#SaturdaySpotlight is on Lynn Austin & If I Were You!

Good Morning and Welcome to another edition of Saturday Spotlight!

I hope all of you are doing well and staying safe in this crazy world of ours.

Today's guest has visited us before but it's been a while so let me introduce her to you once more....


Lynn Austin has sold more than one and a half million copies of her books worldwide. A former teacher who now writes and speaks full-time, she has won eight Christy Awards for her historical fiction and was one of the first inductees into the Christy Award Hall of Fame. One of her novels, Hidden Places, was made into a Hallmark Channel Original Movie. Lynn and her husband have three grown children and make their home in western Michigan.

Visit her online at www.lynnaustin.org.

From bestselling and eight-time Christy Award–winning author Lynn Austin comes a remarkable novel of sisterhood and self-discovery set against the backdrop of WWII.

1950. In the wake of the war, Audrey Clarkson leaves her manor house in England for a fresh start in America with her young son. As a widowed war bride, Audrey needs the support of her American in-laws, whom she has never met. But she arrives to find that her longtime friend Eve Dawson has been impersonating her for the past four years. Unraveling this deception will force Audrey and Eve’s secrets—and the complicated history of their friendship—to the surface.

1940. Eve and Audrey have been as different as two friends can be since the day they met at Wellingford Hall, where Eve’s mother served as a lady’s maid for Audrey’s mother. As young women, those differences force them apart until the threat of Nazi invasion and war bring them back together. An American stationed in England brings a chance at love for Audrey, and the collapse of the class system gives Eve hope for a future with Audrey’s brother. But in the wake of devastating loss, both women must make life-altering decisions that will set in motion a web of lies and push them both to the breaking point.

This sweeping story transports readers to one of the most challenging eras of history to explore the deep, abiding power of faith and friendship to overcome more than we ever thought possible.

Excerpt: 

They reached the end of their block. Another constable pointed across the street to a church that had served as a shelter during the Blitz. They scrambled down the stone stairs, huddling inside the crypt with hundreds of other people in pajamas and dressing gowns, waiting for experts to defuse the bomb. Eve had plenty of time to think of all the things she wished she’d rescued. Audrey was right about needing her purse. It was going to be a huge bother replacing all her ID cards and ration books.

“What time is it?” Audrey asked. “We’ll be late for work. Do you think the church will let us use the telephone so we can call and explain?”

Eve looked at her watch, a present from Alfie. “It’s too early to call. Not even seven yet. Honestly, Audrey, you worry about the dumbest things.” Eve wore the watch all the time, even to bed at night. If the UXB did go off, at least she had one thing to remember him by.

Audrey inched closer, leaning in, lowering her voice. “Eve, listen. I need to tell you a secret.”

Eve hid a smile. It was so like Audrey to be so serious, so dramatic.

“Should I cross my heart and swear on my life not to tell?” Eve asked.

Audrey didn’t smile. “I think I’m pregnant.”

Eve barely stopped herself from saying, I’m pregnant, too.

They had done everything else together these past six years, so of course, why not have babies together? Except that Audrey had a husband and Eve didn’t. “Congratulations,” she managed to say, hugging her.

“I haven’t written to tell Robert yet. I’m afraid to. It was an accident. We took precautions . . .”

“He’ll be happy, just the same,” she said, squeezing Audrey’s hands. “Especially if it’s a boy. Doesn’t every man want a son?”

She remembered, too late, how Audrey’s father doted on his son, ignoring his daughter all these years. She wished she had bitten her tongue.

Audrey didn’t seem to hear her as she continued on. “This morning, with this bomb—I realized how badly I want to stay safe from now on. We risked our lives so many times during the war, and it didn’t seem to matter because nobody knew what tomorrow would bring, whether we would live or die, or if the Nazis would pour across the channel and murder us. But the war is over and Robert is safe, and I want to stay safe, too, until it’s time to move to America to be with him. I want our baby to be safe.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m leaving London. I’m going home to Wellingford Hall.”

Eve took a moment to respond. “What about your job? And our flat?”

“I’ll give them my notice. Today, even. You won’t have any problem finding a new flatmate.”

Wow, what an excerpt! Sounds like a wonderful story, Lynn and we wish you the best of luck and God's blessings with this new book.

Hope you enjoyed this peek into Lynn's book as much as I did friends and that you'll check back weekly for Wednesday Words with Friends and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God Bless.

PamT

PS: Don't forget to leave a comment and enter into my monthly gift card giveaway and be sure to check out N. N. Light's Book Heaven's Audiobook Month giveaway where 5 gift cards are up for grabs! (see graphic in sidebar)