Welcome, book lovers! I have another special guest with me today: Tamera Lynn Kraft, whose novel Red Sky Over America is currently on tour with Litfuse Publicity. Tamera is chatting with me today about her book, so I hope you’ll stick around and join us!
~ About the Book ~
In 1857, America, the daughter of a slave owner, is an abolitionist and a student at Oberlin College, a school known for its radical ideas. America goes home to Kentucky during school break to confront her father about freeing his slaves.
America’s classmate, William, goes to Kentucky to preach abolition to churches that condone slavery. America and William find themselves in the center of the approaching storm sweeping the nation and may not make it home to Ohio or live through the struggle.
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~ About the Author ~
Tamera Lynn Kraft has always loved adventures. She loves to write historical fiction set in the United States because there are so many stories in American history. There are strong elements of faith, romance, suspense and adventure in her stories. She has received 2nd place in the NOCW contest, 3rd place TARA writer’s contest, and is a finalist in the Frasier Writing Contest and has other novels and novellas in print. She’s been married for 39 years to the love of her life, Rick, and has two married adult children and three grandchildren.
Tamera has been a children’s pastor for over 20 years. She is the leader of a ministry called Revival Fire for Kids where she mentors other children’s leaders, teaches workshops, and is a children’s ministry consultant and children’s evangelist and has written children’s church curriculum. She is a recipient of the 2007 National Children’s Leaders Association Shepherd’s Cup for lifetime achievement in children’s ministry.
Connect with Tamera Lynn:
Website // Facebook // Twitter // Goodreads // Newsletter // Word Sharpeners Blog
~ Interview ~
Thanks for joining me today, Tamera. Let’s start by taking a little ‘flight of fancy’. How would you finish the following questions:
If I could visit any place in the world, I would visit… the Yellowstone National Park. I’ve seen 41 of 50 US States, and that would check 4 states off my list by the time we drove out there. I also believe it would be awesome.
Wow! We only have six states and two territories in Australia and I haven’t even seen all of them yet. I’m close, but still have two to cross off.
If I could assign one household task to the fairies forever, it would be… doing laundry.
I hear ya!
If I was a musical instrument, I would be… a piano.
So versatile!
If I could say one thing to my younger self, it would be… everything is going to get better.
Praise God you can say that. 🙂
If I could be an Olympic athlete, I would compete in… figure skating. I love figure skating.
I’m with you all the way on that one. I used to dream about it as a child, but Australia isn’t exactly a winter sport nation, and the nearest ice rink was two hours away!
If I could have one superpower, it would be… super intelligence.
Yes! Intelligentsia unite!
When I was a child, I wanted to be… a writer.
Well, congratulations then. 🙂
My ideal place to read would be… in a rocker on the screened in porch at the house we’re building in the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee.
Sounds perfect!
Okay, let’s get down to business. Where did the idea for this novel come from?
I was researching women preachers in the 1800s because I had an idea for a series. Most of them were connected to Oberlin College, the first college where women and blacks could get a college degree before the Civil War. At that point, I knew I wanted to do a series about women graduates from Oberlin College. That’s when Ladies of Oberlin was born.
What a fascinating topic to research. What aspects of this time period do you enjoy the most?
It was such a pivotal time in American history. So much was going on. The missionary movement where Americans were evangelizing the world was in full swing. We were colonizing the West. Slavery was coming to an end. The Second Great Awakening was changing the way we responded to God. Abolition, women’s suffrage, labor and child abuse laws, prohibition, and civil rights for everyone all came about during that time. When I wrote this story, the United States was on the cusp of becoming the great nation it is today, and almost all these movements were started by Christians.
Wow. You make me feel positively patriotic. And I’m not even American!
Could you tell us a little bit about your character America and how she came to be an abolitionist?
America was raised by her slave nanny where she heard stories of Moses and the Israelites’ journey to freedom. She had an general understanding that slavery was wrong. When she was 16 years old, she had a spiritual experience where God called her to become a missionary. Her pastor, an Oberlin graduate, encouraged her to go there. When she did, she was awakened to the truth and became an abolitionist, but she was challenged in her beliefs throughout the novel.
The hero, William, is also an abolitionist and preaches abolition to churches in Kentucky in the story. What reception did this kind of preaching receive in the antebellum South?
It was not pretty. In one church, men came after him with pistols. At another community, they tied him to a tree and with the intention of whipping him. You’ll have to read the story to find out what happened.
Yikes! How sad, and yet how inspiring at the same time. Praise God there have always been people prepared to stand for the truth, no matter the cost.
What was the most challenging thing about writing this novel?
The hardest thing was trying to understand the mindset of Christians who owned slaves. I read a lot of materials from the time trying to figure out how they justified it in their own minds.
I imagine there would be lots of aspects of slavery that would be difficult to research.
What was the most interesting part of the research you did for this story?
I found it interesting to learn 90% of all missionaries sent overseas between 1860 and 1900 graduated from Oberlin College. I was also surprised to find out Charles Finney, fiery evangelist of the Second Great Awakening was the president of Oberlin College in the mid-1800s.
Sounds like a great college. What do you hope readers take away from this story?
There are two major themes I hope readers will pick up on. The first is that the truth is worth fighting for no matter what is happening in society. The second is that when you obey God, you can trust Him with the consequences, even in the worst of times.
Important themes no matter which age we’re living in.
Thank you for joining me today, Tamera.
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