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!
The Green Mockingbird 