Wandering Wednesday: Amsterdam and the Netherlands + A Giveaway!

By Lisa Harris @heartofafrica 

One of the things our family has been blessed to do is travel together. Sometimes it's for ministry, like language school in Brazil. Other times we've been able to stop in Europe on the way from Africa to the United States, where we usually visit friends. The opportunity to set my stories in some of these locations with my Love Inspired Suspense books has been so much fun for me, and releasing this month is Deadly Exchange which was set in Amsterdam. Several years ago, our family stopped in Holland for a few days to visit friends and see some of Amsterdam. I loved the chance to incorporate some of the things we saw while we were there including a brief mention of Corrie ten Boom, one of the first places we visited just outside of Amsterdam. Her testimony of her family risking their lives to save the Jews during the war has always been so powerful to me, and in my story, my heroine feels the same way. She talks about the impact of visiting her house and her prayer that God would use her.

We also were able to visit the countryside outside of Amsterdam where part of my story takes place, in an older estate. Some of my favorite scenes are the windmills in the background and the fog along the water. We were even able to visit a place where they make the decorative wooden clogs.

And no trip to Amsterdam is complete without trying some raw herring. I love fish and grew up on smoked salmon, so for me it wasn’t bad at all. But I can't say that all of my family felt the same!

Taking a boat ride through the city was a lot of fun, and honestly, one of my favorite ways to see a city. I love all the houseboats and bridges and of course Amsterdam's unique architecture.

And lastly, you can't forget about all the bikes in Amsterdam. I confess, I never tried to ride one, especially in the city, but I love the idea of riding bikes everywhere. In fact, the first scene is of my heroine on her way home on her bike she affectionally named Archie.

While I have such great memories of our time in the Netherlands, I took my heroine through a much different experience in Deadly Exchange. Chased across Amsterdam by a human-trafficking ring, social advocate Kayla Brooks refuses to help them recapture Mercy, the young girl she rescued from their clutches. And there's only one man Kayla can turn to for help: her ex-fiance's brooding older brother, Levi Cummings. Armed with only a few clues, Kayla and Levi must bring down the crime ring. . .or lose their lives in the process.

Giveaway

I'm giving away an ebook copy of Deadly Exchange. To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post and/or on Monday's New Release Post. Receive two entries in the drawing by commenting on both posts! I'll pick the winner from the comments Monday, January 22 at 10pm EST.

Read a FREE sample of Deadly Exchange at Amazon.com

About Lisa Harris

LISA HARRIS is a Christy Award finalist for Blood Ransom and Vendetta, Christy Award winner for Dangerous Passage, and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 (Blood Covenant) and 2015 (Vendetta) from Romantic Times. She has over thirty novels and novella collections in print. She and her family have spent over thirteen years working as missionaries in Africa. When she's not working she loves hanging out with her family, cooking different ethnic dishes, photography, and heading into the African bush on safari.

Website:  www.lisaharriswrites.com

Heart-of-the-matter Fiction

 Sharon Souza is with us today to talk about her new release, Unraveled. She describes her writing as “heart-of-the-matter fiction with a good dose of humor.” The humor in this case comes from the quirky voice of Aria Winters, granddaughter of former-hippies-turned-Jesus-people krystal and blue karma. Ree, as she is called, grew up on the nut farm (walnuts, almonds, and pistachios, that is), and runs off to Moldova (check your map of Eastern Europe) to be a missionary. I say “runs” because in fact, she is running from a guilty secret in her past. In Moldova she comes face to face with an imperfect world when a little girl in her English class is taken by child traffickers.

I identified strongly with Ree. Like me, Ree grew up in a Christian home surrounded by people who loved her. Like me, she is broken by what she sees. Once she stops apologizing for the feelings about God that good Christian girls just aren’t supposed to feel, she hurls the same angry arguments at him that I have. Maybe you have too. That’s where the heart-of-the-matter part comes in, and Sharon Souza hit me straight between the eyes.

Sharon, thank you for being with us today.

The spiritual struggle in Unraveled could have taken place anywhere, so why Moldova?

Sharon Souza: Prior to starting the writing of Unraveled I spent a number of weeks trying to decide where to set the overseas part of the story. I initially thought about setting it in Thailand, because I have a sister-in-law from Thailand who could have helped me with setting, customs, language, etc., but I ultimately decided against Thailand because I didn't want the location to be cliché. The very week I was going to begin writing, my husband—who has traveled all over the world helping to build the kingdom of God both physically and strategically—received a newsletter from a missionary friend in Moldova, which I'd never heard of till that day. The subject of that newsletter dealt exactly with what I was getting ready to write about. And the location added elements to the story that I couldn't have planned as well if I'd tried. That was a remarkable answer to prayer that helped me know I was on the right path.

LH: ‘The location added elements to the story that I couldn’t have planned.” Like what (if it won’t give away too much of the story)?

SS: The sunflower was a symbol that unexpectedly rose out of the setting, and became an important element to the story.

LH: That symbol worked beautifully. I loved the place where Aria is driving through acres of sunflowers and thinks, "I ... have no intention of turning my face to the Light, only to get burnt." (p. 196) They make a great cover, too. 

You portray my Ree’s spiritual struggle so intimately, that I find myself wondering what provoked your own struggle. Are you free to share or is that too private?

SS: Anyone who has walked with the Lord for any length of time knows there are things that happen that cause us to question, maybe not God's faithfulness overall, but God's faithfulness to me, to my specific situation. I know I've been there and I can say unequivocally that God has made Himself more real to me in those times than in any other. Did those situations always turn out the way I hoped they would? Seldom. But I've found the outcome isn't always as important as knowing the nearness of God, and knowing that as I walk through the dark places He really is with me. That has to be enough.  I can't seem to avoid asking hard questions in my fiction, honestly never sure how the questions will be answered, or if they will at all. But God always points me in the right direction. I hope it gives my readers something to think about and something to hold onto.

LH: The plot involves child sex trafficking. How did you personally come to be concerned about this issue?

SS: The statistics are overwhelming, the fallout is horrific. Because it's such a global issue I felt it was something that needed to be addressed in Christian fiction, which it is more and more and has been since I first started Unraveled. But I didn't want to make that the main issue of the book, nor did I want to look at the big picture of human trafficking. Instead, I wanted to look at how it affected one young girl and those who cared for her, getting personal without being graphic.

LH: I loved the way you dealt with this hard question, making it so person and giving no easy answers.

You have other commercially published books, yet according to your blog, this manuscript was turned down because “CBA doesn’t do missionary stories.” The setting is a mission trip in Eastern Europe. Can you share with our readers why you don’t consider this a “missionary book”?

SS: If the plot had centered primarily around Aria's work with the Moldovan children or as a helper in Hope House with those rescued out of human trafficking, I would consider it a missionary book. But it deals instead with a young woman who's lived a privileged life, who's taken everything for granted, including her faith, who then faces a crisis that shakes the foundation of her world. That's what's at the heart of Unraveled. The mission aspect of the story was just a vehicle to get her that place.

LH: You have self-published despite other commercially published books. How has that worked for you? How has it been different from a traditional publisher?

SS: Self-publication is not an easy way to go, but it became apparent that it was the only way Unraveled would be published. Judging from the feedback I've gotten from readers, I'm glad I went ahead with it. It's not easy getting the ripple effect to build, but I work at it constantly. With my traditionally-published novels (which I've just re-released independently) I was still responsible for a large share of the marketing, but it was nice to know that I had a publishing company behind me helping to promote my books even just a little. 

LH: Thank you, Sharon. This book meant a lot to me personally, and I pray that many others will be touched by it.

Sharon has graciously agreed to do a book give-way.  Comment below by Friday March 8 to have your name entered in a drawing. Don’t forget to leave your e-mail addresses disguised to foil phishers. US residents may request either print or electronic. Outside the US, electronic only. As usual, the chances of winning depend on the number of entries. Void where prohibited. 

___

LeAnne Hardy has lived in six countries on four continents. (Moldova is not one of them.) Her novels for children and young adults reflect the various places she has lived. Learn more at www.leannehardy.net .

Traveling Internationally Without Leaving Home

I just returned from ten days of travel, and I'm so glad to be home! But I must confess that at no point during those ten days did I ever leave my home country. Instead, I had the opportunity to speak to various groups on a topic of international interest and concern: human trafficking. I was even interviewed by a local ABC News affiliate on the topic and got to watch myself as the lead story on the evening news. Exciting stuff!

These opportunities reminded me of how important international fiction truly is. When I accepted the three-book fiction contract from New Hope Publishers to write a series on human trafficking, specifically child sex slavery, I knew I wanted to include the international scope of the problem while at the same time bringing it home to so many in my own country who seem to think it just doesn't happen here. The Freedom Series (Deliver Me From Evil, Special Delivery, and The Deliverer) did exactly that, as I wove two stories together throughout the three books: one in the Golden Triangle of Thailand and one in Southern California, with a few scenes in Mexico as well. I have been amazed, as I've traveled this country and spoken to various groups, as well as talked about the topic on radio and TV, how aware people seemed to be of the trafficking problem in other countries but how unaware of it here where I live. As a result, I feel I have accomplished my objective by including these two seemingly separate stories and locations in the same series of books.

International fiction is unique in presenting this opportunity, regardless of where you live as a writer or reader. As writers we can travel the world from our home office, spinning fascinating tales that inform and challenge, while tying together the commonalities of human beings everywhere. As readers we can travel to exotic places and experience the good, the bad, and the ugly of our brothers and sisters around the world--even if we can't afford the airfare to take such a trip.

Whether it is human trafficking, the persecuted Church, or any other universal topic, international fiction offers the ease of travel without leaving home, and I am so grateful to be a part of it!

The International Horror of Human Trafficking

My next book, Deliver Me From Evil, releases in a matter of weeks. Its international scope is heartbreaking.

Much of the time, when I mention the topic of this new book/series, people say something like, "Oh, yeah. I've heard of that happening in Thailand." And yes, it does happen there. In fact, the subplot of my book unravels in the Golden Triangle of that very country.

But the main story? Right here where I live--Southern California. San Diego, to be exact. One of the primary locations for such an atrocious crime, as so many of these victims are brought in across the Mexico/US border.

Before starting this series, I spoke with an investigative reporter for the largest newspaper in the San Diego area, and he told me that even after year of digging into some of the most sordid happenings imaginable, he has seldom been as horrified as he was by investigating the human side of modern-day slavery.

And that's the point. This isn't simply a tragedy involving staggering statistics (27 million people estimated to be held in captivity around the world, for various reasons including sexual exploitation, cheap or free labor, and harvesting of body parts/organs); it is a tragedy with names and faces. Children, much like yours and mine, are kidnapped or even sold by family members into a life that is so violent and degrading that few ever make it out alive. If they do, they are often so scarred that they can never lead a normal life.

Are we our "brother's keeper"? Yes, we are. God has called as to BE the Church! We are to pray for the deliverance and healing of these precious people, but also to speak out for the absolute abolition of modern-day slavery. We cannot sit idly by while people created in the image of God are used as chattel and thrown away like refuse.

It is a worldwide problem, but the Church spans the globe and crosses the borders of time. May we rise up together and say "No more!" May our battle cry be "Abolition!"