Have you ever made a bad choice? How about someone making a bad choice for you and you’re left to live with their decision? I love thoughtful, real life themes in fiction. And friends, this month’s A2A featured author, Sarah Loudin Thomas lives for these stories!
With a background in PR for Biltmore Estate, bestselling and award-winning novelist Sarah Loudin Thomas uses her firsthand knowledge of North Carolina’s storied landmark to seamlessly weave a captivating historical tale in her new novel These Tangled Threads. Sarah takes readers a century into the past as the lives of three people become woven together into a tapestry of friendship, betrayal, restoration, and second chances. Set in the shadow of the famed Biltmore Estate, These Tangled Threads is a timely, poignant, and masterfully crafted work of fiction with a uniquely Southern flair.
And, wait until you see where Sarah was during our interview! Check out the YouTube interview.
Ready to learn more about this intriguing book? Here is a brief synopsis.
Asheville, NC (1924)—A hidden betrayal scattered three young friends living in the
shadow of Biltmore Estate. When Biltmore Industries master weaver Lorna Blankenship is commissioned to create an original design for Cornelia Vanderbilt’s wedding, she panics. She doesn’t have the creativity needed. But there’s an elusive artisan in the Blue Ridge Mountains who could save her—if only she knew where to find her.
To track down the mysterious weaver, Lorna sees no other way than to seek out the relationships she abandoned in shame. As she pulls at each tangled thread from her past, Lorna is forced to confront the wounds and regrets of life long ago. She’ll have to risk the job that shapes her identity, as well as the hope of friendship—and love—restored.
See why I’m so excited about this novel?
This book centers around the lives of three former friends torn apart by their choices. Can you briefly introduce us to these characters? What should readers know about each of them?
Lorna Blankenship is a brown-eyed brunette who usually wears a serious expression. The loss of both parents has left her afraid to care or to feel too much. She’s dedicated herself to her work as a master weaver, but in tamping down her emotions she’s cut off any creativity she once had.
Gentry Cutshall is a young teen firecracker with light brown hair and green eyes. Her moods change like flipping a switch, and she has little control over her emotions. She pours her overabundance of energy into playing her dulcimer and is prone to disappearing into the fields and forests without telling anyone. Gentry is meant to become a weaver under Lorna’s tutelage, but her ability to focus on the work is limited. She is, however, wildly creative and artistic.
Arthur Wescott is the picture of solid dependability. Essentially fobbed off on the church as a child, he’s always made sure he’s indispensable so he’ll have a place in the world. He’s a big brother/father figure for Gentry and best pal for Lorna—although he wishes he were more to her. While he’s good-looking with wavy brown hair and hazel eyes, he has a clubfoot that affects his gait and, he believes, makes him less attractive.
Schoolhouse is Sarah, husband Jim, brother Daniel, and niece Olivia in front of the one-room schoolhouse her dad went to for one year before the county opened a “modern” elementary school.
How do you think your experience working in PR at the Biltmore enhances the novel?
In the beginning, I thought of Biltmore as a fairy-tale castle, but I came to learn that the Vanderbilts and the people they employed were so much more than figures in a history book. They were vibrant, exciting, real people with joys, sorrows, and stories to tell. In my time at Biltmore, I got to know some of the curatorial staff and the house hosts who are so incredibly knowledgeable about the history surrounding Biltmore. Being privy to behind-the-scenes insights made the story come alive for me and I hope for my readers.
This book has it all—friendship, betrayal, romance, historical intrigue, all woven richly together. What are you most excited for readers to experience from your novel?
I’m always excited to share my love of Appalachia with readers. This is the first novel I’ve written that wasn’t set primarily in my home state of West Virginia. But it’s still very much in the Appalachian Mountains. I hope readers will feel like they’ve visited the beautiful green hills and might even plan to visit western North Carolina as a result. Come see Biltmore Estate, sure, but also take the time to drive out toward Weaverville or Black Mountain and experience the original beauty of this place that captivated the Vanderbilts.
Sounds wonderful!
Which of your characters has really stretched you as a writer?
The character that stretched me the most is also my favorite character. In The Right Kind of Fool, the hero of the story is Loyal, a 13-year-old boy who’s deaf. I stumbled on a tidbit of history from WV about how a “young, deaf mute boy” discovered a murdered body in the 1930s. Well. I was captivated by what it must have been like to be deaf, mute, and the key witness in a murder trial at a time when there probably wasn’t a lot of support or understanding for people who were deaf.
I pitched the idea for the novel to my editor, he gave me the green-light and I sat down to write. At which point I realized I was neither a 13-year-old boy nor deaf. So, I immersed myself in the deaf world, relearned some sign language (I’d learned a bit in grade school), and spent LOTS of time considering how not being able to hear would change the way a person perceived the world around them. It was fascinating and a really rich experience for me. And I ADORE Loyal as a result.
Oh, I’ll have to check this book out, Sarah!
What is the best writing tip you ever received?
The best writing tip I ever received was to write the next thing. I’d finished my first manuscript and was out there pitching it to agents and editors. One agent (who did NOT ask for the full proposal) advised me to always work ahead rather than just writing one thing and getting stuck trying to perfect it. SUCH good advice. I went home and started writing my second novel which turned out to be the one that was agented and contracted. Even now, as soon as I finish a manuscript, I start thinking about what I’m going to write next. It keeps me fresh and moving forward!
That is such great advice! Thank you!
Ready for the GIVEAWAY?
The May A2A Giveaway!
Yes! Thanks to Sarah and Bethany House, this month’s giveaway is an autographed copy of her, THESE TANGLED THREADS! PLUS, Sarah will send the winner a beautiful woven bracelet.
There’s one winner and it could be you! How? Well, by entering! Not just once, but up to SIX times!* Leave a comment below and share this blog and if you haven’t already, please subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of this blog and receive a free gift from me — and an extra entry.
NOTE: WANT TO INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING THIS INCREDIBLE GIVEAWAY?*
Check out my YouTube A2A interview with Sarah. Because, in the video interview Sarah will read one of my favorite scenes from These Tangled Threads, and answer different fun questions–and we have some great discussions! By Liking and Commenting on the video episode, you will have one more entry.* Sharing the video, another entry.* Subscribe, and you have TWO entries for a chance to win.*
The Deadline is May 10th!
Watch our interview
That means, my friends, if you comment and subscribe -– or are already a subscriber -– to my blog, then watch the video and LIKE, SHARE, and COMMENT on the VIDEO, then Subscribe to my YouTube Channel, your name will be entered SIX TIMES!*
Coming up in May: So excited to interview Suzanne Woods Fisher. A bestselling and multi-award-winning author whose latest release, Love on a Whim–Cape Cod Creamery, Book 3 is a real charmer.
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed getting to know Sarah–I sure did! Until next month, God bless and KEEP READING!
*So sorry, entries from the contiguous US only.
