Linda Hoover: About Lighter Than Air
Hello! I’m excited to have the opportunity to talk about my latest book, Lighter Than Air. Thank you for inviting me, Julie.
Lighter Than Air was published in October, 2018. It’s set in 1900 near Brighton, England. Elena and her father Squire Bishop, need to find a way to raise money to repay a gambling debt by the end of the summer or they’ll lose their home. After praying about it, Elena believes God has inspired her to have a family camp on the grounds of their country estate.
I had a lot of fun researching for the story. I found out a lot about the card game, Faro, which is what Squire Bishop played and lost. I also learned Brighton is a beautiful area and was quite the vacation spot. Elena counted on that fact to draw people their way. The city is on the southern coast of England, so tourists came from miles around to enjoy the beach and Brighton Pier. Carnival type games and food stands lined both sides of the pier and ended at a pavilion, where concerts and dances were held. Hotels and boarding houses offered opportunities for overnight stays, but that would make spending a few days out of reach for most families. The family camp offered a much less expensive, rustic one week stay in tents with activities on the grounds as well as a day trip to Brighton.
Elena’s neighbor, Justin, has his own goal for the summer. His older brother has charged him with keeping the neighborhood quite while he goes to America to marry. This especially includes anything Elena might be involved in because of her tendency to be impulsive and accident prone. Justin’s grandmother has given him a secret mission that requires him to go to America. If everything is as it should be when his brother comes home with his bride, then Justin will be able to go. Otherwise, he’ll be sent to join the military in India.
Elena promised her father, she wouldn’t say why they’re having the camp, so she and Justin are constantly at cross purposes in spite of a growing attraction. It soon becomes apparent someone, other than Justin, doesn’t want the family camp to succeed. Now, besides noise coming from the property next to them, there are accidents and other acts of sabotage. Elena won’t give up and as the summer is nearing an end and they don’t have the funds they need, she looks for something to close the gap. An advertisement for a gas balloon ride sounds like the perfect thing, if she can convince the owner to bring the balloon to their estate.
I learned there is a difference between hot air and gas balloons. Elena’s father was in a club that flew hot air balloons, so she had a little knowledge about those. A gas balloon is filled with hydrogen and goes where the wind takes it. The balloon Elena went to Brighton to check out was gas. The attraction included riding in the basket to the end of the line keeping it tethered to the ground. Then is was reeled back in. The man who gave the rides had to leave so Elena decided to check it out herself. Of course, Justin is never far away and when he found her, they both ended up having a life changing adventure.
I gathered information about Ireland and the time it might take a steamer to travel from there to England. Train speeds and even the time it took for a ship to get from New York to England were researched. Looking into all the things that bring life and a sense of the time period to a story is pure pleasure to me. There have been times I had to tell myself, “Ok, it’s time to get back to writing.”
Lighter Than Air includes villains, adventure, romance and faith. I hope you’ll check it out.
Linda lives in west central Ohio with her husband, daughters, grandson and a cat who thinks he owns the house. She earned a degree in psychology from Anderson University where she learned the voices in her head were actually characters from stories waiting to be told.
By day, Linda works as a library assistant at a branch of the county’s public library system where two of her duties include choosing books for the young adult and Christian fiction sections. As a result, she has a very long “To Read” list. In her spare time she writes the stories her voices tell her.https://www.LindaHooverBooks.comhttps://www.facebook.com/lindahooverauthor
Website – http://lindahooverbooks.com
Facebook – www.facebook.com/lindahooverauthor
Amazon author page – https://amzn.to/2M7nnoW
