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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

How Can Dementia Bring Clarity as Well as Confusion?

by Chautona Havig · Leave a Comment

When Stone Wings Fly by Karen Barnett will hold you spellbound from the first page to the last. Listen in to see why. via @chautonahavig

More than just a National Parks champion, Karen Barnett has written some truly wonderful novels with a bit of suspense, a bit of romance, and a whole lot of heart. Her most recent release, When Stone Wings Fly, is one of my top books of the year. I want to say my top… and maybe it is.  At least today. Listen in and see why as well as learn the heart behind why Karen wrote the story she did.

Karen Barnett karen barnett

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How Can Dementia Bring Clarity as Well as Confusion?

This has been the year for books that wreck me. Not all were written during the pandemic as this one was, but I do wonder if God didn’t have a plan for when I read what I did. I’ve felt the emotional impact of so many books this year, and When Stone Wings Fly by Karen Barnett definitely punched me over and over.

With rich language and description that never once trailed off into excess, hard stories that showed the beauty of lives well lived, and the mingling of those stories?  Can I just insert a chef’s kiss right here?  Man!

Let’s see… Characters you love?  Yep. Got it.

A setting so real it feels like home?  Definitely.

Harsh realities of life shown in compassionate but realistic ways?  Uh, huh. Got ’em.

An unputdownable (yes, that’s a word now) book?  Don’t you know it.

A rich, spiritual meal woven in so you never feel stuffed by it?  Oh, yeah.

By the time I finished When Stone Wings Fly, I wanted to start it all over again. There are so many things about this book that still haunt me, and Karen Barnett gives us glimpses of why in this interview.

Even better… we get a glimpse of what is coming next. EEEP!

Oh, and that question?  How can dementia bring clarity as well as confusion? I’ll give this answer. When someone cares enough to sift through the confusion to help bring about that clarity–to find the truth buried in faulty memories and history.

When Stone Wings FlyWhen Stone Wings Fly by Karen Barnett

Uncovering a long-lost family story is the only way to bring her grandmother peace

Kieran Lucas’s grandmother is slipping into dementia, and, when her memory is gone, Kieran’s last tie to the family she barely knows will be lost forever. Worse, Granny Mac is being tormented by flashbacks of her mother’s death and the loss of their home.

In 1931, Rosie McCauley’s Smoky Mountains home is threatened by the Tennessee Great Smokies Park Commission as they create a new national park. But Rosie vows the only way they’ll get her land is if they haul her out in a pine box. When a compromise offers her and her disabled sister the opportunity to stay for her lifetime, it seems too good to be true.

Ornithologist Benton Fuller arrives to conduct a bird survey for the park and the two form a tenuous bond. But their friendship broadens a rift between her and the other mountain folk who are suspicious of any government connections. Then the discovery of an illegal still in the woods near her cabin leads to a violent clash between sides that could destroy them all.

Eighty-five years later, Kieran heads back to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to find answers to her great-grandmother’s mysterious death and bring peace to Granny Mac before it’s too late. Park Historian Zach Jensen may be the key to locating both the answers and a precious family heirloom. But just as in the past, Kieran’s needs clash with government regulations. Will Zach block her from recovering what she needs and solving this family mystery?

You can find out more about Karen Barnett on her WEBSITE  (and you can get the Christmas novella that goes with The Road to Paradise!) Oh, and for the curious?  Yes, I did order Mistaken. It’s on its way. Can’t wait to read it.

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Because Fiction: A Chat with Split-Time Author, Melanie Dobson
byChautona Havig

I chatted with Melanie Dobson a few weeks ago, and boy was it a wonderful time of talking about my favorite books of hers and her latest release, The Wings of Poppy Pendleton. Listen in to the heartwrenching story that sparked the idea for the book and the delicious (and fascinating) research she did to write it!

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

How a Family Mystery Sparked the Idea for a Beautiful Story

The Wings of Poppy Pendleton takes place during the dichotomous Gilded Age among New York’s famous Thousand Islands.  Combining a family mystery with that era, Melanie Dobson creates a wonderful story that echoes the tumultuous time at the turn of the 20th century.

We chatted about the research involved–both for Melanie’s family mystery of a missing child who was in a photo but no one knew who she was and for the era and area as well.  I loved hearing how her mother got involved in trying to discover what happened to… was it Marjorie?  I think.  And, of course, how that helped shape the story of this book.

The Wings of Poppy Pendleton by Melanie Dobson

In this compelling new time-slip mystery, a little girl goes missing from her family’s castle in the Thousand Islands of New York. Eighty-five years later, a journalist teams up with a woman living on Koster Isle to find out what happened to Poppy, once and for all.

1907. On the eve of her fifth birthday, Poppy Pendleton is tucked safely in her bed, listening to her parents entertain New York’s gilded society in their Thousand Islands castle; the next morning, she is gone, and her father is found dead in his smoking room.

1992. Though Chloe Ridell lives in the shadows of Poppy’s castle, now in ruins, she has little interest in the mystery that still captivates tourists and locals alike. She is focused on preserving the island she inherited from her grandparents and reviving their vintage candy shop. Until the day a girl named Emma shows up on Chloe’s doorstep, with few possessions, save a tattered scrapbook that connects her to the Pendleton family. When a reporter arrives at Chloe’s store, asking questions about her grandfather, Chloe decides to help him dig into a past she’d thought best left buried. The haunting truth about Poppy, they soon discover, could save Emma’s life, so Chloe and Logan must work together to investigate exactly what happened long ago on Koster Isle.

You can learn more about Melanie Dobson on her WEBSITE.  Also follow her on GoodReads and BookBub.

Like to listen on the go? You can find Because Fiction Podcast at:

  • Apple 
  • Castbox 
  • Google Play
  • Libsyn 
  • RSS
  • Spotify
  • Amazon
  • and more!
Because Fiction: A Chat with Split-Time Author, Melanie Dobson
Because Fiction: A Chat with Split-Time Author, Melanie Dobson
November 25, 2023
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I should be editing the podcast or writing, but i I should be editing the podcast or writing,  but it's been a long day,  and I haven't read all week. So, quick reading break with some Hungarian coffee cake and a cup of tea. Oh, and On Moonberry Lake by @hollyvarni 
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Or just love a suspenseful novel? Reposted from @ Or just love a suspenseful novel?

Reposted from @lisaphillipsbks Now that the weather has turned chilly, are you pining for the summer sun? ☀️🌴 Well, you're in luck because it's not too late to get your copy of Come What May, volume 3 of our Summer Heat series, and escape to summer in collection of FOUR novels! Head over to my link in bio to find your copy before it's gone.

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Coming December 6! Preorder coming VERY soon! EEEP!
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How did I manage to wait this long to start this? How did I manage to wait this long to start this? I'm ready to move to Moonberry Lake.
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Tonight's reads. What's on your TBR tonight? #AmR Tonight's reads.  What's on your TBR tonight?
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Day 4: Vacation Read I LOVE collections for vacati Day 4: Vacation Read
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I love the Summer Heat Series, and not just because I've got a book in there!
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Day 3: Colorful Colors Well, I made myself choose Day 3: Colorful Colors
Well, I made myself choose books that are in the shed-i-ffice instead of going and looking at what I had throughout the house. These were some that were bright and vivid. I've only read parts of two of them (plan to finish The Major and the Missionary tomorrow and Fawkes I'll start reading on the 5th for obvious reasons). #BookishChallenge
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