The Cottonwoods Character Guest Post - Christy's Cozy Corners

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Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for The Cottonwoods by Lyn Farrell. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!

The Cottonwoods

by Lyn Farrell

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The Cottonwoods
Women’s Fiction/Romance
Camel/Coffeetown/Epicenter Press
Pages 238

When Amber Bradshaw was twelve, her dying mother made her promise that someday she would find the family treasure brought to the U.S. by her great grandparents during WWI. She’s been left the farmhouse they built but the farm on which it stands is to be sold. If Amber is ever to find the treasure, it has to be soon. She locates her great Grandmother Ina’s journal which speaks of shimmering golden coins, but also tells of her bitterness with her husband who stole her dowry and ripped her from her homeland.

It’s an all-too-familiar concept to Amber who struggles with her own resentment about having to become a “mother” to her little sister, Claire, after her mother died. With two men interested in her, a heavy decision to make about Claire’s baby, and an agro-company trying to buy the farm, Amber has big decisions to make. Will she choose the right man? Will she keep Claire’s baby? Will she find the treasure? It’s a landscape strewn with snares and Amber is determined not to put a foot wrong.

Character Interview with Ina Nicolescu Morand

Summer has started and the cottonwoods are releasing their white fluffy seeds. My father complains that they will take root in his fields, but I think they are beautiful. There are so many in the air now, it’s like snow in summer.

I am writing this entry in my journal, something I have wanted to own for so long. My mother doesn’t understand why I want to record things—she didn’t even approve of me learning to read and write—but because I am marrying into a wealthy family, she relented. My fiancé, Frank Morand, is an Officer in the Romanian Army.

My wedding dress is almost finished. Mother took hers apart to make into mine. It’s light brown and beaded, but the waist is dropped and the neckline high. I wanted a sleeveless white gown with an open back. I have seen pictures of dresses like the one I wanted, but my mother said I would look like a “curva”.

I was offended. How could my mother say such a thing—that I would look like a woman who would sleep with a man for money? I have never known a man in that way. I am only eighteen, and according to my grim-faced father, not ready to be a wife.

When he left the house, I asked mother what he meant.

“You have lived on the farm all your life, you know about breeding,” she said. The blue eyes in her face were hard. I felt myself coloring. “Some women learn to enjoy it. I never did. Remember, you wanted a life away from the farm.” Her words were clipped.

It was true. I detested the dusty farm where my parents grew rutabagas, turnips and raised pigs. Grubbing in the earth, getting coated with dust, never feeling clean. The constant grind of farm life wore on me. If we had had a cow, I might have felt differently. Our neighbors had one. Their ridiculously long eyelashes and gentle faces always made me smile.

About Lyn Farrell

Lyn Farquhar – author name Lyn Farrell – has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University where she worked for the medical school until her retirement. Subsequently, she published a 7 book series of mysteries with her daughter (pen name Lia Farrell) entitled the “Mae December mysteries”. She then initiated a second mystery series starting with “The Blind Switch.” The second in that series, “The Blind Split” will be released in 2022. Lyn is a master gardener, a “dog mom” to her Cavalier Spaniel, Dezi, and the granddaughter of noted artist Eugene Iverd. She is the mother of two bio daughters, six step-kids, and twelve grandchildren. When she isn’t gardening, writing, spending time with family or playing with Dezi, she searches for the original art by her grandfather.

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