There is something about Yosemite that takes my breath away every time I visit. The mountains, tall trees, beautiful meadows, and waterfalls are amazing. No matter how many pictures you see, they just don’t compare to standing there and seeing it for yourself.
When I started writing Anna Yosemite National Park Bride, I knew I wanted Yosemite to be an important part of the story. I wanted my readers to be able to picture the tall pines, hear the birds, and imagine traveling through this beautiful country with Anna.
Anna Larson has known heartache and loss, but she hasn’t given up on her faith or the hope that God still has a plan for her life. Her journey brings her to the area around Yosemite, where she meets Christian Anderson, a hardworking wheelwright who lives in Wawona.
Christian wasn’t expecting Anna to come into his life, and Anna certainly wasn’t expecting him.
As they get to know each other, their lives begin to come together through simple things like church, family meals, wagon rides, and everyday life. Of course, things don’t always go smoothly. There are a few questions to be answered along the way, and Anna has to decide if she is willing to trust her heart again.
One of the places I especially enjoyed including in the story was Wawona.
I love researching historical places for my books, and it is always fun to imagine what they might have looked like so many years ago. What would Anna have seen? What would the roads have been like? How long would it have taken to travel from one place to another? Those are some of the things I think about while I’m writing.
Travel was certainly different in Anna’s time. Horses, wagons, and buggies were a normal part of life, and a broken wagon wheel could become a much bigger problem than it would be today.
That is where a wheelwright came in. A wheelwright was a skilled craftsman who made and repaired wooden wheels for wagons, buggies, and carriages. The work took skill and precision because those wheels had to stand up to rough roads and daily travel.
There is something else that makes Christian special to me. Christian Anderson was a real person who lived during this time and worked as a wheelwright. I enjoy taking bits of real history and weaving them into my stories, and Christian gave me the opportunity to do that.
Of course, the Christian you meet in Anna Yosemite National Park Bride is part of my fictional story, but knowing there really was a wheelwright named Christian Anderson made him especially fun to write.
Faith is also an important part of Anna’s story. She doesn’t always know where God is leading her or what her future will look like. She has to trust Him one step at a time. Christian has a few things to learn about trusting God too.
I hope when you read Anna Yosemite National Park Bride, you will enjoy visiting Yosemite and Wawona with Anna and Christian. Maybe you’ll even feel as though you’ve taken a little trip back in time.
*****Giveaway*****
I would be happy to give away an ebook copy of Grace Crater Lake Bride. To enter, please answer the questions:
Have you ever visited Yosemite National Park? If you have, what was your favorite part? If you haven’t, is it somewhere you would like to visit?
Blessings,
Paulette D. Marshall