Cynthia Roemer: Thursday’s Featured Author

I’m honored to have Cynthia Roemer here to discuss her upcoming release Under Moonlit Skies. Mark your calendars for September 10th! I love her stories, and I can’t wait to read this one! Check out the gorgeous cover.

Welcome back, Cynthia!

One of my favorite parts of writing historical novels is learning about the past. When I began research for Under Moonlit Skies, I had only a vague storyline to go on. I knew Esther Stanton would be my heroine and Stewart Brant my hero, how they would meet, and the spiritual message I wished to convey. That was about it. As I delved deeper into the times and setting, I realized how ripe 1859 would be with pre-Civil War tension.

In book two, Under Prairie Skies, Esther and her mother relocate to Cincinnati, Ohio, a non-slave state. However, just across the river in Kentucky, slavery was legal. I began to wonder how free African Americans were treated in that pre-Civil War era. Were they treated like ordinary citizens or were they free, but still viewed as lesser beings? What I found fell right in line with the novel’s theme verse:

“For the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance,

but the Lord looketh on the heart.”

(1 Samuel 16:7 KJV)

As racial tensions mounted in the late 1850’s, treatment of free blacks deteriorated. Not surprising, I suppose, but sad nonetheless. While free black males had earlier enjoyed the right to vote and the right to an education, threat of a nation divided through Civil War stripped them of such privileges. In places like Cincinnati, a chasm of separation developed between the two races, leaving free blacks not much better off than slaves.

The Ohio River provided a natural barrier between slavery and freedom. Some crossed it in search of freedom. Others were smuggled across and sold into slavery. In Under Moonlit Skies, Stew befriends Isaac and Abigail Simmons, free blacks living in the segregated part of Cincinnati’s Fourth Ward or “Little Africa” as it was then termed. Through Stew’s interaction with the couple, readers are given a glimpse into the hardships African Americans faced during those tempestuous times.

In stark contrast to the stunning mansions lining the bluffs of Cincinnati, African Americans lived in drafty, plank houses and had limited employment opportunities. Though they enjoyed the freedom to live, work, and worship as they chose, they endured prejudice and ill-treatment, leading them to live apart from the affluent segment of society. It’s in this turbulent backdrop that Stew and Esther find themselves struggling to decipher false from true and to find hope amid hopelessness.

I love creating characters that embody the time period. Though fictional, Stew’s interaction with Isaac and Abigail not only proved an opportunity to draw upon historical aspects of the era, but also catapulted him onto a spiritual journey I hope will resonate with readers.

About Cynthia:

 Cynthia Roemer is an award-winning inspirational author with a heart for scattering seeds of hope into the lives of readers. Raised in the cornfields of rural Illinois, Cynthia enjoys spinning tales set in the backdrop of the 1800s prairie. Her Prairie Sky Series consists of Amazon Best-Seller Under This Same Sky, Under Prairie Skies, and Under Moonlit Skies, due to release September 10, 2019. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and writes from her family farm in central Illinois where she resides with her husband of twenty-five years and two college-aged sons. Visit Cynthia online at: www.cynthiaroemer.com

 Contact Info:  Cynthia Roemer can be contacted at:

Website:  https://cynthiaroemer.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com@cynthiaroemer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCynthiaRoemer/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16785237.Cynthia_Roemer

Author Newsletter Sign-up: http://cynthiaroemer.com/

Purchase Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cynthia-Roemer/e/B06Y1CJ588?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1565043433&sr=8-1

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/under-prairie-skies-cynthia-roemer/1128471176?ean=9781945094446

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cynthia-roemer

Her life was planned out ~ until he rode in ~

Illinois prairie ~ 1859

After four long years away, Esther Stanton returns to the prairie to care for her sister Charlotte’s family following the birth of her second child. The month-long stay seems much too short as Esther becomes acquainted with her brother-in-law’s new ranch hand, Stewart Brant. When obligations compel her to return to Cincinnati and to the man her overbearing mother intends her to wed, she loses hope of ever knowing true happiness.

Still reeling from a hurtful relationship, Stew is reluctant to open his heart to Esther. But when he faces a life-threatening injury with Esther tending him, their bond deepens. Heartbroken when she leaves, he sets out after her and inadvertently stumbles across an illegal slave-trade operation, the knowledge of which puts him, as well as Esther and her family, in jeopardy.