The Memory House by Linda Goodnight

THE MEMORY HOUSE, a dual time period Women’s Fiction novel. 

Welcome to Honey Ridge, Tennessee, and a house that’s rich with secrets and brimming with sweet possibilities.

Julia Presley, 34, lost everything when her son was abducted and her husband subsequently left her. Now, she’s emotionally stuck, letting life pass her by and believing she’s as okay as she’ll ever  be.

1.  Julia Presley, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
    I suppose the fact that I run an antebellum bed and breakfast inn in rural Tennessee with my sister is reasonably interesting. The other thing is too painful, too heartbreaking to call interesting. 

2.  What do you do for fun?
    I love entertaining, cooking, making peach tea, and decorating this beautiful old house. In fact, these are the things—those and this wonderful old house--that saved my sanity, and probably my life, when Mikey disappeared.

3.  What do you put off doing because you dread it?
       Confronting my sister about her drinking. You see, it’s a fact of life that my family doesn’t talk about important matters.  The elephant in the room is politely ignored while all involved hope it will simply go away.

4.  What are you afraid of most in life?
    Do not repeat this. I never, ever want anyone to know I doubt, but I am terrible afraid that I will never see my child again.  And I’m also afraid of something happening to another child on my watch. That’s why my inn has a no-child policy.

5.  What do you want out of life?
    I want my son to come home, of course, but also I want to help the mysterious drifter whose pitiful car broke down outside my inn. There’s something hopeless in him that I understand all too well. 

6. What scripture most defines your life?
    Love always hopes.

7.  What is the most important thing to you?
    Running and remodeling my historic inn. Lately, we’ve found some interesting artifacts from the Civil War period, including clay marbles that mysteriously appear at the most troubling times. I wonder if I’ve finally lost my grip on reality or if this old house is trying to tell me something.

 8.  If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
    For years, I’ve felt frozen, waiting. I want to feel something again beside emptiness and heartache. I want to be able to let other people into my life, not just into my home.

9.  Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
    I have Bingo, a blue merle Australian shepherd. He was my son’s dog.  Bingo is getting old and misses having a boy around, but I so want him to still be with us when Mikey is finally found.

10. Can you tell us a little interesting tidbit about the time period you live in?   
    While I live in the contemporary world, Peach Orchard Inn, my bed and breakfast is antebellum,  so traces of the Civil War pop up now and then. The old letters are quite compelling.