Okay…I have been known to gush about favorite books and authors. It’s what I do. It might be my spiritual gift.

But sometimes…sometimes all the gushing in the world just isn’t enough to capture how truly amazing a book really is. And that’s exactly how I feel about Lori Benton‘s new book, The Wood’s Edge. Seriously, within minutes of finishing this book, I texted several reading friends and went on and on and on about how much I loved it. It immediately became one of my top five favorite novels of all time. FOR REAL.

See, I’m using caps! That’s how much I love it. The history is sweeping and intricate and feels so alive as you’re reading. The story is masterfully crafted and the emotion of it is impossible to disconnect from. AHHH I just love it so much. So I was super excited when Lori agreed to this Q&A. I hope you enjoy it…and then do yourself a massive favor and go out and buy The Wood’s Edge!

*****

Melissa: Okay, I could not possibly gush about The Wood’s Edge enough. It’s so lyrically and intricately written…and the history! What inspired this story?

Lori: Thank you very much! Lyrical and intricate are two things I strive to create when I’m crafting a story.

As for inspiration, by the time I’d written my previous two published novels, Burning Sky and The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn, I’d recognized my passion for telling stories about people caught in some sort of middle ground—in a place between cultures, identities, social classes, world views, the list is long. So I was looking for a setting and historical situation through which to weave another story of this kind. Something similar to those previous titles but not exactly the same.

Around that time I read an article about twins born to a multiracial couple where one twin was dark skinned, the other fair, quite a startling contrast. That snagged my attention. I began asking myself the “what if” questions that authors do. What if a set of twins like these was born in the 18^th century? What if one of them was raised never knowing he had a different heritage than his skin proclaimed? That was the seed from which The Wood’s Edge grew. 

Melissa: “Passion for telling stories about people caught in some sort of middle ground.” I love that! So, you have written some of THE best heroes I’ve ever read: Neil in Burning Sky. Jesse in The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn. Two Hawks in The Wood’s Edge. We’re talking, massive heart flutters. What, to you, makes a good hero?

Lori: I’m glad you share my love for these guys. I’m also madly fond of Joseph Tames-His-Horse (BS) and Cade (TPOTL).

For me it goes back to that middle ground element.  Either my heroes are the ones caught between two ways of living (Jesse and Two Hawks) or else they’re deeply connected to someone who is and their lives are reshaped forever because of it (Neil). The heroes in my stories are capable of a broader world view than they’ve been raised with, revealed through their experiencing another culture or lifeway, either in their past or in the present story. 

Wherever they are on their spiritual journey, a good hero has (or is learning to embrace) the capacity for great trust and faith in God and His goodness, that He is going to lead him and the heroine through their present trials to a good place, to a future, a hope.

My heroes also need to have a warrior’s heart, though that doesn’t mean they necessarily are warriors, though often they are.

Melissa: I think you told me in a Facebook conversation that for your next book, you ended up with a 30-page historical timeline.  I am in awe! The Wood’s Edge takes place in the years leading up to The Revolutionary War. What sparked your interest in this particular time period?

Lori: That’s right. The sequel to The Wood’s Edge is woven tightly around the historical record of the New York frontier, 1777, so I had to lay that groundwork first and weave my characters’ story through it.

It’s that middle ground experience that’s the core of what draws me to the 18^th century frontier. Just when I think I’ve exhausted all there is to tell about the clashes and connections between European settlers, Native Americans, Africans and African Americans on the eastern frontier, I run across another intriguing bit of history or an individual begging for a story to be told. 

However… for the sake of full disclosure, the reason I initially chose the 18^th century for a novel setting is because I wanted my male characters to wear knee breeches, not full length trousers. It was little more than a whim, but what a treasure trove was waiting to be uncovered.

Melissa: Knee breeches. LOL! Is there a particular character in The Wood’s Edge (or any of your books) who is most like you?

Lori: Neil MacGregor in Burning Sky embodies much of what I learned about while coping with set-backs and losses during my season of dealing with cancer and the resulting years of chemo fog. What turned out to be a temporary situation for me (being unable to write), I made a lifelong disability for Neil. But many of the truths he learned about trusting in the goodness of God and leaning into Him for strength in his weakness are the truths I learned through my cancer experience.

But in The Wood’s Edge? I actually relate closely to Reginald Aubrey. Undoubtedly everyone has at least one deed, choice, or moment in their lives they wish they could undo. It’s not comfortable to look closely at our failings, even those of the distant past. But that’s what I did, drawing on my own experience with guilt and regret (washed clean by the blood of Christ, forever and ever, amen) then—as writers do—made it ever so much worse for Reginald.

Melissa: Can you give us a peek—even just a tiny peek—into what’s coming up next for Anna, Two Hawks, William and the rest of the characters in your series? 

Lori: I’d love to, but don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t yet read The Wood’s Edge. Let’s see… what I can tell you is this: the second (and last) book in The Pathfinders series, A Flight of Arrows, picks up where The Wood’s Edge left off. The Revolutionary War is about to sweep over the New York frontier and no one anywhere in the Mohawk Valley is safe. As for the Aubreys and the Oneidas, all the characters you’ve come to know (plus a few new ones) have further challenges to conquer and conflicts to overcome before the consequences of Reginald Aubrey’s fateful choice made in the first pages of The Wood’s Edge play themselves out. 

I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK! There I go using all caps again… 

*****

Lori Benton was raised east of the Appalachian Mountains, surrounded by early American history going back three hundred years. Her novels transport readers to the eighteenth century, where she brings to life the Colonial and early Federal periods of American history. When she isn’t writing, reading, or researching, Lori enjoys exploring the Oregon wilderness with her husband. She is the author of Burning Sky, recipient of three Christy Awards, The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn, and The Wood’s Edge.

Okay readers, what’s a book YOU can’t stop gushing about?

Also, if you haven’t had a chance to check out Lori’s newest book yet, you can actually check out the first two chapters free here! But warning, I promise you, if you start reading, you won’t be able to stop. 

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