The following is an interview with the author of Song of Springhill, Cheryl McKay, with a bonus giveaway at the end of the interview.
Song of Springhill
by Cheryl McKay
TWO Kindle copies to be won
Contest open to entrants WORLDWIDE.
Contest runs from 17-23 October NZDT
It takes place in Springhill, Nova Scotia, Canada, the place where my father grew up. My grandfather survived the coal mining disasters that were used as the backdrop for the love story. The town of Springhill experienced some of the most amazing rescues. (Men were found alive 8 1/2 days after they were trapped underground.) It takes place in the 1950s, which was an incredibly fun era to write for.
Who are the main characters, and what is at stake for them in this story?
Hannah is my lead. She has just come to Springhill in the beginning to try to find the only family she has left. Her father died in those coal mines the day she was born. So she never met him. Now she wants to find his family. Her Aunt Abigail (her father’s sister) still lives in town. She tracks her down, meets her uncle and their four children. But the next day, the mines blow up (which is based on the actual 1956 Explosion) which her uncle is trapped underground during. With her family suddenly needing a lot of help and provision, Hannah finds herself needing to get a job in a town where the only jobs left are in those mines. But they don’t hire women. So she disguises herself as a man to help take care of them. Every day, going underground, is a risk to her life. She also meets a handsome bachelor, Josh, who becomes her love story interest. He’s also a miner, whose life is at risk all the time. There are of course, emotional stakes as well, as Hannah has a fear of finding love and losing it. And how does she open herself up to Josh, when he could die any day, like what happened with her mother and father?
What surprised me was how fun it was to write for Liesel. She’s the teenaged daughter of Hannah’s Aunt Abigail. I used her POV in some of the chapters. She has a lot of spunk and was a great “in” to what the 1950s might have felt like to a teenager trying to grow up. She also has some seriously difficult, emotional trials she goes through in the story, yet she’s also this breath of fresh air.
How did the writing of this story impact you as a person or as an author?
I wrote a blog called “The Ripple Effect of Life” that talks about how one decision can change someone’s whole life. The day of the explosion, a friend asked my grandfather if he’d be willing to switch shifts with him, so this man could go hunting. My grandfather said yes and worked the day shift. That meant, when the mines blew up that afternoon at 5pm, my grandfather was already above ground. That man who took my grandfather’s shift died that day. It was such a sobering story to hear about. It’s like your glad your grandfather was saved—or I never would have met him. But also you’re sad someone else’s died. Actually, my grandfather lost a lot of his friends that day because his whole team was killed. I use this ‘switching shifts’ storyline at the start of the novel. In the blog, I share about how after my grandfather was trapped in the 2nd disaster, the 1958 Bump, which is the big disaster used later in the novel. The choices he made after that are what led my father to meet my mother. Technically, I wouldn’t even be here if that disaster hadn’t happened. One of the most humbling moments in working the story was being able to uncover who the man was who died in my grandfather’s place and being able to interview his daughter for the companion book, Spirit of Springhill, my book of interviews with all the real people from the town who served as the inspiration for the novel.
If anyone wants to read the blog about the real life story, it’s here: Ripple Effect of Life
Knowing how tough it was on this town to go through what they did, but also knowing the true life miracles that happened there… I just knew this story had to be told. Also, what really struck me was the camaraderie these men had with each other. I really wanted to capture the heart of a miner and how much they cared about each other. But it was fun to package in a fictional, love story kind of way.
What would you like your readers to take away from this story?
While writing the novel, I personally was wrestling with some questions in life. I gave my lead character, Hannah, some of my own angst with regard to questioning the difficult things God sometimes allows to happen. While I don’t pretend to have full answers, I was led to believe sometimes, in order to move forward, we have to try to see what God is doing instead of focusing on what He isn’t doing.
by Cheryl McKay
- Purple Penworks
- Historical
- August 2014
- ISBN: 9780692265086
[Kindle | Amazon | The Book Depository]
Could you fall in love despite the great risk of losing the one you cherish most?
Hoping for a fresh start, Hannah Wright moves to Springhill, the hometown of the father she never knew because he died in their volatile coal mines before she was born. She tracks down her aunt, Abigail Percy, and is immediately welcomed to move in with the whole Percy clan. This includes her Uncle Ray, a coal miner, and their four lively children. Suddenly, she's surrounded by more family than she's ever had in her life.
The day after she arrives, the mine explodes, trapping many underground, including Uncle Ray. Little did Hannah know when she set off on this new adventure how much her family was going to need her. When the Percys face a sudden lack of provision, Hannah knows she must get a job to help them. But the only industry in town that pays enough is coal mining--and the mine company doesn't hire women.
Hannah secretly masquerades as a man and gets hired as Mel, a distant cousin of her father's. Keeping up her charade is challenging in this tight-knit, 1950s town, where everybody knows one another.
Hannah is placed on the team of Josh Winslow, a handsome bachelor who noticed her the moment she stepped into town. It doesn't take long for Josh to see through Hannah's disguise as Mel, but she convinces him there's no other way for her to help take care of her family. Understanding the pressure she's under, he agrees to not blow Hannah's cover--for now.
Though Hannah seems to keep Josh at arm's length, he's determined to chip away at her defenses and win her heart. She resists, afraid to love someone who could die at any moment in an accident underground.
Long-time miners start to sense that "the big one" is coming. Calling it a "Bump" does little to calm Hannah's fear of the impending underground earthquake, a disaster that could come any day. Will Josh and Hannah be among the next miners caught in a catastrophic disaster? Does Hannah stand to lose everything she's worked so hard to rebuild?
Miners, Wives, Widows, Rescuers & Their Children Tell True Stories of Springhill's Coal Mining Disasters
by Cheryl McKay
- Purple Penworks
- Nonfiction
- April 2014
- ISBN: 9780615990347
[Kindle | Amazon | The Book Depository]
Springhill, Nova Scotia, a tiny town with a tremendously courageous spirit. In the 1950s, tragedy struck the mining town of Springhill not once, but three times:
The 1956 Explosion
The 1957 Main Street Fire
The 1958 Bump
The Explosion took the lives of 39 miners. The Main Street Fire wiped out many of the family-owned businesses. The Bump, an underground earthquake, took the lives of 75 good men of Springhill.
Springhill became known as everything from "The Hard Luck Town" to "Miracle Town."
Those miracles are the heart of this book.
Springhill is a place with strong resilience, despite the tragedies that tried to take her down. The miracles that happened are nothing short of astounding, to see the hand of God show up and rescue men whom the entire town thought were dead.
In Spirit of Springhill, you will experience the town through first-person accounts of what happened back in the 1950s from the point of view of survivors and their wives, from victims' widows and orphans, from children of rescued miners, and miners who risked their lives to be on the rescue teams.
Springhill remains an inspiration to all who hear about it. This chronicle from the voices of the people of Springhill will help us preserve their history for generations to come.
Their stories should not be forgotten.
Author Cheryl McKay has been researching Springhill for over a decade, ever since her Springhill native father, Tom McKay, convinced her that the story of these disasters needed to be a movie. Cheryl's grandfather survived the 1958 Bump. He would have died in the 1956 Explosion had he not traded shifts with a friend. Many years later, accounts of her grandfather's survival instigated Cheryl's quest to unearth this heartrending true story, as shared in her book of interviews, Spirit of Springhill, and dramatized in its companion novel, Song of Springhill. Cheryl is the screenwriter of The Ultimate Gift and co-author of Never the Bride and Greetings from the Flipside. |
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Be in to win a copy of Song of Springhill by Cheryl McKay TWO Kindle copies to be won (from Amazon.com only) Contest open to entrants WORLDWIDE. Contest runs from 17-23 October NZDT Please comment about the novel, or leave a message for Cheryl McKay in the blog comments below, then enter the Rafflecopter draw. All entries must be made using the Rafflecopter contest to be eligible for drawing. Winning entries drawn will have their entry options validated before being accepted - if incomplete another entry will be drawn. |