Squanto and the pilgrims

Read on!  there is a connection between Daughters of Deliverance and  Squanto’s story!

Reading Breakpoint  this morning, I  the learned the story of Squanto– a five year old Indian boy who was kidnapped by  Spanish traders  who had landed five years before the pilgrims.  Squanto was fortunate enough to be sold to a well-meaning monk in Spain who taught him about the Christian God. Later Squanto  made his way to England. There he worked in a stable for a kind Englishman who taught him English and looked for passage to the new world for Squanto. Ten years after he was captured, his benefactor found a way to send him home.

Sadly Squanto found his whole Wampanbog village had been decimated by an epidemic. A year later the Pilgrims arrived and settled on the very land where his village had stood. Squanto greeted them in English and became a friend to the Pilgrims.In the diary of Pilgrim Governor William Bradford, Squanto “became a special instrument sent of God for [our] good . . . He showed [us] how to plant [our] corn, where to take fish and to procure other commodities . . . and was also [our] pilot to bring [us] to unknown places for [our] profit, and never left [us] till he died.” Squanto died asking  prayer that he would go to the Englishman’s God in heaven.

There are many people like Squanto whose lives of sacrifice and compassion for those who  in need are lost to history. I was taught that Indians and Pilgrims praised God together for the harvest; today’s history books probably debunk that.  But Squanto’s life is kept alive, written in the diary of Governor Bradford.

One of the reasons I researched and wrote about the life of Katharine Bushnell was to bring her life and work alive.  Squanto helped to keep the early Pilgrims alive that first year they struggled against the elements in their new homeland.  Katharine’s compassion and persistence against the sin of sexual slavery kept women and girls alive in the 19th century. Her story, told in my historical novel, Daughters of Deliverance comes out next Thursday, December 1, on Amazon or through me. lorrylutz.com

Thanks for Squanto’s story written in  Breakpoint Commentary, originally  by Chuck Coleson. John Stonestreet and Eric Metaxis currently write the daily commentary.

 

 

 

Down to the wire/almost

Twelve days till launch day.  Daughters of Deliverance will become public.

Amazon has already posted it , but no one can buy, or even review it until December 1, 2016. I have a small stash of books in preparation for the launch party on that night. Invitations have been issued, cookies and cider ordered, and door prizes arranged.

A special list of readers have a one-time-read- only-file  in the hopes that they will write a glowing– or even not so glowing– review for Amazon. Evidently Amazon’s algorithms will determine if my book has drawn in enough reviews to give it a boost.

The promo cards arrived from the printer which I’ll use to invite people to the launch party.  You probably won’t be in the vicinity that night to attend , but I shared the card above so you may know how to buy the book for yourself.*

I learned recently that  129,864,880 books have been published in all of modern history according to Google algorithms.  That makes  Daughters of Deliverance the 129,864,881st book to see the light of day. Which may make my contribution to the world’s wealth of literature infinitely small and unimportant, but the value  of Katharine Bushnell’s life and work among mistreated  women has impacted countless lives.

*The book’s description reads:  1886 Kate begins work with women in Hell’s Half Acre, then on to the white-slavery dens in Wisconsin’s brutal lumber camps.  Trusting God, she sends her report to the governor.  Will he listen to the plight of these young women?  Or brand her a liar?

Good intentions

Somewhere underneath the pile of paper on my desk is a to-do list from a month ago.  My plan– to write on my blog every Saturday.

Here I am — lost the list –and haven’t written a word.

But there’s progress. Today I’m writing a blog twenty-four hours ahead of schedule to let you know how things are progressing with my latest book, Daughters of Deliverance.

I see it on Amazon– that’ s almost as exciting as holding the print book in my hand. Amazon is clever — they’ve put the teaser out: the cover, the price, a few words to intrigue you.  But the launch  date is almost a month away. Someone wrote me yesterday that she has already ordered a copy!!

This blog is just a teaser as well.  You can read Daughters of Deliverance now if you are willing to write a review by December 1.  Contact me through this blog, or on my Facebook and I’ll send you the information, not only how to get a pre-launch ebook, but even how to put a review on Amazon.  And they are clever too.  No help from them until the reviews start rolling in.  So write a few words — even if you didn’t like the book (how could you). Every review counts.

Here’s a word from the Psalms that I keep on my desk to encourage me — and now you.

The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Thy loving kindness, O Lord, is everlasting Do not forsake the word of Thy hands.  .Psalm 138:8

Lorry

LorryLutz.com