Necessary Sins
Page 46
About half of my period sources capitalize priest and the sacraments. To indicate Catholic reverence for them, I decided to maintain the capitalization. Conversely, the word Negro is lowercase because it would not have been capitalized at this time. The word octoon would later become octoroon.
I find third-person limited point of view the richest and most rewarding way to explore the past, but it presents challenges akin to an unreliable narrator since I am forced to reflect the era’s prejudices.
Acknowledgments
Everyone who ever told me I was a writer made this book possible. Your faith in my work, even and especially when I doubted myself, means more to me than you will ever know or I can ever express. Your words of encouragement were like life-saving blood transfusions. I am particularly grateful to my first supporters: Kristy Calhoun, Kristin Holstun, and Amy Weatherman. And to the first readers of the Lazare Family Saga, who gave me fantastic feedback all along the way: Christina Campbell, Mary Overton (who always knew it was a series), and Lillian Rouly.
My beta readers for their invaluable comments: Maron Anrow, Susan Bainwol, Ida Bostian, Hilary Brown, Mary Liles Eicher, Anna Ferrell, Juliette Godot, Elizabeth Huhn, Tara Mills, Kristen Stappenbeck, and Tammi Truax. Anaid, Christian, and Khaiyah, readers at The Spun Yarn. The ladies of the First Fridays workshop, especially Tess Allen, P. J. Devlin, Taehee Kim, Brie Spencer, and Norah Vawter.
My editor, the fabulous Jessica Cale. The eagle-eyed Susie Murphy, for catching all those stubborn typos. Any remaining errors are entirely mea culpa.
My professors in the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands, especially Patricia Geary and Tim Powers. My professors in the Masters of Creative Writing program at George Mason University, especially Richard Bausch, Courtney Brkic, Alan Cheuse, Stephen Goodwin, Susan Shreve, and Mary Kay Zuravleff. Ann Weisgarber, my support at a critical moment.
When I was eight years old, my parents, John and Lynne Becker, took me to visit Charleston, South Carolina. I fell in love, and I knew I had to set a story there. My mother introduced me to John Jakes’s North and South (1982), Alex Haley’s Roots (1976), and Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds (1977). With these inspirations, I soon had the foundation and scaffolding of my own saga. My mother is also an excellent proofreader.
I am grateful to the authors of every book I consulted along the way, especially the seminarians, priests, and priests’ lovers who shared their stories. Paul Hendrickson’s Seminary: A Search (1983) and Gordon Thomas’s Desire and Denial (1986) were particularly illuminating.
James M. O’Toole’s Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family (2002) was also indispensable in my understanding of Joseph. Brothers James, Patrick, and Sherwood Healy were the first Catholic priests of African ancestry to serve in the United States. Born slaves, one became a Bishop, another the President of Georgetown University. As far as we can tell, all three men turned their backs on their African heritage.
The prayers and rites I use come from several sources, especially: Bishop John England’s Translation of the Form for Conferring Orders in the Roman Catholic Church (1830); England’s Roman Missal (1843); Philip T. Weller’s The Roman Ritual in Latin and English (1950); The Ordination of a Subdeacon, a Deacon, a Priest (1959); and the website Fish Eaters: The Whys and Hows of Traditional Catholicism, http://www.fisheaters.com/
Sharon Dean Walker, who so generously shared her time and research materials on the Diocese of Charleston. What I did with that information is entirely my own responsibility! Father Alejandro Tobón, for singing such a gorgeous Exultet, and prozars who posted the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/nP_5YxIAV2E
The historical interpreters at Colonial Williamsburg, especially Mary Carter. Barbara Doyle at Middleton Place and Rikki Davenport at Drayton Hall for answering my random transportation questions. The tour guides and curators of every historic home, museum, and Catholic site I’ve ever visited. This project has been in progress for so many years, I have lost track of most of your names; but if you ever spoke or wrote to me, please know that I deeply appreciate your contribution.
Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891) not only provided the epigraph for Part II but also inspired its title. Hardy’s subtitle for Tess is “A Pure Woman, Faithfully Presented.” I took the title of Part III, “The Man that Was a Thing,” from another nineteenth-century novelist: this was Harriet Beecher Stowe’s original subtitle for Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852).
But my greatest debts are to the late Colleen McCullough and to Richard Chamberlain, who first convinced me that a priest remains a man; that stories are more satisfying on a grand scale; and that “the best is only bought at the cost of great pain.” The Lazare Family Saga essentially began as a Thorn Birds homage a quarter century ago. I hope you, dearest reader, will go on to discover how Father Ralph, Meggie, Fee, and Dane echo through the next three books in my series: Lost Saints, Native Stranger, and Sweet Medicine.
About the Author
Elizabeth Bell has been writing stories since the second grade. At the age of fourteen, she chose a pen name and vowed to become a published author. That same year, she began the Lazare Family Saga. It took her a couple decades to get it right.
After earning her MFA in Creative Writing at George Mason University, Elizabeth realized she would have to return her two hundred library books. Instead, she cleverly found a job in the university library. She works there to this day.
Elizabeth loves hearing from readers and chatting about writing and history. Visit her on social media or her website:
https://elizabethbellauthor.com/
NECESSARY SINS
Copyright © 2019 by Jennifer Becker, writing as Elizabeth Bell
Claire-Voie Books, Fairfax Station, Virginia
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Thank you for respecting the hard work and intellectual property of the author.
Cover design by James T. Egan, www.bookflydesign.com
This is a work of historical fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The opinions expressed are those of the characters and should not be confused with the author’s.
ISBN 978-1-7331676-2-8 (ebook)
ISBN 978-1-7331676-0-4 (paperback)
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Coming Soon from Elizabeth Bell
The Lazare Family Saga
Book 2: Lost Saints (January 6, 2020)
Book 3: Native Stranger (Summer 2020)
Book 4: Sweet Medicine (January 2021)