Saturday Snippet: Caterwaul and Wail

This excerpt is from my last year's Grandma's Wedding Quilts series book Kizzie's Kisses, but it is about Kizzie's cousin, Otto, who has his own book this year titled Otto's Offer.

          As the three of them sat together after hobbling the horses where they could graze the sparse grass next to the river, Otto grabbed the attention of both Jesse and Kizzie when he confided in them. “I want to tell you what I have planned, but I don’t want you to say anything about it to the family. I want to tell my folks first. It’s just I know my pa won’t be too happy and my mother will cry and try to talk me out of it, plus I’ll probably have to listen to a bunch of caterwauling and wailing from Hannah and Magpie.”

          Kizzie sat up straight. Her eyebrows shot towards her hairline. Her cousin Hannah, the perfect sister, would caterwaul and wail?

          Jesse guessed at what Otto intended to tell them. “You going to join up to go fight in the war, Otto?”

Saturday Snippet- Why He's There

The following snippet I shared on our Lockets & Lace Cover Reveal Extravaganza held on Facebook a little over a week ago:

          Wilhelm turned his full attention to the beautiful woman sitting gracefully several feet away. The entire world, including the rest of the Ryan family, seemed to vanish. All he could see before him was the mesmerizing woman who had caught his eye the day he boarded the ship. Like a vision—a foretelling—the sight of her now sitting only the short distance from him resonated to his very core.

          Bridget raised her head as her name was spoken and offered him a dazzling smile. Then, catching sight of her father’s warning glare, returned her eyes to her project. “Pleased it is I am to meet you, Mr. Mueller.” 
          With difficulty, Wilhelm turned his focus back to Thomas Ryan. “The work the women do I come to see. What call you…?” Still struggling with the language, he motioned towards the needlework.

          Thomas directed a knowing look at Wilhelm. “I know why you’re here, Mr. Mueller. But to be answering your question, it is the Irish lace they’re making. My women learned it at the convent whilst we were still in Ireland—to help earn extra due to the potato blight. Bridget is doing the crochet work whilst Mrs. Ryan is connecting the pieces together to form the lace.”

 

My book, The Bavarian Jeweler, is now available on Amazon both for purchase or free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription. For a short time, copies may be obtained without cost on the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog. Click on the book cover in the right sidebar and follow the Book Funnel links. While you are at the blog, please sign up to follow it by email or Networked Blogs.

After you read the book, please leave a review on Amazon.

Saturday Snippet- Destination: New Orleans

My book, The Bavarian Jeweler, is now available on Amazon both for purchase or free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription. It is the prequel to the Lockets & Lace series sponsored by some of the authors who write for the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog.

The following snippet I shared on our Lockets & Lace Cover Reveal Extravaganza held on Facebook a little over a week ago:

          Wilhelm raised an eyebrow. He began to suspect it might be a long two months sharing a cabin with this man. “If you don’t care for the Americans, why do you go there?”

          “In one word—trade. The American blighters are our biggest source of cotton for the mills I manage in Manchester. ’Tis why I’m sailing into New Orleans. ’Tis one of the biggest ports close to the southern states where they grow the fluff.” Edward paused, and eyed Wilhelm with curiosity. “What takes you to a land where you don’t speak the language?”

          “Business. I speak French, the language of many in New Orleans.”

          “Buying trip, eh? What business are you in?”

          “Nein. No. No buying trip. I’m a watchmaker. I’ve come to set up a new branch of the family business.” Inwardly, Wilhelm winced at the truth he had stretched regarding his reason for relocating to America.

          Wilhelm bit back the recurring surge of resentment that during the past two months occasionally resurfaced. His mind went back to that night in Pforzheim in Baden-Württemberg, the German state just west of his native Bavaria, when his father had unexpectedly shown up at his room and started the chain of events that twisted into turmoil Wilhelm’s carefully thought-out plans for his life.

 

For a short time, copies of The Bavarian Jeweler may be obtained without cost on the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog. Click on the book cover in the right sidebar and follow the Book Funnel links. While you are at the blog, please sign up to follow it by email or Networked Blogs.

After you read the book, please leave a review on Amazon.