I’m so pleased to present this interview with Lori
Benton, debut author of Burning Sky,
featured in
last week’s Tea Party. Lori was born and raised east of the
Appalachian Mountains, surrounded by early American and family history going
back to the 1600s. Her novels transport readers to the 18th century,
where she brings to life the Colonial and early Federal periods of American
history, creating a melting pot of characters drawn from both sides of a
turbulent and shifting frontier, brought together in the bonds of God's
transforming grace.
When she isn’t writing, reading, or researching 18th
century history, Lori enjoys exploring the mountains with her husband – often
scouring the brush for huckleberries, which overflow the freezer and find their
way into her signature huckleberry lemon pound cake.
What
got you interested in the colonial time period?
Stumbling upon good fiction set during that time
period, and the movie The Patriot,
with Mel Gibson. Those two things collided at the right time, and made me
determined to write a hero who wore knee breeches. I wish I could claim
something more profound than that as the start of all this, but it certainly
led to much less frivolous reasons for my continuing interest in the 18th
century.
What
inspired your latest colonial work?
Burning Sky, my first published novel,
is set in 1784, right after the Revolutionary War. It’s a complicated answer,
what inspired it. I’d been researching late 18th century American
history for about four years before I began Burning
Sky, working on a novel set in 1790s North Carolina. But my attention kept
being drawn to the Mohawk Valley of New York. The conflict in that colony
during the Revolutionary War was intense, with particular animosity raging between
patriot and loyalist Americans. Along with the conflict European Americans were
experiencing, the Haudenosaunee (the Six Nations of the Iroquois), who had
lived on that land for generations, ended up drawn into the conflict as
well—not all on the same side. For a time, the Iroquois Confederacy ceased to
exist as brother fought against brother.
I saw this setting, and still see it, as fertile
ground for the type of stories I love to tell, stories of men and women caught
between worlds (races, cultures, upbringings, beliefs)—often with loved ones
facing them across the divide. After I’d decided on the setting and time period,
I simply had to wait until a character showed up. It wasn’t long before Willa
Obenchain came striding over the mountains, heading home.
Do
you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?
Living in Oregon makes it hard to visit colonial
places. I have a long wish list of them I’d like to visit. A few years ago I
had the pleasure of touring the late 18th century home of General George
Rogers Clark, Locust Grove, in Louisville, KY. I’ve also in recent years visited
a historic home in North Carolina, the Alston House, which retains the bullet
holes around its back door from a Revolutionary War skirmish that took place
there.
I’m
familiar with that skirmish from my own research! Do you have a favorite
colonial recipe you enjoy and would like to share with readers?
I’d love
to share my succotash recipe. The mixture of ingredients is far older than
colonial, though. It’s the type of meal (with a few modern additions) the Iroquois often made of their
three staple crops: corn, beans and squash.
Succotash
3-4 strips of bacon (more if you
really like bacon)
About a Tbs. of cooking oil
½ cup chopped yellow onion
1 tsp. minced garlic (from a jar is
fine)
1 c. frozen or fresh corn
½ c. chopped fresh tomato
1 c. each yellow squash and zucchini, chopped
¾ c. lima beans, cooked tender
(don’t overcook), or canned
¾ c. pinto beans, cooked tender
(don’t overcook), or canned
salt & pepper to taste
a pinch or two of basil, fresh or
dried
Fry bacon. Preserve drippings in pan
(up to about a Tbs., more if you love bacon, as this will flavor the vegetables
and beans). Set bacon strips aside. Add about a Tbs. of cooking oil to the
pan, if needed. Sauté chopped onion and minced garlic until onion is tender.
Add corn and tomatoes. Sauté a few minutes. Add chopped zucchini and yellow
squash.* Sauté until tender. Add beans, salt, pepper, and basil to taste. Stir
until heated through and mixture is cooked to your satisfaction. Crumble the
bacon and sprinkle on top, or stir it in too. Serve warm. Makes 3-4 servings
* Feel free to modify
ingredients/portions. Substitute different types of beans and squash, or
something else entirely. Add a bit of vegetable broth. You can even make it
sans bacon, though I never shall. Enjoy!
Abducted by Mohawk Indians at
fourteen and renamed Burning Sky, Willa Obenchain is driven to return to her
family’s New York frontier homestead twelve years later. At the boundary of her
father’s property, Willa discovers a wounded Scotsman lying in her path, and is
obliged to nurse his injuries. The two quickly find much has changed during
Willa’s absence—her childhood home is in disrepair, her missing parents are
rumored to be Tories, and the young Richard Waring she once admired is now grown
into a man twisted by the horrors of war and claiming ownership of the
Obenchain land.
When her Mohawk brother arrives and
questions her place in the white world, the cultural divide blurs Willa’s
vision. Can she follow Tames-His-Horse back to the People now that she is no
longer Burning Sky? And what about Neil MacGregor, the kind and loyal Scottish botanist
who does not fit into her plan for a solitary life, yet is now helping her
revive her farm? In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, strong feelings
against “savages” abound in the nearby village of Shiloh, leaving Willa’s
safety unsure. As tensions rise, challenging her shielded heart, the woman once
called Burning Sky must find a new courage—the courage to again risk embracing
the blessings the Almighty wants to bestow. Is she brave enough to love again?
GIVEAWAY! Please leave a comment, including your email address, to win a copy of this most excellent story.
