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Catherine Castle

~ Romance for the Ages

Catherine Castle

Tag Archives: A Purpose True

Wednesday Writers–Gail Kittleson and A Secret Agent’s Inner Life

10 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by Catherine Castle in books, Wednesday Writers

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

A Purpose True, Catherine Castle's Wednesday Writers blog series, Gail Kittleson, motherless daughters, secret agent's inner life, With Each, WWII fiction

I’m welcoming back Gail Kittleson to the blog today. Gail will be talking about the emotional state of the secret agent heroine of her books A Purpose True and With Each New Dawn, set in the tumultuous time of World War II.

 

A Secret Agent’s Inner Life

On the outside, Kate Isaacs, the heroine of A Purpose True and With Each New Dawn, strikes us as an inveterate risk-taker, a woman able to do anything. She wastes no time pondering proposed actions—she’s too busy doing something! At first glance, she wastes not a moment watching life pass her by, and we applaud her “go for it” attitude.

People are drawn to this sharp-witted, well-read young woman. She eloped with her husband straight out of high school, followed him to London after his Royal Air Force plane was downed, and searched for him far and wide. Nothing can stop her.

But I caught her in one of her quieter moments and posed a simple question. “If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?” Her immediate response revealed a vast, yawning hunger in her soul.

“I’d have a normal childhood, with my mother and father alive and well.”

Ah…when I was writing Kate’s story, the old spiritual, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child…” never entered my mind. But looking back, it’s clear that the huge hole in Kate’s emotional being helped shape her into the adult she’s become.

Her mentor back in London warned her that waiting for an assignment would trouble her, and her sojourn as a secret agent in Southern France provided plenty of solitary times. During those periods when she had little control over anything, her mother’s face appeared from photos Kate had seen, and the reader finds her carrying on a conversation with this woman who gave her birth and died during Kate’s early childhood.

Kelly McDaniel, LPC, writes: “Hope Edelman’s book Motherless Daughters…offers help for women who experience early maternal death… ‘at some very deep level, nobody wants to believe that motherless children exist. …in our psyches …mother represents comfort and security no matter what our age.’ Italics mine.” https://kellymcdanieltherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/MotherHungerExplanation.pdf

 Kate may seem independent and in charge, but the look in her eyes tells another story. When all is said and done, when she’s avoided the Gestapo again in a heart-pounding near-disaster, when she’s all alone in an isolated cave and the future seems so tenuous, this mother hunger rises from a place deep within.

But it’s World War II, and no therapist or support groups exist. Kate’s role often demands solitude. In these honest moments when her hunger envelops her, she confronts her great need. She speaks with her mother…declares her longings out loud. And sometimes, in a way she finds difficult to verbalize, she senses her mother near.

Each confrontation of her deepest fears increases her breathing space a tiny bit more. As she risks her life for the freedom of la France, her own freedom grows, as well. This universal premise rings true for us all—facing our fears, though it’s terrifying, strengthens us in ways we could never have imagined.

About the Author:

 

Forever intrigued by the writing process, Gail researches ongoing World War II projects, including a co-written cozy mystery. She enjoys time with grandchildren, walking, and reading. Winters find her hiking with her husband under Arizona’s Mogollon Rim. She loves hearing from readers and facilitating writing workshops.

Social Media Sites: Website  Facebook  Amazon  Twitter  @GailGkittleson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Writer’s Garden with Gail Kittleson

26 Thursday Oct 2017

Posted by Catherine Castle in A Writer's Garden, garden blog series

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

A Purpose True, A Writer's Garden, Author Catherine Castle's garden blog, Gail Kittleson, garden herbs, historical romance, WWII romance series

Today’s A Writer’s Garden guest is Gail Kittleson who is delighting us with pictures and uses for herbs. I can almost smell them now. Welcome, Gail.

Thanks, Catherine. This year, our garden produced an abundance of herbs…thyme, oregano, sage … well, you know the list.

Here it is, October already, and I’m still taking in some of the beauty through my sense of smell. Yes, peppermint still regales me, in the form of dried, crushed leaves for tea. I’ve been known to add some of the flowers, as well.

Recently, I discovered the pleasure of an evening cup of parsley tea. I’d heard that this garnish also served as a mouth deodorizer, but tea? Yes! Nothing better, imho, than a hot cup after dinner.

Here’s the plant (Italian parsley) in all its glory last summer. Now, I’ve brought it inside and keep making this mellow brew.

And then there’s rosemary. I love that it’s for healing … when the world’s harshness seems over the top, there’s rosemary to shave into your baked sweet potato. With butter—lots of it.

Our glorious summer gardens can accompany us into winter’s starkness, even if we live in the frozen hinterlands. Here’s to hot tea and curling up with a wonderful book on a wintry day.

 

About the Gardener /Writer:

Gardener/writer Gail Kittleson has been gardening just about everywhere she and her husband have lived, including Senegal, West Africa. Her favorite thing about gardening is the survival of plants over harsh Iowa winters, the anticipation of new growth, and eating fresh salads. When she’s not gardening she’s writing memoir and women’s historical fiction novels and teaching a creative writing class. Gail writes from northern Iowa, where she and her husband enjoy gardening and grandchildren. In winter, Arizona’s Ponderosa pine forests provide relief from Midwest weather and a whole raft of new people and stories. Gail’s memoir, Catching Up With Daylight, paved the way for fiction writing, and her debut women’s fiction novel, In This Together (Wild Rose Press/Vintage Line) was released on November 18, 2015.Since then she’s completed two more books in her WWII romance series. You can learn more about her at http://www.gailkittleson.com/.

A Purpose True, the sequel to With Each New Dawn, reveals Kate and Domingo risking life and limb in French Resistance efforts to stymie the Nazi advance to Normandy. But even their fierce devotion to liberty cannot preclude questions raised by the enemy’s cruelty. How is faith to survive in the midst of relentless Nazi atrocities toward innocent citizens? Can the power of love withstand the worst of evil and forge positive paths for the future?

 

 

 

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