The Inspiration for River to Redemption

With River to Redemption one of the books that is part of Baker Book Store’s Big Haul Sale, I decided to share an article about my initial inspiration for the story.

This Man Named Louis

Story ideas can come from a myriad of places. Sometimes an idea can just spring up out of nowhere. Other times a writer knows exactly where she stumbled across the idea for a book. That was how it was for me with River to Redemption. While on the hunt for a new story idea, I happened to browse through a book about little known Kentucky heroes, and there I found the story of Louis, a slave, owned by a hotel owner in the Kentucky town of Springfield. In 1833 a cholera epidemic swept across the country, killing thousands of people. At the time, people believed bad air might be what caused cholera. It wasn’t until later in the 1800’s the real cause of contaminated water was discovered. So when an epidemic hit a town, everyone with the means to do so, fled the town to get away from the “bad” air. Louis’s owner was one of those who left to escape the disease. He gave Louis keys to the hotel and told him to keep running the business.

It so happened that Louis was one of those unique individuals not affected by cholera. Instead of seizing this possible opportunity to run for freedom, he took on the daunting task of not only caring for the sick with no one to tend to them but also digging the graves and burying the fifty plus cholera victims. Twelve years later, when his owner died, Louis was to be sold as part of the man’s estate. The citizens of Springfield remembered what Louis had done during the cholera epidemic and raised enough money to buy his freedom and set him up in a blacksmith shop.

When I read that story about Louis, the wheels of my imagination started whirling. What kind of man, denied his own freedom, could care that much about the people in his town? He had to be a man of compassion and a man of faith. Plus he had to be strong to dig all those graves. And so Louis came to life for me, or at least, the Louis I imagined. Then I thought about the townspeople coming together to give money to free Louis in a place where slavery was legal and accepted as the norm. Somebody had to spearhead that fund drive. My fictional characters stepped up to take the lead and away I went.

I research the historical backgrounds of my novels and do my best to make the history as accurate as possible. That’s true for my Shaker novels, my Rosey Corner books, my Appalachian stories, and even my Heart of Hollyhill books. But with those other stories, I always dropped fictional characters down into the events of the time period, never a real person. Centering the premise for this story on Louis and his actions was a challenge. I found a few articles about Louis, but nothing that told how he looked or thought. So, even though my character Louis is based on the actions of a person who actually lived and breathed in the 1800’s, he is still a product of my imagination. With that said, he became a strong character and someone I think readers liked getting to know. His steady faith shines through in the story and makes a difference in my characters’ lives.

Sometimes a character rises up out of a story and makes a difference in a writer’s life too. Louis continually told my main character, Adria, that he had to follow whatever path the Lord opened up to him. To write his pure faith and trust humbled me. His words in the book felt as though they somehow came straight from the man I imagined without that much help from me. “The good book does say that if you pray believin’ you can make a mountain move from this spot here to somewhere over there.”

So that became the underlying spiritual thread in the story. To pray believing. I’ve used prayer as a faith theme in many of my stories. In my Shaker book, The Innocent, the main character was always remembering her mother’s advice to “pray anyway” whatever was happening, good or bad. But Louis seemed to take prayer one step farther. I can’t imagine him doing what he did without a prayerful and close walk with the Lord.

With the Lord’s help and by praying believing, I tried to bring Louis to life in a truthful and compassionate way. I hope readers have thought I was successful and were glad to meet this man, Louis, in the pages of River to Redemption.

(Much of this article was previously published in MTL Magazine. I also wrote a blog about Louis here on One Writer’s Journal in 2018. Here’s a link to that in case you want to read more about Louis and my story.)

Have you read River to Redemption? If so, did Louis come to life for you in my story?

Don’t forget about the Baker Book House Sale. It’s a great time to browse through the books on sale there and find some books you’ve been hoping to read. Plus, you’re sure to find a Christmas gift or two. If you decide to buy River to Redemption, I’ll be glad to send you an autographed book plate to put in the book. Just private message me from my Contact page with your request.