Historical Fiction: An Interview with Author Christine Lindsay
Today my guest is author Christine Lindsay. Do you ever use the word "raj" for more than merely scoring big in Words with Friends? Time to brush up on some history…
How did you come up withthe idea for your novel Shadowed in Silk?
I wanted to tell a story set in the flamboyant era of British ruleover India called “The Raj.” Whilereading about Colonial India, I discovered the Indian people felt invisible totheir English rulers and so-called protectors.
Add to that, the feeling of being invisible as an individual. As a kid Iwatched my mother suffer in secret as my alcoholic father mistreated her andneglected us kids.
Along with that, mix in the mystery of Indian culture of veiledwomen in Purdah, secrets brewing behind fretted marble screens, and thetheme of invisibility emerged.
BTW, that gorgeous girl on the book cover is my birth-daughter, Sarah. Imade an adoption plan for Sarah when she was three days old, and I was reunitedwith her twenty years later. As a birthmother in the days of closed adoptions,I felt invisible to my own child.
What is your favorite scenein Shadowed in Silk?
Miriam’sdeath scene. Miriam is an older Indian woman who is also a former Hindu widowwho found life in Christ. For many years Miriam has run a clinic/orphanage forcastoff women and children. Writing her selfless death scene, and of herslipping into eternity with Christ, still makes me cry. And gives me goosebumps.
What was the most difficultscene to write?
I wantedto tackle the issue of spousal abuse with delicacy. Writing the scene in whichAbby’s husband strikes her was hard. I wanted it real, but not maudlin ormelodramatic. I also worked hard at showing Abby not as a victim, but much likemy mother, a woman who refuses to submit to cruelty.
You have visited India.What was your impression of the country? What surprised you?
In 2010, Ivisited the south of India to observe and report back on the vibrant ministry, Children’s CampsInternational.
I wasshocked to recognize around me so much of what I’d researched. A great deal ofthe British Raj is still in existence in the railways and administrativebuildings. In fact, I was convinced some of the trains we rode came out of the colonialperiod, they were so old.
It was asthough I’d stepped back in time and was sitting beside one of my true-lifeheroines that have long been in heaven. Travelling by train on hard seats withdust flying in through the open windows, I saw the emerald-green rice paddiesthat Dr. IdaScudder saw when she built her great hospital in the south of India. Or theland of missionary AmyCarmichael, or that of the great Indian Christian heroine, PanditaRamabai. All of these courageous people rescued women and children.
Your story has somesurprises. What surprised you in your research?
I was shockedthat the abuse and neglect I researched is still a reality today. One day I visiteda Hindu temple, and there lying on the stones was an extremely thin, elderly woman.She was left there to die. Often women—young and old—must feed themselves byselling their bodies. Children must do this too. So many poor children are soldby the thousands in the sex trade—a harsh reality.
In Shadowed in Silk, I touched on thisissue. While I want to awaken readers to the plight of suffering people, I alsowanted to write a book that will touch the reader’s life. So Abby’s love storyis important to me as well—her growth in the face of loss.
Thedarkness is woven into the tapestry of an adventure with big loves stories. Ilike a book that teaches while it entertains me. And I believe in happyendings.
And your next project…?
I’m currently writing Veiled atMidnight, the third and final book to my series to be released August 2014.Book two, Captured by Moonlight, isalready available on most purchase sites in paperback and ebook. Each book inthis series deals in some way with abuse toward women.
In Shadowed in Silk, it isAbby Fraser with an abusive English husband. In book two, Captured by Moonlight, it is the abuse of Hindu widows, and in bookthree, Veiled at Midnight, it is whathappened to women during the terrible Partition of India and the creation ofthe new country, Pakistan, an all-Muslim state.
View the booktrailer for Captured by Moonlight.
CONNECT WITH CHRISTINE LINDSAY: