Lynne Gentry: Interview with a Reluctant Heroine

Please join the Suspense Sisters in welcoming our guest Lynne Gentry!

Lynne is giving away a copy of Healer of Carthage. Please leave a comment on the blog and include your contact information. 

Lynne Gentry has written for numerous publications. Her newest novel, Healer of Carthage, is the first in The Carthage Chronicles series. She is a professional acting coach, theater director, and playwright with several full-length musicals and a children’s theater curriculum to her credit. Lynne is an inspirational speaker and dramatic performer whose first love is spending time with family.

 

 Now, let's hear from Lynne: 

Authors love to introduce their characters and I’m no exception. I can’t wait for you to meet

Dr. Lisbeth Hastings, star of HEALER OF CARTHAGE.

Lisbeth is a driven, young professional with her life as a doctor all planned out. However, that was before her tragic mistake. I won’t say too much about the mistake (after all I want you to read the book) but I will say her error in judgment thrust her into a world stranger than anything her archeologist father ever dug up in one of his forgotten caves.

You’d think the threat of medical malpractice would have humbled this young intern a bit, but … well … I’ll let you be the judge of her current emotional state.

She’s the one being drug to the baths of a third-century villa.

Be warned … she’s ticked.

Me: Excuse me, Dr. Hastings. Could I speak to you for a minute?

Lisbeth: In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a little busy. Hey, what is this place?

Me: It’s a bathroom.

Lisbeth: It’s bigger than my entire apartment back in Dallas.

Me: Nothing is too good for the wealthy Roman, Cyprianus Thascius.

Lisbeth: Roman?

Me: Calm down. I’m sure you’ll come to appreciate every amenity I dropped into this story.

Lisbeth: I don’t want to appreciate anything. I want you to get me out of this nightmare.

Me: Well, I can’t. I put you into the third century to change the world.

(Lisbeth has crossed her arms and is tapping her foot. She seems a bit too snarky, but I can see how unexpected time travel could have a tendency to make someone a tad defensive. Besides, if I sent Lisbeth home before she met the handsome hero what kind of love story would this be?)

I take a deep breath and continue.

Me: Maybe I went overboard a bit with the floor-to-ceiling murals, cascading water, and exquisite tile mosaics, but I actually toured the ruins of a Roman bath in England and thought the Romans masters of luxury. In fact, I think you’d find their medical knowledge equally as impressive. Frankly, Lisbeth, I’m jealous.

Lisbeth: Jealous?

Me: You’re going to wear some of the most beautiful gowns, have the most amazing adventures, and meet the most incredible hunk, and—

Lisbeth: You’re obviously not the one stuck in the past, half drowned, stripped to your birthday suit, and staring at woman coming at you with a metal claw.

Me: (Looking quickly over my shoulder, I sigh with relief.) Oh, that’s not a claw. The Roman’s call that a strigil. 

Lisbeth: A what?

Me: An exfoliation tool. First a slave slathers you with oil, then scrapes the blade over your skin … Lisbeth … Lisbeth … wait. I can explain.

(As she tries to bolt past me, I really have no choice but to push her into the tub. I’ll try to take up this interview once she’s dry, but I don’t have high hopes. Lisbeth Hastings seldom cooperates...with anyone.) 

Now, a little more about Healer of Carthage. 

First-year medical resident Dr. Lisbeth Hastings uses her father’s bizarre summons to escape her tragic mistake.

 

While Lisbeth searches the haunted cave of her father’s archaeological dig, she falls through a hidden portal. When the currents of time spew her onto the slave auction block in third century Carthage, her arrival ignites a fierce bidding war.

Unable to escape, Lisbeth becomes the property of Cyprian Thascius, a wealthy Roman entangled with a group of people under siege from political persecution and a deadly plague.

Lisbeth resists using her medical skills to combat the epidemic until she stumbles upon a buried secret. To save her family, she must unite with Cyprian to save Carthage. But every revolutionary step they take in the past threatens their future.

And for more fun, you can listen to Lynne sharing about her inspiration for the book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imh1AwR698Y

You can find out more about Lynne at her beautiful website: http://www.lynnegentry.com 

Don't forget to leave a comment if you would like to enter the drawing for a copy of Healer of Carthage!