Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!
The hunt BEGINS on 10/15 at noon MST with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.
- Hunt through our loop using Chrome of Firefox as your browser (not Explorer)
- There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 10/18 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
- Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!
Hi, I’m Ann H. Gabhart, and I’m living my dream of writing stories for readers like you. I started writing when I was ten and I’m still at it all these years later. I’m a happy writer when my characters start coming to life and take off down a story trail with me chasing after them. Those trails have led me through some small towns, my fictional Harmony Hill Shaker Village and up into the Appalachian Mountains. You can learn more about me and my stories here on my website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I did love writing about the mountains and headed back there for An Appalachian Summer.
In 1933, debutante Piper Danson, craving more from life than simply an advantageous marriage, jumps at the opportunity to volunteer with the Frontier Nursing Service in the Appalachian Mountains. The work is taxing, the scenery jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and the people she meets along the way open up a whole new world to her. With romance and adventure in the Kentucky mountain air, Piper must be ready for anything, but will that include true love?
Piper’s character was inspired by the many first person stories I read about Frontier Nursing Service couriers. They went to the mountains looking for something different and they found it.
A BURNING DESIRE TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT
Photo Courtesy of the Frontier Nursing University Archives
Imagine a young woman from a society family living a comfortable life. She has a closet full of fancy dresses ready for a summer season of parties. She has every privilege a young woman could want even during the Great Depression. Sounds pretty nice, doesn’t it? Now think about that young woman volunteering to spend her summer as a volunteer in Eastern Kentucky instead. That’s Piper in An Appalachian Summer with her burning desire to do something different. Piper came to life for me as I read about actual young women who embraced the challenge of spending weeks or months as volunteer couriers for the Frontier Nursing Service. This midwifery service, founded by Mary Breckinridge to provide healthcare for mothers and children in the Appalachian Mountains, sent nurse midwives on horseback up into the hills to deliver babies in their patients’ rustic cabins.
The Big House
The volunteer couriers assisted the midwives by running errands, caring for their horses, or doing whatever was needed. With no electricity and few conveniences, they bunked in outbuildings near the Big House, Mary Breckinridge’s log home that was the FNS headquarters. Each morning these adventurous young women got up and pulled on old blue jeans to go water the horses. After that, they never knew what they might be asked to do next, but the chances were it would be something different.
While the poverty in the mountains surprised the volunteers, they admired the strong sense of community the mountain people showed and how the families rarely seemed unhappy in spite of their struggles. The young women returned to their lives away from the mountains but they were never the same. They so treasured their time as FNS couriers that when they had daughters, they often signed them up on the courier waiting list as soon as they were born.
Do you ever think about what happens next when you come to the end of a story? If so, then perhaps you can imagine Piper having a daughter and signing her up for an Appalachian summer of adventure.
Here’s the Stop #13 Basics:
If you’re interested, you can order An Appalachian Summer on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD, Baker Book House, or at your local bookstore!
Clue to Write Down: and
Link to Stop #14, the Next Stop on the Loop: Olivia Newport’s site!
But wait! Before you go, I’m offering a special prize here on my site – my first Frontier Nursing Service Appalachian book, These Healing Hills, along with a neat secret puzzle box shaped like an owl. Piper heard screech owls for the first time when she went to the mountains. Enter on the Rafflecopter by signing up for my e-newsletter (blue box top right on my website) or note that you’re already a subscriber or follow me on BookBub! (Entries USA & Canada only)
Comments 96
I read “These Healing Hills”. It was very interesting, learning about the Frontier Nursing Service. I also signed up for your newsletter.
Author
I’m glad you enjoyed the Frontier Nursing Service history in These Healing Hills, Gabrielle. The history was so interesting to me that I wanted to write another story with Frontier Nursing Service background so I could shard more of about it in a new story. Thank you so much for signing up for my newsletter. Very appreciated.
Subscribed to your newsletter! I thought this was a very interesting article–I had never heard of the Frontier Nurse Service before this. Thank you for sharing!
Author
That’s one of the fun things about the scavenger hunt, Hannah, – finding out about new things. That’s also one reason I love historical fiction. Thanks for subscribing to my newsletter.
Already receive your Newsletter & already follow on BookBub. An Appalachian Summer sounds fantastic! What an impression that summer must have made upon those girls so when they became Mothers, they immediately signed their daughters up for the same experience!
Author
That is so true, Lisa. Many of those young women were forever changed by their experiences helping the nurse midwives. One young woman I read about would come back whenever there was a need in those early years until her fiancé said that his biggest rival was the Frontier Nursing Service. Thanks for getting my newsletter and following me on BookBub. So appreciated.
Subscribed to your newsletter and following you on book bub. Thank you for the fun giveaway.
Author
Great, Darlene. I hope you’ll enjoy my newsletters when they show up in your e-mail box. I do enjoy hearing from readers and they usually have some fun things to share with me. Thanks for signing up and for following me on BookBub too. Much appreciated. Good luck winning some prizes.
So fun to see you as part of this Scavenger Hunt!
Author
I’ve had some bad luck with scavenger hunts in the past with my website going down and causing great panic since the chain doesn’t work if one site goes down. The pluses were I got to talk to Jane Kirkpatrick on the telephone. 🙂 I admire her books so much. I hope you had fun going through the posts, Connie.
This is an exciting scavenger hunt. Learning so much about the authors and ideas behind books.
Author
It was a really fun scavenger hunt, Debbie. I went through and read all the posts and enjoyed them so much. I’m glad you liked the posts too. Good luck winning some prizes.
Just subscribed to your newsletter.Following on Instagram and BookBub. What an interesting subject you chose for your book!
Author
I did enjoy learning more about the Frontier Nursing Service and loved being able to set my story in the Eastern Kentucky Appalachian Mountains, Bethany. Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Instagram and BookBub. I appreciate that so much.