demon ever could. I’ve hated every day,
hated each night, and sometimes wondered why I bothered to stay alive.”
“Devlin …”
“There’s names for being this fucked
up,” he said. “PTSD’s one of them.”
When he broke off, Gracie opened her
mouth to say something but Devlin quoted what she thought was the Bible but
wasn’t, not quite.
“Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death,” Devlin intoned, “I will fear no evil, for I am
the meanest son of a bitch in the valley.”
As he spoke he broke away from her, Devlin
came to his feet and stood, as remote as if he were on an unknown island. He laughed, without mirth, a bitter dry hoot
reminding her of rattling bones. “I don’t remember who quoted it first but I
understood it. Later on, I adopted it as
my motto. I have to be the meanest –
otherwise, I’ve no doubt the devil will claim me as his own and damn me to
hell, a worse place than the one I’ve made for myself.”
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