Dawn's Early Light

by Kerry Blair

Prologue:

The last time my son was a youth speaker in sacrament meeting, he was assigned to speak after the bishop's daughter, a girl known for her spirituality, intelligence, and eloquence. He wrote a talk -- his mother saw to that -- but when it was his turn to speak, he folded up his notes and shoved them in his pocket before approaching the stand. He carefully adjusted the microphone, made eye contact with the congregation, said, "What she said. In the name of . . . " then sat back down.

Following Stephanie and Julie in the blogging rotation around Thanksgiving, I know just how my son felt. I'm grateful for so much, but unable to express myself quite as well as my fellow Writers. (I do, however, edge out the Frog.) So . . . in regards to Thanksgiving: What she said.

Blog:

Since we're "officially" entering the Christmas season today, I have a gift for you: a heads up about one of the best series you'll read this, or any, year. (Also a chance at winning great prizes!)

The series is Free Men and Dreamers and the author is L.C. Lewis, a truly remarkable writer. I'm not the only one who thinks so. Laurie was a double finalist in 2008's National Best Books Competition. (Yes, wow.)

The series is set against the background of the War of 1812. Many characters are the firstborn American generation--children of the Founding Fathers; the generation who received the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (It gives me goose bumps just writing it.) It began with Dark Sky at Dawn and continued in Twilight's Last Gleaming. (If those last three words sound familiar, well, yep, that's what the book's about, all right.) At long last for Laurie's legion of fans (look for me in the front row) Volume Three, Dawn's Early Light, has just been released.

True confession: I am a snob when it comes to historical fiction. (And some other things, too, she hastened to admit before Anonymous could point it out in the comments.) I am an American History junkie, I freely admit. I read it, watch it, study it, and live in it. (That latter thing because of my love of antiques. More than one of my kids' friends have asked them if our living room is a museum.) Because of this fixation, I read very little American historical fiction. Frankly, the errors, oversights, and twisting of facts to facilitate a storyline tend to annoy me no end. (I've thrown more than one book across the room, I'm embarrassed to say.) Thus, when a good friend at Covenant gave me Dark Sky at Dawn I waited until I was desperate for something to read before finally picking it up. True story: from the time I first picked up Free Men and Dreamers I have had trouble putting it down. Dawn's Early Light may, in fact, be my favorite.

Laurie is an incredible writer. Her characterization is brilliant and her voice sparkles. The stories move along and are often breathtaking in complexity and meaning. But that's not even what I love the best. What I most admire and appreciate is the thousands of hours of research, thought, preparation, and prayer Laurie has put into this gift to latter-day patriots. Her work and and thought and inspiration show. My gosh, does it show! Many of her sources are original -- meaning she tracked down actual historical documents herself, rather than pulling a book off the shelf and thereby relying on somebody else's possibly flawed and/or biased scholarship. This is rarer in writers of modern historical fiction than you can believe. What is rarer yet is the . . . meaning . . . Laurie brings to her work.

I have to confess: I don't really know Laurie Lewis. I met her once -- at the Storymaker's Conference last spring. She was pulling books out of a box in the bookstore. I stood star-struck -- as I usually am around writers I admire. But she's very kind, very gracious, and incredibly humble. (If I had written this series I would not be humble; I would be insufferably proud of myself.) I tell you that I don't know her because I want to make it clear that what I'm going to say next is "gospel according to Kerry" and Laurie may not even like me saying it. When I was reading an advance manuscript of Dawn's Early Light, more than once I thought, This woman was called (foreordained) to write this series. She has had some serious heavenly support.

Anyway, when Laurie offered to stop by the Frog Blog on her release tour, I hesitated one-eighth-of-a-second before shooting off an e-mail, begging her to make it on a Friday. And now, I fear, I can't do it justice. I've also promised 14 people supper at 5 PM. It is now 4:55 and, alas, I cannot write reviews and cook at the same time. That is the bad news. The good news is that I can give you an opportunity to enter Laurie's contest. All you have to do is ask Laurie a question in the comment on this blog before December 18. That's the day Laurie will draw winners (from the combined sites on this tour) for an autographed copy of her new book and (or) an incredibly beautiful "Liberty" necklace. As a bonus, she'll answer all your questions in a future blog.

And when she answers your questions (around the 18th) I will also include the review I owe you. (Not that I haven't hinted strongly already that I love this book!) I wish I could do it now, but I am way outnumbered by a hungry mob. (Each of whom I am grateful for.)

Read this book. Ask Laurie a question. Have a marvelous weekend with your families. Love you all!