Interview with the Author! Lynne Gentry, “Healer of Carthage”

I’m so excited today! The author of Healer of Carthage, Lynne Gentry, is here visiting my blog! She’s answered some interview questions about her latest book. If you haven’t yet, check out my review of Healer of Carthage, the first book in “The Carthage Chronicles” series. It’s a must-read!

About Healer of Carthage:

The first in The Carthage Chronicles series, Healer of Carthage launches Dr. Lisbeth Hastings into third-century Carthage. Desperate to survive in this unknown world, Lisbeth is forced to grapple with slavery, religious persecution, and disease. Against this dark backdrop, romance, justice, and courage take center stage. 

Lynne, what inspired you to write Healer of Carthage?

There comes a point in everyone’s life when they look back and ask themselves, “could I have done something differently?” and “If I had, what would my life look like now?” I was at that point when the notion came to me of Time Travel…going back and having a redo, so to speak. An interesting thing happened when writing this book: I realized I’m exactly who God intended me to be and there wasn’t a single thread of my life that I wanted pulled … not even the hard times, for those hard times had built my character. I wouldn’t be me if I’d done things differently. I believe I am on the road to becoming exactly who God wants me to be.

What spiritual message or theme do you want to communicate to readers with Healer of Carthage?

The entire Carthage Chronicles series is about courage. Courage as individuals and as a collective body, i.e. the church. But Healer is about mercy. The mercy we extend to others. The mercy God extends to us. And the mercy we can learn to extend to ourselves.

What was most challenging about writing a story set in this time period?

Authors love to research the places they write about. Want to write a beach story set along the Carolina coast? Actually traveling to a beach on the east coast can really help an author set an accurate tone for the story world. Obviously, I couldn’t return to third-century Carthage or even the considerable amount of ruins left behind by that civilization. The volatility in that part of the world is too great. So, all of my world building had to take place through the painstaking process of reading, reading, and reading some more. Some of those ancient scholars are extremely boring and difficult to read.

Just for fun:

Do you have any hobbies? 

I love to walk my dog and read something off of the New York Times bestseller list.

If you could live in any other time period in history, which would it be and why?

I really think I would like to give living in the third century a shot. But if we’re dreaming here, I might as well dream that I’d go back to the third century as a pampered patrician’s wife, not a slave girl. 🙂

Thank you so much, Lynne, for taking the time to answer my questions and for writing such a beautiful story!

Lynne Gentry has written for numerous publications. Her newest novel, Healer of Carthage, is the first in The Carthage Chronicles series. She is a professional acting coach, theater director, and playwright with several full-length musicals and a children’s theater curriculum to her credit. Lynne is an inspirational speaker and dramatic performer whose first love is spending time with family.

Author Contact info:

Website: http://lynnegentry.com/

Facebook: Author Lynne Gentry https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Lynne-Gentry/215337565176144

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lynne_Gentry

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/lynnegentry7/

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imh1AwR698Y

Simon & Schuster: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Lynne-Gentry/412732530

 

As always, thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Review: “Healer of Carthage” by Lynne Gentry

(After reading this review, be sure to check out my interview post with author Lynne Gentry here!)

The latest novel from Lynne Gentry, Healer of Carthage, has all of the proper elements for an entertaining plot: an aspiring doctor, Lisbeth, struggling to overcome her mistakes, dealing with uncertain family problems, and uncovering long-hidden family secrets. An aspiring political leader, Cyprian, working to reconcile his newfound Christian faith with the politics and leaders that could destroy it. Throw time travel in to the mix with a 3rd century plague, main characters (and love interests) from different centuries, and you have a thrill-ride of a novel that will keep you turning pages as fast as you can.

Plot Synopsis:

First-year medical resident Dr. Lisbeth Hastings uses her father’s bizarre summons to escape her tragic mistake.

While Lisbeth searches the haunted cave of her father’s archaeological dig, she falls through a hidden portal. When the currents of time spew her onto the slave auction block in third century Carthage, her arrival ignites a fierce bidding war.

Unable to escape, Lisbeth becomes the property of Cyprian Thascius, a wealthy Roman enta
ngled with a group of people under siege from political persecution and a deadly plague.

Lisbeth resists using her medical skills to combat the epidemic until she stumbles upon a buried secret. To save her family, she must unite with Cyprian to save Carthage. But every revolutionary step they take in the past threatens their future.

My thoughts:

While torn between finding her way back to the 21st century and helping those she can in Carthage, Lisbeth finds herself caught in the middle of the politics of Cyprian and his clandestine group of Christ-following friends. As Lisbeth and Cyprian see that a solution to many of their problems could lie in joining forces, they begin to discover a love that stretches the boundaries of time. The mystery and secrets Lisbeth and Cyprian uncover in the past could serve to change the future of Rome and the future of Lisbeth’s family.

Lynne has authored a gem of a novel, successfully depicting a modern heroine amidst 3rd century Egypt politics and classes of people. I enjoyed the way she blended bits of modern language and expressions from Lisbeth’s character. Her peers in the 3rd century humorously did not know what to think of this intelligent woman with medical knowledge and an odd vocabulary.

Healer of Carthage exhibits the drama and political quagmires of the Roman Empire through the eyes of Lisbeth, someone foreign to such brutality and customs (think gladiators and the persecution of the early church). Her role in aiding unfortunate innocent people begins to give her character focus and purpose after her failings in modern medicine. With scenes like a dramatic medical thriller, Lisbeth practices “modern medicine” in the 3rd century AND finds help and encouragement in the most unexpected places. Cyprian plays a role in Lisbeths cause, too, and his character grows and matures through the story, as well.

Overall, Healer of Carthage is an exciting, fast-paced drama and love story packed with history, archaeology, and the struggles of a people notorious for their persecution of early Christians. It’s beautiful that these characters discover and renew their faith in God while they witness the strength and sacrifice of love. The only thing I’m NOT happy about is waiting until so long for the next book in The Carthage Chronicles series, Return to Exile!

Find this book on Amazon or Goodreads.

Mini Review of “Divergent” & latest Empty Shelf Challenge Reads, including “Healer of Carthage”

My latest reads this week are Healer of Carthage by Lynne Gentry and Divergent by Veronica Roth. (They are books 13 and 14 in my Empty Shelf Challenge!) Two TOTALLY different books. I loved them both for different reasons.

Later next week, I’m excited to post a review of Healer of Carthage AND an interview with author Lynne Gentry. She’s just fabulous!

Here are my thoughts on Divergent, also posted on Goodreads.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Never a dull moment. That sentence best sums up my thoughts on “Divergent”.

It is a skillfully written, fast-paced adventure, exploring themes of bravery, selflessness, sacrifice, and the strength of love. From the beginning, the reader is plunged into the story of Beatrice and her world. Veronica used a proper combination of action and feeling to convey each scene. I loved getting to know the characters through the course of the book.

The only reason I did not give it 5 stars was my dislike of some of the content. Mild profanity, depictions of drinking, and some of the suggestive content cause me to hesitate. I would give it a “PG-13” rating. The violence I expected, but some of the other content I did not, considering its popularity among young teens.

Despite the reasons above, I still thoroughly enjoyed “Divergent” and would recommend it to YA, Dystopian, and Sci-Fi fans alike. Because I typically read Christian or Inspirational fiction, I would caution someone reading “Divergent” to keep in mind that it IS secular fiction.

I definitely plan to finish this series – I can’t wait to see what predicaments Tris gets into next!

View all my reviews on Goodreads

 

Have you read either of these books? What are your thoughts, from a Christian perspective, on Divergent? Have you seen the movie?