Mona Hodgson
Page 25
Tucker spends most of his time in Cripple Creek wondering what his purpose is. He feels adrift, unable to decipher what God wants him to do. In what ways was Tucker right where God needed him to be, despite his doubts? When in your life have you shared Tucker’s sense of being lost? Did you eventually discover God’s will for you in that time?
Kat and Nell have very different reactions to Kat’s pregnancy, and neither is the expected unconditional joy. How do you think you would have responded in either of their situations?
Ida doesn’t want to complicate her life with romance, focused as she is on her career. But God brings Tucker into her life, and Ida falls in love with him in spite of her desires. Has God ever brought something—or someone—into your life that you weren’t looking for or ready for?
How prevalent do you think schools of thought similar to Colin’s still are in this day and age? Do you see signs of it anywhere in society or media, or do you think we’ve moved past a dominantly patriarchal society? What about other parts of the world?
AUTHOR’S NOTE
art of the pleasure in reading and writing historical fiction is the promise of being transported to a distant time and place. While researching Too Rich for a Bride, I made several interesting historical discoveries I believe will add delight to your journey.
I like to feature actual events and places in my historical fiction. Too Rich for a Bride highlights the rambunctious lot of stockbrokers and investors who flocked to Cripple Creek in its gold mining boom days. While the Butte Opera House was most likely still called the Butte Concert and Beer Hall at the time Ida’s story takes place, I opted to adopt its current title. The Glockner Sanitorium, which was one of many tuberculosis or consumption treatment centers in Colorado during the 1800s, is one of the actual places I introduce in the story. You might be tempted to fix the spelling of Sanitorium to the more common and modern spelling—Sanitarium, but my research shows the historical spelling featured more o’s than a’s.
Harper’s Bazar, the magazine I feature in the series, offers another spelling twist. If you’re like me, you wanted to add another a after the z, but until the November 1929 issue, the magazine was spelled with only two a’s.
In each of the Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek novels, you’ll meet at least one real-life woman from Cripple Creek history. In Two Brides Too Many, Sister Mary Claver Coleman of the Catholic Order of the Sisters of Mercy served as the historical woman in my fictional tale. Too Rich for a Bride introduces Miss Mollie O’Bryan, the first female member of a prestigious men’s club—the Cripple Creek Mining Stock Exchange. Her portrayal in the story is a fictionalization.
I look forward to our time together in these stories.
May God empower you with His strength to trust His ways and His thoughts for you.
MONA HODGSON
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
riting is a lot like ballroom dancing. You must learn the steps and allow yourself the freedom to move with the rhythm. Along the way, you alternate practicing the steps alone with dancing with partners who can help you master various steps and styles.
In the case of writing, the story world and the song of the characters provide a writing rhythm. But I have not danced the publication dance in isolation. Countless people within the industry as well as many on the outside have swayed to the music with me, teaching me the dance of story.
Bob, my hubby, who knows when to step up and step back.
Janet Kobobel Grant of Books & Such Literary Agency, who has a keen ear for the music of fiction.
Jessica Barnes, editor extraordinaire, who knows the scales of word-songs well and keeps me on pitch.
Shannon Hill Marchese, who heard the first notes in the songs of the Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek and brought them to me.
The entire WaterBrook Multnomah–Random House team, who step onto the dance floor with precise timing and lead me to the finale.
DiAnn Mills, my kindred-spirit critique partner and friend, who helps me feel the cadence in the dance of a community of characters, each with their own song.
Jeanine, June, Shirley, Debbie, Doris, Karen, Lauraine, and Ann—my personal prayer team, and all who prayed for me during the song that became this story.
Jan Collins, Director, Cripple Creek District Museum, and Chuck Yungkurth, Library Researcher, Colorado Railroad Museum, both generous purveyors of historical facts that added movement to the dance.
A big thank you to all of these listed, and to all who aren’t, who added notes to the rhythm of this novelist and this novel.
Endless gratitude to the Master Choreographer, Jesus—the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus is the Song that sets my feet to dancing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ona Hodgson is the author of Two Brides Too Many and Too Rich for a Bride, the first two novels in the Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek Series. She is also the author of nearly thirty children’s books, including Real Girls of the Bible: A Devotional, Bedtime in the Southwest, and six Zonderkidz I Can Read books. Mona’s writing credits also include hundreds of poems, articles, and short stories in more than fifty different periodicals, including Focus on the Family, Decision, Clubhouse Jr., Highlights for Children, The Upper Room, The Quiet Hour, Bible Advocate, and The Christian Communicator. Mona speaks at women’s retreats, schools, and writers’ conferences.
Mona is one of the four Gansberg sisters of Arizona. She and Bob, her husband of thirty-eight years, have two grown daughters, a son-in-law, three grandsons, and one granddaughter.
To learn more about Mona or to find readers’ guides for your book club, visit her Web site: www.monahodgson.com. You can also find Mona at www.twitter.com/monahodgson, www.facebook.com/Mona.Hodgson, and on Facebook at the Mona Hodgson Fan Page.