Book Title: FOR LOVE AND MERCY: A Novel by C. Ingrid Deringer
Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 195 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction
Publisher: FRIESEN PRESS
Release date: August 2022
Content Rating: PG-13. There is a death, near-death experience, some swearing, no explicit sex scenes.
Book Description:
“Suddenly angelic beings of light appeared. They said I was at a crossroad, and it was here where I had to make a choice . . .”
In 2022, forty-two-year-old Dr. Stormy Hera, a music professor at the University of Victoria, is serving a manslaughter sentence at Sunnydale Forensic Hospital in British Columbia.
Although she can’t recall committing the crime, she feels strongly that she did the right thing. In the hopes of jogging her memory and healing her soul, Stormy is tasked with writing her autobiography as part of her rehabilitation.
Spanning the 1940s to 2026, and set in the Saskatchewan prairies, Olympia, Greece, and Canada’s West Coast, For Love and Mercy follows the lives of free-spirited Evangeline, and Stormy herself—including a near-death experience that changes everything.
“Suddenly angelic beings of light appeared. They said I was at a crossroad, and it was here where I had to make a choice . . .”
In 2022, forty-two-year-old Dr. Stormy Hera, a music professor at the University of Victoria, is serving a manslaughter sentence at Sunnydale Forensic Hospital in British Columbia.
Although she can’t recall committing the crime, she feels strongly that she did the right thing. In the hopes of jogging her memory and healing her soul, Stormy is tasked with writing her autobiography as part of her rehabilitation.
Spanning the 1940s to 2026, and set in the Saskatchewan prairies, Olympia, Greece, and Canada’s West Coast, For Love and Mercy follows the lives of free-spirited Evangeline, and Stormy herself—including a near-death experience that changes everything.
Meet the Author:
Charlotte Ingrid Deringer was born into a large family in Saskatchewan, Canada and has lived all across the country, on the east coast, west coast and everywhere in between.
Her family’s love of music, dance and practical jokes left a tremendous impression on her, but it was her voracious appetite for adventure that has driven her to experience life to the fullest. She was in her 50s when her creative passions ignited, fueling her desire to write fiction.
Ingrid holds a BA in Psychology, an MA in Women’s Studies and is also an Acupuncturist, Shiatsu Therapist, a Life Cycle Celebrant and a Meditation Teacher. She has worked in the health and wellness field, specializing in the treatment of chronic pain and chronic illness for over 25 years.
Now semi-retired, Ingrid loves to hang out with her grandchildren and spend winters in warm climates with her feet in the sand where she can write to her heart’s content.
connect with the author:
website ~ facebook ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ bookbub ~ goodreads
Charlotte Ingrid Deringer was born into a large family in Saskatchewan, Canada and has lived all across the country, on the east coast, west coast and everywhere in between.
Her family’s love of music, dance and practical jokes left a tremendous impression on her, but it was her voracious appetite for adventure that has driven her to experience life to the fullest. She was in her 50s when her creative passions ignited, fueling her desire to write fiction.
Ingrid holds a BA in Psychology, an MA in Women’s Studies and is also an Acupuncturist, Shiatsu Therapist, a Life Cycle Celebrant and a Meditation Teacher. She has worked in the health and wellness field, specializing in the treatment of chronic pain and chronic illness for over 25 years.
Now semi-retired, Ingrid loves to hang out with her grandchildren and spend winters in warm climates with her feet in the sand where she can write to her heart’s content.
connect with the author:
website ~ facebook ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ bookbub ~ goodreads
Author Interview
How did you come up with the idea for writing Love and Mercy?
My girlfriend and I were a on a road trip and we were talking about our travels. I told her about when I was backpacking across Europe and how I met a man on a train on my way to Olympia Greece. This was over 35 years ago. He was an Australian who had a lot of knowledge about Greek Mythology which I didn’t. I was just interested in going to see where the first Olympics was held. We hung out for a few days and he was like this amazing travel guide. We were having a beer in a small pub and I asked him what he did for a living. And he took off his hat and pressed it to his chest and starting singing opera to me right then and there. My girlfriend said I that to put that into one of my novels! I wrote it as a love story and then the story just grew tentacles….
What Genre do you write and why?
I would say overall I am writing literary fiction – more character driven than plot, and more focused on the human condition. Of course there is an element of historical fiction as well that I tend gravitate to and some romance and mystery too. I have worked in the health care industry for over 28 years now, and that and the fact that I come from a large family, and have traveled extensively, is reflected in my writing.
In this book, you write about a Near Death Experience. Do your other books have that spiritual theme as well and why?
I like to add what I call Spiritually Transformative Experiences in all my novels. It is one thing that I believe sets me apart from many novelists. I personally have had such experiences in my own life and have heard stories from many of my clients and friends and relatives over the years. In every case, I would say they have been life changing and yet we don’t talk openly about them very much. It isn’t as taboo nowadays as it used to be, but still, I believe it is important for us to begin to bring it out in the open and talk about it and explore. There is so much we don’t know and can’t see but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Do you write every day?
Depending on the time of year. I am semi-retired, working mostly in the summer months, so when I go south for the winter, I definitely write every day.
I write children’s books; I have two published and I am working on two more. I started writing flash fiction for fun and I hope to continue with those stories and make a bathroom reader; and I have two other novels in various stages – editing and writing and research. I think about my characters and about writing A LOT! I dream up stories all the time, and have to get up and write them down. I watch a lot of documentaries on whatever my subject matter is and about the writing process itself. And I read a lot about writing too. In between I read fiction – authors that I admire. There is never enough hours in a day for me!
What do you like least and most about being a writer?
I am not keen on the marketing end – social media has been a big learning curve but I am working on it and reaching out to professionals for help. I do love doing author readings though! I love getting up in front of a group and entertaining them – Besides talking about my books, I add in humor a lot with my flash fiction, and even engage them to participate in coming up with stories… I love the solidarity of writing but I am a people person, so I need to engage with people so any chance I get to do an author reading or set up a table at a market or a book signing, I take it.
What is your favourite place to travel to?
I have traveled quite a bit but in the last ten years, I have gone to Mexico for months at a time and I always enjoy that although I have to admit, I like the fancy resorts! This year I am trying Arizona in a fancy RV resort for 6 months living in my fifth wheel. I will take trips to see my daughter in Nashville and my brother in Louisiana and back to Mexico for a week or two. Now, more than ever, I want a place where I have nice weather and I can write, swim and walk and maybe play some cards and dance! But my favourite of all time – Australia, Prince Edward Island on the east coast in Canada, and Greece!
Do you ever get writer’s block?
Never! It is just the opposite. I have so many stories and scenes and characters running around in my head. The odd time I don’t know where to start or how to start, so I just write a scene and then work backwards and forwards from that. In Love and Mercy, I started with a love story – Evangeline and the opera singer … and then I worked my way back and forth from that main story.
Do you have any other hobbies?
Well, when I did my first market, I had a large table booked and I only had two books at that time – a children’s book and a novel. I decided to I needed to have something else to sell to fill the table up. So I like to dabble in watercolor and ink drawings and do funny greeting cards for my family. So I made up forty cards and low and behold they sold. Now, I can’t keep up so I make them and get them printed and sell them alongside my books. They are called Ging Ging Designs – Greeting cards made with love. My grandson calls me Ging Ging so that is where I got the name.
Enter the Giveaway:
Win a signed copy of FOR LOVE AND MERCY (one winner) (USA only) (ends Nov 18)
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