"What would it be like to be 'chasing the cure,' to be so sick that you would leave your home and travel...to get to a place where you're hoping to be well again? What does that mean on a physical level, but then also an emotional and spiritual level?"--Lisa T. Bergren
I recently blogged about Lisa T. Bergren's terrific Breathe: A Novel of Colorado. Today I had a great conversation with the author herself.
If you check out Lisa's bio, you find that she's been involved in just about every aspect of Christian fiction, from editor to bookseller. I'm sure she was just great in each of those roles, but I can tell you that she really shines as a writer.
Lisa and I talked about how, as a resident of Colorado Springs, she was prompted to write a book focusing on how the town was a haven, in the late 18-hundreds, for consumptives--as people who suffered from tuberculosis was then known. She found the research into how people "chased the cure" fascinating--and so did I as a reader.
We also talked about the main characters in "Breathe," who will also be featured in the remaining two books of the trilogy. They are siblings Dominic, Odessa and Moira St. Clair. Lisa's skilled pen brings their very different, flawed but appealing personalities to life.
Lisa doesn't avoid Christian content in her novels, but she likes it to rise "organically" from the story. And it does--imparting spiritual truth, but never feeling forced, cliched or heavy-handed.
You can hear the entire interview here.
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