Rhythm of Secrets Blog Tour

About the Author

Patti Lacy graduated from Baylor University in 1977 with a BS in education. She taught at Heartland Community College in Normal, Illinois, until she retired in 2006 to pursue writing full time. She and her husband, Alan, have two grown children. Visit Patti’s Web site at www.pattilacy.com.

Patti, tell us about The Rhythm of Secrets.

Hey, y’all! Do you like secrets?

Oooh, I hoped so. Meet Sheila Franklin, my heroine, who’s been used to going by several different names; who’s a preacher’s wife; who’s a mother, desperate for a second chance with her only child…

Sheila has masqueraded as the precocious daughter of avant-garde parents in colorful 1940s New Orleans, a teen desperate for love and acceptance, and an unwed mother sent North with her shame.

After marrying Edward Franklin, Sheila artfully masks her secrets, allowing Edward to gain prominence as a conservative pastor without breathing a word of her past. When one phone call from a disillusioned Vietnam veteran destroys her cover, Sheila faces an impossible choice: save her son and his beloved…or imperil Edward’s ambitions.

Inspired by a true story, The Rhythm of Secrets intermingles jazz, classical, and sacred music in a symphony trumpeting God’s grace.

How did you come up with ideas for this book?

The Rhythm of Secrets started with a morning cup of coffee and the rustle of my daily newspaper. I flipped a page.

They never forgot; in a conspiracy of silence, more than a million pregnant and unmarried young women and girls were forced to surrender their babies in postwar America. Then they were expected to return to normal living. Most never could…

Coffee smudged newsprint and made it hard to read the story of Sandy Sperrazza, who’d just reunited with the child she gave up for adoption in the 1960s, the child who consumed her thoughts for years. After the story consumed MY thoughts for days, I Googled Sandy. It took awhile to coax the national adoption advocate to share her story, but Sandy relented. My fourth novel was born!

Who are your main character(s)?

Sheila, a passionate yet secretive pastor’s wife whose life changes with one phone call.

Edward, a man whose ambitions cloud his love…and judgment until a trip to Thailand threatens to destroy everything.

Samuel, a disillusioned Vietnam veteran who will stoop to blackmail if it means freeing his beloved from human trafficking.

Did you have a favorite character? Who and why?

Oh, yes! My Sheila, who must choose between the son she doesn’t know and the husband who doesn’t know her. Can you imagine the conflict? I think dear Sheila does pretty well. No. AMAZINGLY well!

Did you have to do quite a bit of research for this novel?

Another oh, my, yes! Hubby keeps asking why I don’t write about nearby places, like Normal, Illinois, where we live :) He did nix a research trip to Thailand.

Thankfully God provided a Thai native who was willing to pour his heart and his expertise into this book.

My shelves sag with books that helped get Rhythms right: Widmer’s New Orleans in the 30s and 40s (two volumes), Fessler’s The Girls Who Went Away, Barrett’s Memoirs of a Bangkok Warrior were four favorites.

Then there were SCADS of phone interviews with folks as diverse as a nonagenarian Louisiana gardener, director of a New Orleans fire museum, a former Amtrak executive—it goes on and on!!

What do you hope readers will learn/discover from reading The Rhythm of Secrets?

God’s gift of grace trumps every nasty secret, every filthy rag act of legalism. Love truly conquers all. And adoption truly is a complex matter!

Okay, a not-so-fun question. How important are reviews to you as a writer?

God has gifted me with a passion to capture stories on paper! Unfortunately, no one will buy them if reviews and sales stink.

I don’t know a single writer, me included, who doesn’t crave acceptance and appreciation of our fellow professionals. I’m no exception

Thanks for the change to span seas and secrets with y’all! Hope to see y’all through my characters—SOON!

About the Book

Sheila Franklin has lived three separate lives. Now a conservative pastor’s wife in Chicago, she is skilled at hiding secrets—a talent birthed during childhood romps through the music-filled streets of New Orleans. But when the son she bore at the age of eighteen comes back looking for answers and desperate for help, her greatest secret—and greatest regret—is revealed.

Eager to right past wrongs, Sheila’s heart floods with memories of lyrical jazz music and a worn-out Bible. But when her husband learns of her shady history, Sheila is suddenly faced with an impossible decision: embrace the dream—and son—she abandoned against her will or give in to the demands of her safe but stifled life. As she struggles to reclaim both her son and her identity, Sheila soon realizes that God’s grace spans both seas and secrets and that He is all she really needs. With dynamic writing that makes the reader feel the heartache of a teenage mother, struggle with the disillusionment of an abandoned boy, and revel in the idea of grace despite flaws, rising star Patti Lacy takes her fans on a journey they won’t want to end—and won’t soon forget.

Purchase the Book Online at:
• Available Now on http://www.amazon.com/
• Available on http://www.booksamillion.com/
• Available on http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
• http://www.christianbooks.com/

For More Information

• Visit the author online at http://www.pattilacy.com/.
• View the blog tour schedule at http://bit.ly/TheRhythmofSecrets



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