About the Book

Book:  Penelope’s Pursuit

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Historical Romantic Suspense

Release date: June 29, 2021

Are mail-order-brides changing their minds or is something sinister going on in Kansas?

Ten years ago, Penelope’s sister ran away as a mail-order bride, and it was the last their family ever heard from her.  Now, with their parents dead and Penelope all alone, the young woman has one goal. Find her sister.

It took enough grit for Henry to write to Miss Mildred Crenshaw about finding him a wife in the first place, but when the stage arrives and no bride steps off, the whole thing feels like a confidence scheme. Investigation, however, sends chills down his spine as he realizes women are leaving the east for the west but many never arrive at their destinations.

Is it any wonder that Penelope doesn’t trust the man who abducts her from the clutches of her new friends and rides off into the sunset? Is his explanation reasonable?  Can she convince him to help her find her sister?

And is she about to fall in love with a homesteader on the untamed prairies of Kansas?

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

More from Chautona

Mail Order Brides: Do We Romanticize the Past?

Although I recall reading about mail-order brides in school… somewhere… Patricia MacLachlan’s Sarah, Plain and Tall was my first introduction to the idea of advertising for or requesting the services of a matchmaker to find a wife. The book and the subsequent movie showed the difficulties of such a marriage and left us all with a satisfactory ending.

Some years later, while doing a bit of research, I discovered another side of the coin—a horrifying picture of what happened to some gullible young women and the unscrupulous people who used such matchmaking schemes as a means for human trafficking. It sickened me, as it should anyone.

All my ideas for mail order bride novels ended up as wadded up balls of mental paper and in the wastepaper basket of my mind. A few years passed, and I came up with a twist on mail order brides, one that will see the light of day if I ever have time to write it. A few more years passed, and a series of books featuring a matchmaking service for mail-order brides and the Homestead Act resurrected those ideas. I smoothed a couple out, reconsidered, and decided against writing them.

I’d have to miss the opportunity to join the series.

My mind never does follow orders well. Within minutes of that decision, I had a story. What would happen if there was some funny business going on with girls going west? How could I combine a satisfactory ending where two people came to a meeting of the minds and hearts in the midst of fighting something that ugly?

Penelope’s Pursuit was born.

Is my story idealized? Probably. I’ll be frank with you. I’m okay with that, too. See, sometimes all we need is a reminder that mankind is sinful and in need of a Savior before the story turns into how things should have been. After all, fiction mirrors reality, but it is also an escape.

I hope Penelope’s escape to the west and her pursuit of her sister encourages you to turn to the Lord for every decision, in every trouble, and with every praise possible in between.

Interview with Chautona

• What is the Westward Home and Hearts series?

The brainchild of author Elaine Manders, the Westward Home and Hearts Mail-Order Brides series was conceived a few years ago. Elaine wanted something a bit different from the run-of-the-mill mail-order bride books, so she suggested a series that featured one woman running a matchmaking agency and could contain books with a suspenseful twist to them. That “suspenseful twist” is what captured my attention.

• What made you decide to join this multi-author series?

Honestly, a different take on the mail-order bride grabbed me. Most books with this trope are very sweet and completely unrealistic to the time. Kind of like the “billionaire romances” of the old west. The fact is a lot of the mail-order bride history is steeped in both human and sex trafficking. I liked the idea that I could combine reality into a happily-ever-after. I’m no Nicholas Sparks, but I also like a bit of realism as well.

• Where did you get the idea for Penelope’s Pursuit?

One of the best ways to show how things really were sometimes was to put someone into the unfortunate situation of being kept in a brothel. I just didn’t want to actually show the innerworkings of such a place. This is still clean and romance, so I needed an in. Enter Penelope. Because she is there to find a long-lost sister, I could flip things and instead of dragging us into that sort of establishment, I could actually try to pull someone out.

I do want to issue a warning here. I was realistic about the toll such a life can take on people. This book includes “triggers” that some people will need to be aware of. There is the reality of prostitution, kidnapping, opium addiction, and suicide—most of which is off page, but the ravages of opium is definitely on page.

• What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book?

I knew that the “madams” of the west had been instrumental in helping to build infrastructure in old west towns and cities, but I wasn’t aware of how much they really invested in schools and even churches. Frankly speaking, sex trade was a lucrative business, and they reinvested some of those profits into the community and were known for being charitable and helpful. After the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, one woman who ran a well-known establishment housed and fed many displaced people. It’s strange to think of this as “just a business,” but in their minds, that is what it was.

• Will you be writing more in this series and if so, what?

Yes! I have two more books planned. First, Verity’s Valley features Mr. Lewis from Penelope’s Pursuit. He’s a guy with mild autism and a mother who knows he needs help when she’s gone, so Mama Lewis is out to find him a wife. It’s just that the women she finds are not interested in homesteading! Enter Verity and her baggage. In that book, I want to show how in an era where independence for women was hard to come by, being a mail-order bride offered an escape their mothers couldn’t have dreamed of.

And Felicity’s Foibles will feature a man who is feeling the dearth of female companionship in a town where girls are obsessed with “going west.” So, he cooks up a scheme with one guy from Penelope’s Pursuit to write to a young woman in his town while he gets to know her on the side. All kinds of craziness ensue. This will be the lightest of the three I write. I think. You never know. The suspense is mostly in one girl’s mind. Again. I think.

• What’s your favorite part about writing historical fiction?

Learning. When you spend hours every day, researching and trying to find those little things that add authenticity to your book, you learn so much. We often focus on all the things those “backward people” got wrong in the past, but it amazes me how often they were far ahead of their time.

• What is the hardest part of writing historical fiction?

Getting details right. As much as I love research, you have to work so hard to find accurate information and deal with misconceptions about history. People make assumptions that if X is true then Y must be as well. Add to the equation that X wasn’t always true, and Y may or may not be true regardless of X and you have a mess. Was that analogy hard to follow? Well… that’s what research can be like.

• Do you prefer to write historical or contemporary? What about read?

That really depends on where I am. Contemporary is easier. It takes a fraction of the time to write contemporary fiction as it does historical. The brain power required is a big part of that. While I still have to do nearly as much initial research in a contemporary book, I don’t have to question every word choice, every thought pattern, every assumption. I know that cellphones are a reality for almost all Americans. I know that readers know what Wi-Fi is and will likely get many if not most cultural references. I don’t have to find ways to define something in context without it coming off as too much “explaining” (which is just another word for “telling”). That alone makes it easier to write. So when I’ve finished with a deeply-immersive historical book, I’ll say contemporary is my preference. It’s just natural. But after a few contemporary books, escaping into the past and learning something in the process… I’d definitely say historical. How’s that for a non-answer.

As far as reading, I enjoy them equally. I have specific historical eras I don’t care for as much as others, but otherwise…

• What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Well, reading is an obvious thing. Now that I have the Because Fiction Podcast, I even have justification for reading all I want. I also enjoy papercrafting, quilting, sewing… I’m pretty eclectic. As long as I can do it at home, I’m all about it.

•  What project are you working on now and how do we find your books?

Right now, I’m finishing up my book for the Christmas Lights Collection, The Stars of New Cheltenham and doing final edits on The Nutcracker’s Suite (releases November 26^th!). To find my books visit Chautona.com/books and voila! All the bookness.

Blog Stops

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 9

Blogging With Carol, October 9

Texas Book-aholic, October 10

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, October 11

Inklings and notions, October 11

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, October 12

Lots of Helpers, October 13

For Him and My Family, October 13

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, October 14

deb’s Book Review, October 15

Joanne Markey, October 15

Locks, Hooks and Books, October 16

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, October 17

Mary Hake, October 17

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, October 18 (Author Interview)

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, October 18

The Meanderings of a Bookworm, October 19

Vicky Sluiter, October 19

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, October 20

Connie’s History Classroom, October 21

Blossoms and Blessings, October 21

Splashes of Joy, October 22

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away the grand prize package of $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway!

Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/11fe1/penelope-s-pursuit-celebration-tour-giveaway