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‘Amberly’ is Greenville woman’s debut novel Christian fantasy is first of three-book series By Cindy Landrum | staff
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Mary Elizabeth Hall never intended to publish the story that had rolled around her mind for 30-something years. It was her private story, the one she played around with in her mind, mostly during bouts of insomnia. Then the Greenville woman realized she was starting to forget parts of the story she labels as fictional history and she began writing it down, turning a conversation in the familiar story into a scene, a scene into a chapter. “Then I bought books on how to write a novel,” she said. She realized then that she didn’t know even the basics of writing a book, that an author couldn’t jump from what one character was thinking to what another was thinking and back again. She didn’t realize that she couldn’t use more than one question mark and that exclamation points were widely frowned upon. And she didn’t realize that there wasn’t really a place in the Christian publishing world for the type of fiction she was writing. Editors urged her to write something more mainstream. “Amberly” is the first book in a threepart Crestmere Series, set in a nation whose past is rich in cultural lore and
touched by grief. Twin kings rule the Bretalian Isle together despite vehement objections from many around them. Recalling English lore, Hall’s Bretalia is said to have been founded by a legendary figure named Byrtus. Other nations have names similar to early names of their real-life counterparts, Hall said. The story behind the Crestmere Series was inspired by classic literature from Beowulf to Tolkien, she said. In the first book, coldblooded enemies snatch Eleanor Williamston as a declaration of war. Her heart is drawn to the handsome guardsman who rescues her. She’s drawn to him but then is torn when he challenges her political ideals. The guardsman then reveals something that makes her choice even more difficult. “In many ways, ‘Amberly’ is the story of Christians everywhere who strive to honor God but hold different convictions about how it should be done,” she said. Hall, who will be signing books at the Holiday Fair at the TD Convention Center on Saturday, wondered at first whether she could change history. Her daughter suggested she write scifi instead so she wouldn’t be bound by reality. But, Hall said, she decided the biblical references in “Amberly” limited her to Earth. Contact Cindy Landrum at clandrum@communityjournals.com.
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