Interview with Linda Weaver Clarke

Edith and the Mysterious Stranger
Linda Weaver Clarke
American Book Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9781589824690
Reviewed by Wendy Cleveland for Reader Views (5/08)

Today, Tyler R. Tichelaar of Reader Views is pleased to be joined by Linda Weaver Clarke, who is here to talk about her new novel, “Edith and the Mysterious Stranger.”

Linda Weaver Clarke was raised on a farm surrounded by the rolling hills of southern Idaho. She now makes her home in southern Utah among the beautiful red mountains and desert heat. She has been happily married for 35 years, has six daughters, and four wonderful grandchildren. After her family began to leave the nest, she went back to college and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre and Music at Southern Utah University. She also received the Outstanding Non-Traditional Student Award for the College of Performing Arts in 2002. During that time, she produced a CD named "Romantic Love Songs of Sigmund Romberg and Victor Herbert." She has been writing short stories and novels for many years. Her novel "Melinda and the Wild West" was the Reader Views Literary Contest Semi-Finalist in the "Reviewers Choice Awards 2007." Today, Linda is here to discuss her new novel, “Edith and the Mysterious Stranger.”

Tyler:  Welcome, Linda. I’m happy to talk to you today about your new book. Will you tell us about the overall series you are writing and where “Edith and the Mysterious Stranger” fits into it?

Linda:  There are five books in this family saga and each book has its own plot, and can be read out of sequence. Each character gets older and there are new adventures to be had. The first one introduces Melinda and Gilbert and their courtship. This couple remains in the story but new characters are introduced with a new storyline. I try to put enough adventure in my stories that will intrigue all ages, both men and women.

Tyler: Will you tell us the basic plot of “Edith and the Mysterious Stranger” and if it can be read alone rather than with the other books in the series?

Linda:  It is 1904. The main story line is around Edith and a mysterious stranger but I have three themes going on in this book, the main plot and two subplots. We have mysterious letters, cattle rustlers planning to steal Gilbert’s cattle, and Melinda is "with child" and threatening to miscarry her second child.

Melinda's cousin, Edith, is a nurse and moves to Paris, Idaho to take care of her. She is a talented person with wonderful qualities, but because her expectations are so high she never gives a man a second chance. After Edith's arrival, a mysterious stranger begins to write to her, which changes her outlook on life for the better. For the first time, she gets to know a man's inner soul before making any harsh judgments. Whoever he is, this man is a mystery and the best thing that has ever happened to her. The question that puzzles her is whether or not he's as wonderful in person as he is in his letters.

Tyler:  Why has Edith been so resistant to becoming involved with a man?

Linda:  Edith has great expectations for her future husband. Each man she meets doesn’t seem to measure up to the perfect man. The question is, does he really exist or are her expectations too high? Her mother tells her that she needs to look at the inner person, the soul of the man, and not look at the outer person. When this mysterious stranger begins writing to her, he helps her to see beyond all that and look deeper into a person’s soul. She doesn’t know who he is or who put him up to it.

Linda:  Linda, you refer to the mysterious stranger as showing his soul in his letters. Will you give us an example of how he does this, or something he writes in one of his letters?

Linda:  Here’s an example of the first letter she gets from this mysterious stranger:

Dear Edith,
 A kind friend has asked me to write to you, for it is through letters
that one may learn the deepest thoughts and feelings of another. Too
many times we see what’s on the surface of another person, but never get
to know the soul. Many times we hold back our inner feelings and never
express them for fear of ridicule or nonacceptance, or perhaps because we
would be embarrassed.

 Therefore, we never see into the deepest recesses of another person’s
soul. We seem to guard ourselves so we don’t get hurt, but at the same
time we won’t let that person see who we truly are. At one time I read
that it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. But
at the same time, we don’t want to get hurt so we protect ourselves. I
believe sometime in our life, we must take a chance.

 If you are interested in writing in response to my letter, then give it to
Martha, and she’ll know what to do with it.

 Most sincerely,
 A Friend

Tyler: Is there anything you can tell us about this mysterious stranger without giving away the plot?

Linda:   He helps Edith to understand herself and seems to say just the right things, which is contrary to the two men she has already met in Paris, Idaho. Both Henry and Joseph tend to get on her nerves. The mysterious stranger doesn’t push for a relationship and is understanding of her feelings. Henry tends to push his opinions on her, making her feel feisty, but Joseph acts as if he doesn’t care one way or another about her. Both men are infuriating. But the Mysterious Stranger is perfect!

Tyler:  Linda, why did you decide to have his contact with Edith be through letters? It’s quite an old-fashioned type of secret-admirer courting. Did it just seem like the natural way for a secret-admirer to contact someone in that time period?

Linda:  The inspiration behind this story came from my own mother’s experience. Her girlfriend told my mother that she was being way too picky and her expectations were too high. My mother was an accomplished pianist and a spiritual person with certain standards for a husband and first impressions were important to her. Her girlfriend said that she knew a twenty-nine year-old farmer she could write to, one who seemed to be just her type. My mother told me that through these letters she was able to get to know my father’s soul, his innermost feelings. They wrote for several months and gradually fell in love. When I read my father’s letters, I found that he was a very romantic person. I hadn’t known that. After realizing their feelings for one another, they decided it was time to meet. The second time they met, he proposed, and the third time was on their wedding day.

Tyler: Did you find it difficult to incorporate your family’s story into the plot? To what extent was it biographical and to what extent fiction?

Linda:  I love the stories of my ancestors, so putting in true experiences was fun. I’ve done this with all my books and had so much fun doing it. It sort of brings the story to life. All my characters are fictional, but I use just a few experiences here and there, and then at the back of the book, in the Author’s Notes, I tell which stories are true. For example, my great grandmother was called upon to save a man’s life when he was gored by a bull. The doctor was out of town and she was the most knowledgeable about medicine. When she arrived, she was shocked at the condition of the man, but she went right to work and saved his life. The whole experience was recorded in her biography, written by her daughter. I used every detail in “Edith and the Mysterious Stranger.”

Tyler:  Linda, the novel also has a subplot romance between David and Jenny. Will you tell us more about their relationship?

Linda:   David is a “wanna-be outlaw.” He wants to follow in the footsteps of Butch Cassidy. The reader finds this out right at the very beginning, so this is no secret to the reader, but it’s a secret to Jenny. She doesn’t know what he’s planning. She doesn’t know that he’s been sent to the ranch by the Tall Texan to be a ranch hand and to help rustle cattle from her father. As the reader, you wonder when Jenny will find out because you gradually see young love beginning to bloom. Will she find out in the nick of time?

Tyler: What motivates David’s desire to be an outlaw, and what about him appeals to Jenny so she doesn’t realize his true nature?

Linda:   Jenny, Gilbert and Melinda's sixteen-year-old daughter, is attracted to David right off. The reader knows he’s a young man of questionable character but Jenny only sees the goodness in him. She also notices that David has sort of a wild side to him, but she ignores it. The reader then wonders if she’ll find out who he really is before she loses her heart. This is one of the subplots in the story.

Tyler: Linda, why did you decide to have two love stories in the novel? Do they somehow complement each other or offer varying viewpoints?

Linda:   I love adventure books with little love stories, so I try to put a little of both into my books. I was hoping that each story would complement the other. Edith, of course, is the main plot. You see the importance of finding out what a person is really like deep down inside before making any harsh judgments. Jenny and David represent young love. Jenny only sees the goodness in David, not realizing that she isn’t seeing the true person he is. And then there’s a married couple, Gilbert and Melinda. You see his protectiveness, trying to help his wife so nothing happens to her or the baby. You see his love and devotion and his tenderness in time of need. So actually, there’s three love stories, each one completely different than the other, which makes it fun for all ages.

Tyler:  Linda, why did you decide to write novels set in the Wild West?

Linda:   My great grandparents, Gilbert and Sarah Weaver, were the first settlers who settled Paris, Idaho in the 1800s. I was intrigued by its history. Bear Lake Valley had so much fun history that it eventually turned into a five book family saga.

Tyler:  How did being raised in Idaho influence your writing the novel?

Linda:  I love the state of Idaho. It was home. I love the scenery, the Idaho state song, the Idaho state flower, and everything Idaho represents to me.

Tyler:  What did you find the most difficult or most exciting about writing a piece of historical fiction?

Linda:   The most exciting part is the research. I love finding out about history and what people had to go through in a different time period. I love reading about their struggles and how they overcame diversity and made something of themselves. The most difficult part is leaving the characters behind when the story is finished because I fall deeply in love with each character.

Tyler: A description I read of the novel referred to it as “Christian Fiction.” Will you tell us how you define Christian fiction and what the Christian message is in the novel?

Linda:   That’s interesting that you would mention that. I hadn’t considered it to be Christian fiction before. To me, it’s a historical fiction love story. The only thing I can think of is that it has good old-fashioned values, values that made the people who they really were in the early days of the west. They were a religious people. Men respected women in the West and it showed in their mannerisms and how they treated them. If any man hurt a woman, then he was dealt with immediately. Some men were even hanged, according to what they had done to a woman. The respect for a woman was high in the west and the first states that gave women their rights were western states. Wyoming was the first, then Colorado, Utah, and Idaho was fourth. I learned a lot about the Wild West and it intrigued me. I just tell it as I understand it.

Tyler:  Do you think those beliefs and values of our ancestors from a century or two ago are still relevant today?

Linda:   Yes. Definitely. I believe we can learn a lot from their beliefs and values. Their stories are incredible, stories of faith and perseverance. And perhaps those stories can help us in our own lives some day.

Tyler:  What responses have you received so far from your readers?

Linda:   I’ve had some readers write and say how nice it is to read a book that has values. One actually wrote to me and said, “When I walk into the bookstore or library I always ask if they would be able to recommend a morally clean, fun book without a bunch of swearing, sex or violence, but yet still attention grabbing right away and attention sustaining. I have truly gotten some looks with that request! Well wouldn't you know I finally found exactly what I was looking for in your writing.”

That letter cheered me up quite a bit and I was floating on cloud nine for weeks afterward. It’s letters like this that make my books worth writing.

Tyler:  Linda, I have to ask this next question because I love Victor Herbert and Sigmund Romberg and you have produced a CD of their songs. Would you say music has had an influence on your writing?

Linda:   Definitely! I have brought music into my novels many times. The type of music a character loves shows their personality.

Tyler: Thank you so much for joining me today, Linda. Before we go, will you please tell us about your website and what additional information our readers may find there about yourself and “Edith and the Mysterious Stranger”?

Linda:  You can read excerpts from my books, short stories from non-fictional characters, and learn about a workshop that I present to many libraries and colleges. I teach people how to take their family history or autobiography and turn them into interesting stories. I help people to realize that if they don’t do this, then these stories can be lost forever. Their children need to know who their ancestors are and be proud of them. My website is www.lindaweaverclarke.com

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