A Shadow of Treason, by Tricia Goyer

Recommended
A Shadow of Treason, Chronicles of The Spanish Civil
War - Book Two by Tricia Goyer

Tricia's research of the period, colors her characters and makes the story come to life.

About the book:
Sophie discovers that nothing is as she first imagined. When Walt, the reporter who helped her over the border, shows up again after Guernica is bombed, Sophie is given an impossible mission. She must leave behind the man she's fallen in love with and return to the person who betrayed her.

Another layer of the war in Spain is revealed as Sophie is drawn into the international espionage schemes that could turn the tide of the war and help protect the soldiers from the International Brigade ... but can she find a way to get the information she's discovered to Walt before it's too late?


Chapter One

No one told the rescuers not to talk, yet instinctively they
sifted through the bits of brick and shards of glass as quietly as
possible, alert for the slightest sound of human life beneath the
rubble of the tailor shop.
Deion Clay paused for a minute and wiped his brow with a
soot-blackened handkerchief. He refused to look at the other
buildings surrounding him, reduced to heaps. The sight caused a
deep ache in his gut. All he knew was underneath this pile a few
families had taken refuge in the basement.
Deion had been walking through the streets sometime in the
night, offering help to the injured, when he heard the cries for
help. And although they had fallen silent for the past few hours,
he clung to the faintest hope. It was all he had.
Though hundreds of rescuers had swarmed the area last night,
fighting the flames, most citizens from Guernica had since bundled
up every meager possession they could scrounge and headed
out of town with oxcarts carrying the children and old women.
Perhaps twenty still worked alongside Deion, their skin made even
blacker by soot than his natural color. They continued to dig, refusing
to give up hope for the missing wife, son, or brother.

Read more at Read Chapter


Tricia talks about writing

I first thought about writing in 1993. A friend from church, Cindy Martinusen told me about her aspirations to become a novelist. My first thought was . . . Real people do that?
She invited me to attend Mount Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference with her. I was
new as new can be. I was also 22-years-old and pregnant with my first child, but I learned
enough at that conference to start off on the right track. And I’ve been actively working
at my writing ever since.

I never planned on writing historical fiction. I wanted to write contemporary romances.
Then in 2000, I was with Cindy and another writer friend, Anne de Graaf in Austria.
They were researching books, and I was along for the ride. BUT I was the one who got a
novel idea, after talking to an Austrian historian. The historian’s true stories about the
liberation of Gusen and Mauthausen concentration camps sparked my novel idea. The
idea led to attending two WWII reunions and interviewing veterans. The veterans’ stories
led to more novels.

When I first started researching for my WWII novels, I knew NOTHING about World War II. I remember attending the first WWII reunion only months after I first got the idea. So, when I first met the veterans I had very dumb questions. Either that, or I just nodded my head when they rattled off their stories and took notes of words/phrases/events I needed to look up! The veterans were very kind to me. I usually have a few of them read through my complete manuscript to check all my facts and history. Many of them tell me, “It’s like being back there again.” So, actually these embarrassing moments have forced me to research in-depth, and I think that comes through in my stories.

I get many, many notes, letters, and emails with veterans. Some of them are not believers. Others are of the Jewish faith. Yet all of them love the stories. I remember one of the first emails I got from a veteran. He went on and on for pages about all the minor details I got right in the manuscript. He was full of praises. Then, near the end, he asked, “Now, can you tell me more about the faith element of your story?”

I was able to share the good news of Jesus with him. He’s since passed away, and I don’t know if my words had any impact. I hope to find out they did . . . in eternity!
That’s the cool thing about historical fiction. Veterans and their families read the stories
because it’s about THEM or their family members. People who would never step into a
church or listen to Christian radio read these books which point to hope in Christ.

I have a WWII website at www.triciagoyer.com/ww2stories that I update regularly, and more stories will be posted in the coming weeks. Researching for these novels has provided me with SO MANY amazing stories--far more than I could fit into the pages of the novel. This is simply my way of honoring the wonderful men who served our country.

A Shadow of Treason is Book Two. Book Three is A Whisper of Freedom. It will be out February 2008. The characters that we love are all still in the midst of danger at the end of Book Two. Book Three continues their stories as we follow their journeys in -- and (for a few) out -- of Spain. It's an exciting conclusion to the series!

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Tricia Goyer has written seven novels for Moody Publishing:
From Dust and Ashes (2003)
Night Song (2004)
Dawn of a Thousand Nights (2005);
Arms of Deliverance (2006)
A Valley of Betrayal (2007)
A Shadow of Treason (Fall 2007)
A Whisper of Freedom (February 2008)
Night Song was awarded American Christian Fiction Writer's 2005 Book of the Year for Best Long Historical. Dawn of a Thousand Nights won the same award in 2006.

Also, coming out in the next year are: My Life, Unscripted (Thomas Nelson, 2007), Generation NeXt Marriage (Multnomah, Spring 2008), and 3:16-the teen version of the a book by Max Lucado (Thomas Nelson, Spring 2008).

Tricia and her husband John live with their three children in Kalispell, Montana. Tricia's grandmother also lives with them, and Tricia volunteers mentoring teen moms and leading children's church. Although Tricia doesn't live on a farm, she can hit one with a rock by standing on her back porch and giving it a good throw.

Important Links!
triciagoyer.com

Tricia's blogs:
triciagoyer.blogspot.com
genxparents.blogspot.com
Mywritingmentor.blogspot.com