I began writing about 4 years ago when I retired. I had been
a nurse for 37 years and although the stories had always been in my head, I
just didn’t have time to write them down. Raising 2 boys, working fulltime and
having a husband who spent so much time at sea with the Navy was enough of a
challenge.
They are set in Texas and are about 4 siblings in a wealthy and powerful family. I have a little of everything in this series. Murder, Intrigue, Prejudice, Kidnap, Indians and most importantly, Romance. Why I set them in Texas when I am Australian is a bit of a mystery although I do feel an affinity for this state. I have read a great deal about it and I often tell my husband and friends, I must have lived my previous life there.
My next book was The Stuck-Up Governess about a young girl
who was raised to be a lady but treated like a saleable commodity. I loved this
story. Two motherless children attempt to bring this straight laced lady and
their down to earth father together but it is kidnap and attempted murder which
makes them finally realize their love for each other.
I was fortunate to come across Australian author Margaret
Tanner after I had written these books and she has been my critique partner,
mentor and friend ever since. Thanks to her assistance, the quality of my story
telling and writing has greatly improved.
Mail Order Marshall, my next and most popular book, thanks to the drool worthy cover (as one reader put it), is a sweet romance. This brings two people together who are determined never to fall in love or marry. When her life is put in danger, he realizes he has fallen in love and their pretend marriage suddenly becomes real.
Enter, a book very close to my heart – Blind Acceptance.
This is the story of a young boy, Phillip, who is blinded in an accident. I
explore the dangers for a 6 year growing up on a cattle ranch when he can’t see
the threats. I worked with the newly blind for several years and drew on my
experience to convey the anger, frustration and sadness of not only the
affected person but also the family. I attempted to show, the blind are not
incompetent or a drain on society, they have a great deal to offer. With a
little patience and understanding they can be shown to be a valuable
contributor to society.
Unfortunately in the 19th century it was
thought if a person was blind they were also an imbecile. For this reason many
were closeted away in Mental Institutions where they eventually did become
insane. Prejudice against any disability was rife during this time (still is in
many ways) and people tended to want the affected out of the way. Of course, this book is also a romance with a
touching relationship between Phillip’s father, Luke, and the young girl he
employs, Rachel, to guide his blind son.
I am currently working on the sequel to Blind Acceptance
which is called Blind Achievement. Phillip is now a grown man and he has left
home to attend college. It is here he meets the love of his life, Belinda. She
harbors secrets that will endanger the young couple and their friends. I am
hopeful this will be ready by the end of November.
All my books are available through Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Horsnell/e/B00BXR5FMM
My blog address is: http://susanhorsnell.wordpress.com. You will find interesting articles, all my books with links
to Amazon and other authors and their books.
I am also on Facebook and Twitter @susanhorsnell.
Sign up for my monthly newsletter at-- horsnells@yahoo.com.au
Sign up for my monthly newsletter at-- horsnells@yahoo.com.au
I hope you have enjoyed this snippet about me and I hope you
will feel encouraged to read my books.
Excerpt from Blind
Acceptance:
Braille: A system of raised dots which enables the blind and
visually impaired to read.
Developed in France by Louis Braille, in 1824
when he was just 15 years old. Braille writing was taught with the use of a
metal slate, paper and a wooden handled awl. Raised dots were pressed into the
paper to enable the blind and visually impaired to read.
Louis then developed Braille musical notation
and published a book about this in 1829.
This
book is a work of fiction and although some details are accurate some have been
embellished for the sake of the story.
BRAILLE READING CHART
CHAPTER
ONE
Texas 1869
“Marie,
will you please just consider it?” Luke asked for the third time in twenty
minutes. He was tired of constantly having the same argument with his wife.
Marie
stood with her hands on her hips and pursed her lips as she listened to Luke
plead. “For the last time; I am not
going to home school Phillip. I have better things to do with my time. If Meg
can’t teach him any more then he will go
to school.”
Luke
watched as his wife stormed from the room. He would not let Phillip be sent off
to a boarding school in Austin, he wanted to teach his son about life on a
ranch.
It
was the life Luke loved and he hoped his son would too. If Marie wouldn’t home
school their son then he’d hire someone who would.
Marie
was such a restless soul; he should never have brought her from Austin to live
on his isolated ranch.
She
was city born and raised, the only child of a wealthy banker and his wife, and
she was more suited to the contacts and social life the city provided.
In
the beginning, because of her loneliness he had encouraged Marie to visit the
city, but over the last couple of years he suspected she had a lover.
Their
marriage was far from perfect; in fact it was a disaster, but to cheat on him
with another man. The pain of betrayal was like a knife twisting in his gut.
Years
before he’d fallen in love with her beauty and spirit but it was this very
spirit that had begun tearing them apart after only six months of marriage.
They
had not shared a bed or a bedroom for years, an arrangement that suited them
both, and they avoided each other at every opportunity.
Luke
wasn’t sure what he felt for Marie any more - indifference, contempt, sympathy;
it most certainly wasn’t love. As the mother of his son he had told her he
would give her a home with him for as long as she wanted but he refused to pay
for lodgings in town where she might be at the beck and call of a lover.
He’d
made it quite clear that if that was what she wanted she would have to find a
way to pay for it herself or have her lover pay. Phillip would most definitely
not join her.
Marie
hated the ranch and she had used every trick at her disposal to try to make
Luke sell and take her back to the city. It was all to no avail so she had
resolved to stay until Phillip was old enough to be sent to a boarding school
in the city; that time had finally come.
She
had steadfastly refused Luke’s request to allow him to grow up on the ranch.
She had said she would not allow her son to grow up in such a backwards place
that afforded him no opportunities.
She
knew Luke was tired of arguing over it and the sooner she had Phillip ensconced
in his school, the sooner she would be free to settle in the city and begin
living her life.
Luke
strode into the kitchen and found Phillip clutched tight to the bosom of Meg -
his cook/housekeeper, and up until now, Phillip’s teacher.
When
Phillip noticed his father he disengaged himself from Meg’s grasp and ran to
where Luke had crouched down and now held his arms outstretched. Luke swept his
son up and held him close as he stood and walked into the parlour.
“Did
you hear pardner?” Luke was becoming concerned with the effect the frequent
arguments were having on their impressionable child.
The
arguments seemed to be disrupting the household more and more and Luke was
grateful that Meg protected Phillip from them as much as she could.
“You
arguing again?” his brother, Nathan, asked as he marched into the parlour
seconds behind Luke. “I heard you clear on over to the corral.”
“Yeah;
Marie is still insisting on sending Phillip away to school but I just can’t let
it happen.”
“Big
brother, you can’t force her to keep Phillip at home and teach him. She wants
to go back to Austin herself, you know she isn’t cut out for this life.”
Luke
looked thoughtfully at his brother. Nathan had fallen in love with Marie the
first time he'd met her. He had told Luke repeatedly for the first couple of
years they were married that if Marie was his wife he would give up the ranch
and take her off to a city for the life she so desperately wanted.
If
Nathan didn’t love and respect his brother as much as he did, Luke thought he
might have saddled up with Marie and headed off to Austin a few years ago.
Fortunately,
as Nathan had grown older he’d also grown wiser and he could see Marie now for
the woman she was. He told Luke she was everything he didn’t want in his wife.
Luke
couldn’t, and didn’t want to, leave the ranch he loved more than anything else
in the world; except for his son. His father and grandfather had worked hard to
build the Circle J Ranch from nothing when they’d first arrived out west from
Tennessee. Luke was convinced it was Phillip’s legacy he protected.
Marie
could do what she liked.
He’d
gladly give her the divorce she’d been asking for lately, but he would never
give up his son.
As a side note: I would like to add how supportive and generous Susan has been to all the writers from the time she came into the western writer group. Writing can seem a lonely business and she has made it less so with her giving attitude.
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As a side note: I would like to add how supportive and generous Susan has been to all the writers from the time she came into the western writer group. Writing can seem a lonely business and she has made it less so with her giving attitude.
