by Christine Lindsay
They say, “write what you know,” and I know the majestic mountains that I can see from my front door and back porch. I live in the northern Canadian Cascade mountains, a range that spans the Canadian and US border. These stunning peaks are mostly non-volcanic, but it was only a few decades ago that Mount Baker surprised everyone by blowing. While the Cascades are a long range, I
I love these mountains. Every day these old friends show me a different face, whether the sun peeks over them, or like today, snow brushes their rugged features. The peak of my mountain is too far back and too high for me to see from my front window.
However, my all-time favorite aspect of these mountains is the alpine meadows. Not only is this range filled with glaciers, but each summer, after the snows melt and fill the rivers with crystal clear water, the meadows bloom. Each year from early July to August I plan at least one picnic in either the plateau-like uplands in Manning Park
Here is an excerpt from my Sofi’s Bridge winner of the Readers’ Choice 2017 to give you a taste:
At the summit they reined the Clydesdales under a shady tree. The wind, carrying a clean pine fragrance, blew unimpeded as though they’d reached the top of the world and grasses swayed in the breeze.
Neil walked with Sofi along a pathway strewn on either side with blue and purple lupine, pink phlox, yellow arnica, and red Indian paintbrush. In the distance, pale blue and turquoise ice from glaciers filled crevices between serrated granite heights. Quiet awe filled his face as he swept his gaze three hundred and sixty degrees and studied the glaciers that though they were miles away seemed close enough to touch. Above the tree line, gray peaks scraped the sky, some still capped with snow.
Sofi could only hope that up here for a while he could let go of whatever pain he was hiding from the world, and from her. These meadows high up in the Cascades make me feel just a little bit closer (physically) to God. The only thing I dislike about these gorgeous meadows is that you can only reach them during the hot summer months of late June to mid-September. The rest of the year the narrow, twisting switchback roads winding up the mountainside are snow bound.
Like Sofi and Neil in my historical romance Sofi’s Bridge discovered, these mountains can help you draw closer to God. Through their rugged canyons, you can be encouraged that the valleys of grief can eventually lead you out to a broad and bright place, filled with sunshine and glorious color.
Sofi’s Bridge (Winner of Readers’ Choice Award 2017)
Seattle Debutant Sofi Andersson will do everything in her power to protect her sister who is suffering from shock over their father’s death. Charles, the family busy-body, threatens to lock Trina in a sanatorium—a whitewashed term for an insane asylum—so Sofi will rescue her little sister, even if it means running away to the Cascade Mountains with only the new gardener Neil Macpherson to protect them. But in a cabin high in the Cascades, Sofi begins to recognize that the handsome immigrant from Ireland harbors secrets of his own. Can she trust this man whose gentle manner brings such peace to her traumatized sister and such tumult to her own emotions? And can Neil, the gardener, continue to hide from Sofi that he is really Dr. Neil Galloway, a man wanted for murder by the British police? Only an act of faith and love will bridge the distance that separates lies from truth and safety.
READ for FREE Chapter ONE of SOFI’S BRIDGE HERE.
Gorgeous, short, beautiful music Video trailer for Sofi’s Bridge Click HERE
ABOUT AUTHOR CHRISTINE LINDSAY
Irish born Christine Lindsay is the author of multi-award-winning Christian fiction and non-fiction. Readers describe her writing as gritty yet tender, realistic yet larger than life, with historical detail that collides into the heart of psychological and relationship drama. Christine's fictional novels have garnered the ACFW Genesis Award, The Grace Award, Canada’s The Word Guild Award, and was a finalist twice for Readers’ Favorite as well as 2nd place in RWA’s Faith Hope and Love contest. In addition, Christine’s non-fiction memoir Finding Sarah Finding Me is a must for anyone touched by adoption, and is the true-life story that started her writing in the first place.
You can follow Christine Lindsay at her website:
Twitter @CLindsayWriter
PURCHASE SITES FOR SOFI’S BRIDGE (winner of Readers’ Choice 2017 for short romantic historical from Romance Writers of America Faith Hope, & Love Chapter)
