Prodigal Lives by Carol McClain
Prodigal Lives is the exciting sequel to Borrowed Lives. Tell us a little about Prodigal Lives.
Life keeps piling problems on Meredith Jaynes. She loses her second foster child—one she was scheduled to adopt. Then Parker Snow refuses to marry her. With only her goats and artisan soap to support her, life will get no better.
If she is honest, though, she still has Crystal. Her funny, happy, loveable toddler makes the sun shine and reminds her of the never-failing love of God.
Pearl Solomon loves her life with her grandfather Guy, but every one of her triumphs is overshadowed by her sisters’ lives. With Mama Meredith, they live a life she envies. Because of her jealousy, she refuses to contact them.
Years later, life for both families twist down paths they do not wish to travel. Pearl knows she’s lost what was most precious in life but has no means of fixing things. Left to her own devices, she spirals out of control.
Meredith finds it harder to mask the despair infertility has brought to her life.
Both families believe they must reconcile themselves to their fates as reality shatters their dreams unless they dig deep for the promise of love.
Will I be confused with the plot if I haven’t read book 1, Borrowed Lives?
I believe book 2 stands alone, but you’d miss out on the rich experience of reading Borrowed Lives.
What inspired you to write Prodigal Lives?
For many years, I worked with drug addicts. To this day, many close friends still labor in the ministry.
Addiction is brutal. Few make permanent inroads to sobriety. The hardest issue with addiction is the children. Innocents are born addicted. Many have long-term issues in health, emotional stability, and their own dependence on alternative substances.
Our labor with those afflicted have seen success through faith in Christ. Then, with the non-judgmental love of mentors, and finally, with the addicts’ own recognition that she made wrong choices and must change.
Following the family from Borrowed Lives, we see how each of the children who were too young to realize their biological parents’ errors, battle the consequences of their parents’ mistakes.
How would you describe your writing style?
I believe in redemption. Although Jesus cleanses us from our sins, the scars linger. If we cling to Christ, our lives become productive, happy, and fulfilled. None of us have fallen so far that Jesus’s love can’t redeem us. Sometimes I shudder when I think of horrific acts people commit. My first reaction is the person should burn forever in hell. That isn’t Jesus’s attitude. He’s a God of redemption. He created beauty and wants each of us to return to that beauty.
Humor influences my outlook on most things. Throughout my novels, satire or comedy or wittiness find their way. These traits act like a spoiled child—I can try to tamp them down, but wit will have its will.
Finally, I paint with language. Metaphors and figurative language dance on my pages breathing life into settings and characters.
Obviously, I don’t overdo things. That would make me a bad, bad writer. And I’m a good one. Just ask my mama.
How does setting influence your work?
Setting often asserts itself first, then the story must follow its demands. My last three novels have been set in Campbell County, Tennessee. I moved here seven years ago and find the area refreshing and exotic.
Addiction and foster care seen through my church family influenced Borrowed Lives, Book 1 of the Treasured Lives series. Deciding to write about what I knew, I set the book in my adopted community. Then the culture had to motivate each character and what happens to them.
What is your background?
I grew up on Long Island, New York. In my twenties, I moved to the northern border. I lived so close to Canada, half the time I thought of myself as Canadian. Here I taught high school English—my favorite class being English Language and Composition. I am, at heart, a style nerd.
After I retired, the cold and politics of New York moved us to Tennessee seven years ago. When we relocated, my husband, Neil, promised me I could have goats. Then he thought better of his promise. In order to enjoy the sweet, little bovids, I had my protagonist in Borrowed Lives, raise them (I tend to become my characters and live through them—on top of being erudite, I’m weird). Neil saw my dreams and being the softy he is, let me have two. As I write, one of my goats Buttercup is pregnant and will have her kid on April 25th—if I did my math right which is always a crapshoot.
Where can I purchase your books and keep up with you?
Prodigal Lives is available only on Amazon at this moment. You can purchase the book at:
I’d love to keep in touch with my readers and also let them know the latest news. You can sign up for my newsletter and blog at:
McClain’s always been a storyteller. As a child, she composed plays and forced her friends to act. She’d help rally the neighborhood kids and together they’d re-enact their favorite TV shows. Sadly, when the boys played, she never got to be the heroine–just the damsel in distress. Since then she’s discovered the benefits of needing rescue, and so it’s a role she prefers.
McClain lived most of her life in rural, upstate New York where taught high school English for more than thirty years. After years of teaching students how to write, she turned her attention to her own novels.
You can connect with her at carolmcclain.com or on Facebook or Twitter.
