HOW I RESEARCHED HEART OF GRACE

HOW I RESEARCHED HEART OF GRACE
Friday, May 23, 2025 by LINDA HOOVER

Categories: Friday's Fiction / GUEST AUTHORS / Reviews and Interviews

PLEASE WELCOME

LINDA HOOVER

FICTION FRIDAY

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

An event in my childhood served as the jumping-off point for Heart of Grace. I may have been eight years old when my family got together with another family for a picnic. They had a boy my age who was afraid of bugs, and when you eat outside, there will be bugs. Little black beetles, the size of a ladybug, tried to join us, and he wanted nothing to do with them. If one landed on his sandwich, he’d pick it off, including the bread it landed on. If a bug touched anything on his plate, it had to go. I don’t think he ended up eating much. I thought he was silly, maybe even a scaredy cat.

Lydia’s parents provided housing for missionaries on leave, and one summer, Adam’s family stayed there. Lydia loved all of nature’s moving creatures, and Adam wanted nothing to do with any of it. Years later, when she finds out he’s coming to their home to recover from malaria, she pictures a pale little boy who seems to be afraid of everything and assumes he hasn’t changed. Adam isn’t happy when he sees who he’ll be staying with. He remembers her as a skinny little girl who tortured him with bugs. It will take God’s intervention for them to see each other for who they really are.

The story is set in the summer of 1890 in St. Louis, Missouri. When I write historical fiction, I try to make it accurate. That means research. What kind of houses would you see in St. Louis? What were people wearing in 1890? What did they do for fun? Adam had malaria, so I learned about the recovery process. Lydia has a large flower garden. What kind of flowers would you find in gardens in 1890? It turns out, many of the same ones you see today.

When Adam sprains his ankle, Lydia goes to a drugstore to get willow bark for tea. Aspirin, as we know, wasn’t available then/ Some of the items she would have seen for sale in the store would be herbs and spices, horse medicine, and medicinal chemicals like sulfur, saltpeter, and crude opium. Like stores today, they also had household items, soaps, perfumes, and powders. The favorite fragrance in those days was violet.

A soda fountain was something else you’d see in most drugstores. Phosphate sodas were made by mixing acid phosphate, which gave the drink a tart taste, soda water, and flavoring like lemon, cherry, orange, pineapple, and chocolate. An ice cream soda was the most popular drink. Once the flavor was mixed in, the soda jerk put a scoop of ice cream on top. Soda with a raw egg mixed in was another popular drink. If a person wanted a ready-made drink, he could choose a brand-name soda like Coca-Cola, Moxie, or Hires Root Beer. Milkshakes were also available, and this is how it got its name. Milk, shaved ice, and flavoring were put into a container and shaken. Ice cream was added in 1922.

Other subjects I checked into were orphanages, children living on the streets, teaching school in 1890, and the mission field where Adam got malaria. This faith-filled story has humor, a touch of drama and an enemies to more trope.

MORE ABOUT HEART OF GRACE

St. Louis
1890
Lydia Bailey grew up with parents who provided housing for missionaries on leave. One summer, a young boy named Adam Johnson and his parents stayed with them. Every bug and worm she showed him outside scared him to tears. Lydia had wondered what was wrong with him.

Years later, when Lydia’s father passed away and her mother fell ill for a year, it seemed God had abandoned them, so she signed up to get a teaching certificate to help cover household expenses. When she came home, her mother had cleaned the guest room. The boy who had come ten years ago needed a place to recover from malaria. Would Lydia have to put off getting her certificate to care for him?

Adam finds himself delivered to the home his parents had arranged for him to recover. To his horror, all he can see is the skinny girl with red braids who tormented him when the family stayed here years ago.

Will Lydia open her heart to God’s healing? Can Adam find it in his heart to forgive Lydia? Will both seek God’s plan for their lives?

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ABOUT LINDA HOOVER

Linda, a retired librarian, lives in west central Ohio with her husband and grandson. An avid reader and writer since childhood, she began her publishing career writing columns and a middle-grade serial for the South Charleston Spectator. Her desire is to entertain, but more importantly, to encourage readers with God’s faithfulness.

You’re invited to visit her website. Browse the pages to learn more about her and her books. Stay in touch when you sign up for her newsletter. You’ll receive a free novella as a thank you.

https://lindahooverbooks.com

MY REVIEW OF HEART OF GRACE

I enjoyed this surprisingly quick read. The author’s use of dialogue and banter enhanced excellent descriptions of the time period and setting. I did find myself singing, “Meet Me in St. Louis,” and “Clang, Clang, went the trolley.” Though the World’s Fair in St. Luois, was in 1904.

I particularly enjoyed the sardonic use of humor. While malaria was a serious matter, the story itself engages the reader with realistic events that are funny but have the potential to doom a relationship without God’s grace to overlook, not only the past, but also evidentiary failings that somehow, with God’s nudging, can lead to romance.

Well, you judge for yourself. I recommend this book.

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