Somewhere to Call Home Interview

How exciting to have Michael Heaton the hero from Somewhere to Call Home written by  Janet Lee Barton a November 2012 release from Love Inspired Historical .

1.  Michael, tell me the most interesting thing about you.

I own my own detective agency. I started it to try to help other families find missing loved ones after my sister disappeared.

2.  What do you do for fun?

I haven't had much fun--at least not until Violet Heaton came to stay at Heaton House. She was a neighbor of ours in Virginia, but her mother passed away and she found the bank holds the mortgage on her family home. She came here to find work to pay it off and I'm enjoying having her around a great deal.

3.  What do you put off doing because you dread it?

I put off telling my mother that I don't think we'll ever find my sister. With the boarding house she's made it her life's work for give young women coming to live in the city a safe haven, a home away from home.

4.  What are you afraid of most in life?

I've always been afraid we'll never find my sister, but now that I know Harland Black, the banker who holds Violet's homes mortgage, really wants her and has become obsessive about finding her, I'm worry about keeping her safe.

5.  What do you want out of life?

I've always wanted to start a family of my own, but after my broken engagement, I'm not sure any woman would be willing to put up with my highest priority which is to find my sister--or it has been. I've come to believe that might not be possible in this city. 

6.  What is the most important thing to you? My faith is the most important thing. Without the Lord in our lives I'm not sure how my mother and I would have dealt with my sister's disappearance.

7.  If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I'd get rid of my fear of rejection and persue Violet Burton. She's come to mean a lot to me.  I don't want to see her go back to Virginia.

8.  Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?

I don't have a pet now. I did when I was young. Had a dog named Duke. Maybe I'll have another one day, if I ever have a wife and children . . .

9. Can you tell us a little interesting tidbit about the time period you live in?

It's an exciting time to live in. And New York City is an exciting city. But it has its problems. There's been a lot of corruption in the police department, but I'm hopeful that with our new police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, the department will finally be cleaned up!

Featured Book:Somewhere to Call Home

Some might call it a proposal. Violet Burton knows it's blackmail, and she refuses to give in. She won't marry the unscrupulous banker who holds the mortgage on her Virginia home. Instead, she'll find employment in New York City, earning enough to pay her debts before returning home. Virginia's where she belongs…even if reconnecting with childhood friend Michael Heaton makes her long to stay permanently at his mother's boardinghouse.

The freckle-faced girl Michael knew is now a lovely woman. Helping Violet find her way is a simple act of friendship—at least at first. But soon he'll do anything to keep her safe, and hope she'll see that the home she seeks is one they can share together.

Janet Lee Barton here. This is my first blog for Craftie Ladies and I am so excited to be part of this group!

I love writing about New York City at the turn of the century. Love the research--I have shelves of books on New York City, files and photos from the late 1890's on my computer. I've loved learning so much about the city at that time and the photos I've found take me back to a time and place far removed from today.  I hope I am able bring this city to life at a time when women were joining the workforce in huge numbers, living in boarding houses similar to Heaton House, the boarding house in my first LIH, Somewhere to Call Home.

(Photo taken by Stacy Cashman at ramblingtraveler.com) 

And although some of the places my characters visit are still there, many are not. Central Park is still there of course, and taking a walk in it now is probably much the same now as would have been  at the turn of the century. But the skyline around it, from then to now, keeps changing.  

Of course many of the changes through the years have been for the better and yet it saddens me that so many landmarks are gone. In writing about history we must try to preserve the settings and events that take place in our stories so that our readers can get a real feel for the time and the place, so they can relate to the history of the time. We never know when storms or events will take those things away as Hurricane Sandy did, especially along the east coast.

Just as my heart went out to the people of the City after 9/11, it goes out to them now as they deal with the aftermath of Sandy. As the Crafie Ladies, our editors live and work in the city and our thoughts and prayers are with them and all who were in the path of the storm.

Do you like real history weaved into the historical stories you read? Do you like real settings or ficitonal places best?