Read A Sound Among the Trees Online

Authors: Susan Meissner

A Sound Among the Trees (44 page)

BOOK: A Sound Among the Trees
4.78Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Then she brought her fingers to her mouth and nose and breathed deep the heady fragrance of resilience.

A
UTHOR’S
N
OTES

The Battle of Fredericksburg as my fictional Susannah describes is a historical event, and much of what she pens in her letters to Eleanor is based on fact. Holly Oak is not a real house, but I saw many beautiful and stately homes in current-day Fredericksburg with a view of downtown and the Rappahannock the way Susannah describes Holly Oak. As for the military details, I endeavored to stick to the facts as much as possible. It was not unheard of for West Point cadets to join up with a volunteer infantry from their home state, as I have suggested here, though it was likely not the norm. And I have placed the infirmary at Libby Prison in such a way as to make it convenient for my story. Other liberties with historicity were taken with care, and every attempt was made to make the story ring true whenever possible. I recommend the following resources for further reading and study:

Chesnut, Mary Boykin.
A Diary from Dixie
. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2006.
The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns
. DVD. Arlington, VA: Public Broadcasting Service, 2004.
Foote, Shelby.
The Civil War, a Narrative
. 3 vols. New York: Vintage, 1986.
Gallagher, Gary W., ed.
The Fredericksburg Campaign: Decision on the Rappahannock
. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1995.
McPherson, James M.
The Illustrated Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

R
EADERS
G
UIDE

1. Describe Adelaide. What is her greatest strength? her greatest weakness? What is her relationship with Holly Oak, and how has it colored her entire life?

2. Holly Oak withstood the Civil War but not unscathed. Along with the cannonball embedded in its walls, it acquired a reputation. What do people like Pearl think of the house? How does Adelaide think of the house? What about Susannah? Which is true? Do you think a home can take on any of the characteristics assigned to Holly Oak, or is it simply a building?

3. Why does Marielle agree to live in the same house her new husband shared with his previous wife? Do you think she was right? What would you have done in her situation, coming into a family as a stepmother far from the only home you’d ever known?

4. Susannah is referred to as a spy, a traitor, and a ghost. Who was she really? How does knowing the truth about Susannah’s life free Adelaide? How does it free Marielle? Caroline?

5. Why does Caroline come back to Holly Oak? What do you think would have happened to Adelaide and Marielle if she had not?

6. Eldora claims to be in contact with the spirit world. Do you believe her? What did she feel in Holly Oak? What happens when she meets Caroline?

7. When she is interviewed by the journalist, Adelaide says, “People will think what they want. They will always think what they want.” How is this statement a key theme of the story? In what ways does it
apply to Holly Oak, Susannah, the Blue-Haired Old Ladies, and even Adelaide and Marielle?

8. In a way,
A Sound Among the Trees
is a ghost story without a ghost. Who is Adelaide’s ghost? Carson’s? Does Marielle have a ghost?

9. Adelaide tells Marielle that Holly Oak is stuck, like a needle on a record. What does she mean? At the end of the book, Caroline explains that it is actually Adelaide who is stuck. In what way do the characteristics Adelaide gives to Holly Oak refer instead to herself? Why do you think she projects her unhappiness upon her home in this way?

10. With which character do you most closely identify? Adelaide? Marielle? Susannah? Caroline? Someone else? Why do you relate to this character? What similarities does her story have to your own?

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

Every book I write bears the influence of so many wonderful people in my life. I am deeply grateful:

• To Jeff and Sarah Sumpolec and their sweet family for sharing Fredericksburg with me, for opening up their lovely home and driving me from museum to battleground to historic street to cemetery as I researched for this book.
• For the keen editorial minds of Shannon Marchese and Jessica Barnes at WaterBrook Multnomah, and Jennifer Peterson and Lissa Halls Jackson. Thank you for the trips to the crucible. The book, if it shines, shines because you saw where it needed the Refiner’s fire and sent me there.
• To my agent and friend, Chip MacGregor, for words of affirmation at every juncture.
• To dear friends Kathy Sanders, Mary DeMuth, Barb Anderson, Tanya Siebert, Susie Larson, and Jeanne Damoff, for cheering me on in the tense days of the homestretch.
• For the love and support of my husband, Bob, and our four amazing young adults, and my mother, Judy Horning, for expert proofreading and encouragement.
• To God for His whispers in the trees and elsewhere, reminding me in that quiet way of His that the past is not just a collection of happenings He orchestrated; it is also a collection of my responses, both good and bad.

S
OMETIMES WE FIND
the
T
RUTH ABOUT OURSELVES
IN THE LIVES
of
OTHERS
.

Expected to gracefully embrace a life of privilege, a young woman cuts the purse strings that bind her to plot a new life course. But startling self-realization challenges everything she knows as she begins to study the tragic life of a seventeenth-century victim of the Salem witch trials.
Read an excerpt from this book and more at
WaterBrookMultnomah.com
!

An ancient
ring
,                                  
             
two women
separated
by nearly five hundred years,   
and the free
dom
to
choose
one’s life.

Manhattan antique shop owner Jane Lindsay is jolted into a new reality when she suddenly has to face the fact that her marriage is crumbling. While she grapples with her husbands abandonment, she comes across an ancient ring that may have belonged to Lady Jane Grey. As she traces the origins of the ring and Lady Grey’s story, Jane has to decide whether she will default to habits of powerlessness or whether she will take the first steps toward real truth and happiness.
Read an excerpt from this book and more at
WaterBrookMultnomah.com
!
BOOK: A Sound Among the Trees
4.78Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Blackout by Jan Christensen
In Flames by Richard Hilary Weber
Nocturne by Christine Johnson
Adored (Club Destiny #7.5) by Nicole Edwards
Snow by Asha King
The Ascendants: Genesis by Christian Green
Sara's Surprise by Deborah Smith
Gossie Plays Hide and Seek by Olivier Dunrea