About the Book

Book: Elsie Whitmore

Author: Amy Lynn Walsh

Genre: Contemporary Sweet and Clean

Release date: March 16, 2021

Elsie Whitmore, a teacher from the small town of Oak Hills, Pennsylvania, is shocked when one of her YouTube videos goes viral, drawing the attention of the famous actor Graham Thurston. When Thurston seeks to cast her in a film that he is directing, Elsie is conflicted: Should she give up teaching, a career she finds deeply fulfilling, for her childhood dream of becoming an actress? Join Elsie Whitmore as she travels down the bumpy road of being cast in a film production and falling in love with a movie star while being homesick for her family, friends, and students back home in Oak Hills. Will Elsie return to teaching and her close-knit community, or will she pursue her love for Graham Thurston and acting for Proscenium Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard?

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About the Author

Amy Walsh is a 5th-grade teacher who loves teaching children about what she loves to do herself: reading and writing. She enjoys outdoor activities, especially hiking and camping with her Scouts BSA Troop. Amy also appreciates opportunities to share her faith through singing, teaching and writing for her church family. Amy and her husband, Patrick, have three children: Bree, Spencer, Liz, and a son-in-law, Kyle. Amy and her family love to spend time together celebrating special occasions, listening to great music, swimming and kayaking, and having occasional ping pong tournaments.

More from Amy

The Creation of Elsie

Elsie Whitmore came into being on Election Day 2020. I needed a little escape from the reality of being an urban public school teacher in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and all the political turmoil in the United States. I decided it was time to take on a big writing project.

Wanting to create a “happy escape” for both myself and readers, I put the best of two worlds that I love into the settings of the novel: farm life in northeastern Pennsylvania and drama in New York City. I created a character who had already overcome childhood anxiety, and in the process of conquering her painful shyness, she had grown strong, wise, and firmly grounded in what she considers important. Elsie had also long ago given up her dream of becoming an actress in order to pursue the more “realistic” career of teaching, which she finds quite fulfilling. But sometimes life has some unexpected twists and turns….

Mrs. Whitmore’s Upsidedown Apple Sticky Toffee Cupcakes Recipe

Graham is so determined that Elsie will give him and his film production a chance that he pulls out all the stops with a lovely dinner after her day of screen tests at Proscenium Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  He even goes so far as to google the most delicious dessert in the world so that his housekeeper can create the perfect end to the meal: English Sticky Toffee Pudding.    

Eventually Elsie’s mother puts her own Pennsylvanian spin on this delicious dessert in an Oak Hills sequel.  She substitutes apples for dates, adds some molasses and ginger, and makes them into smaller portions perfect for a church concession stand at the county fair.  

Here is her recipe:

1. Dice apples and place them in the bottom of a greased muffin pan. (You may prefer to slice the apples for a fancier look, but that will increase baking time.)
2. Heat ¼ cup of salted butter, ¾ cup of brown sugar, ½ tsp of ground cinnamon, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. (Mrs. Whitmore just throws everything into a frying pan, quickly stirs once everything has melted, and then turns off the stove as soon as the mixture begins to bubble.)
3. Cover the apples with the hot mixture. (Mrs. Whitmore uses a gravy ladle to scoop the toffee sauce into the muffin pan.)
4. Melt 1 stick of salted butter in a mixing bowl.
5. Add 1 and ½ cup of flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp baking soda, ¾ cup of light brown sugar, 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract, 2 eggs, 3 tbsp of molasses, ¼ tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger.
6. Mix the ingredients with a spoon like you would mix pancake batter — no need to beat.  The consistency will be more like biscuit or cookie dough than cake batter.
7. Put a scoop of the dough on top of apples and toffee in the muffin pans.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 15–25 minutes.  (The top of the cake should look dry.) If you are using regular cupcake pans, you can make 12 and they should be done in 15. If you are using larger muffin pans, you can make 8 and they need to bake for about 20 minutes. If you are baking multiple items in the oven, it will take closer to 25 minutes.

Sometimes the toffee comes up the sides of the cake, so it is best to put a larger tray on the rack underneath or line the bottom of the oven with foil. (Elsie forgot to do this the first time she followed her mother’s recipe. Graham, being a bit over-protective, made her evacuate due to the smoke coming from the oven.)

1. Immediately after taking out of the oven, turn the muffin pan upside down on a tray, waxed paper, or cookie sheet. Tap the top of the pan and then lift up. Mrs. Whitmore uses a small spatula to collect any apple and toffee still in the pan and puts it on the cakes.
2. Serve while still warm, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Sometimes, Mrs. Whitmore makes a smaller batch and then puts the rest of the dough in a bread pan to bake. She warms this up the following night and serves with warm lemon pudding and whipped cream — which is very much a northeastern Pennsylvania county fair treat.

Interview with Amy

• What book is currently on your bedside table?

My Kindle has at least a hundred books on the TBR pile, so I truly have a library next to
my bed. One of my favorite things about becoming an author has been meeting and
collaborating with other writers online — and every time I “meet” another author, I end up
purchasing and downloading one of their books (or a sample if it is too pricey) because I am
curious about his or her style.
One of my favorite authors on Facebook is Angela Ruth Strong. She has such a joyous
and zany personality online, despite the hardships she has gone through, that I am a big fan
even though I have only had time to read a couple of her books! Anyway, she had the fortune
to meet Debbie Macomber recently and got everyone on her fan page so jazzed up about her
lunch date with this prolific author — that I picked up a copy of Macomber’s The Courtship of
Carol Sommars at Sam’s Club when I went there a couple days ago. So, I have a Debbie
Macomber paperback next to my bed!

• Can you share with us something about the book that isn’t in the blurb of Elsie Whitmore: A Star from Oak Hills?

The blurb doesn’t tell about Broken Nightingale, the musical that Elsie ends up acting in.
Coming up with the scenes, set descriptions, and even some lyrics for this story within a story
was one of my favorite things about writing Elsie Whitmore: A Star from Oak Hills.
Because this musical focuses on twin sisters who are like night and day, a “villainess”
becomes involved — another actress who causes Elsie some uncomfortable moments. I don’t
want to give too much away, but Elsie also has some moral discomfort about playing in some
scenes because the “evil” twin in the script behaves in a way that Elsie finds too risque. Elsie
has some tough decisions to make!

• Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?

Grandpa Whitmore holds a special place in my heart. He is full of laughter and loves to
tell stories — one of those guys that could really bend your ear but you wouldn’t even mind. I
love the farm that he helped build and the legacy of faith and simple living he is leaving for his
family.
Grandpa Whitmore has some aspects of both of my grandfathers. They were both hard
workers who loved their families. They were both devoted in their faith and loved their wives
unconditionally. My Grandpa Cooley was more of a talker. He told the funniest stories and
would literally laugh until he had tears streaming down his face. He loved to read to us when
we were little, and when we were older, he would read whatever books I was reading and then
we would chit chat about them. Grampy was not as much of a talker, but he loved nature so
much. We would go for long walks, and he would point out many of nature’s beauties to me.
In one of the other Oak Hills novels, Grandpa Whitmore is playing quite a large role. He
is thrilled to have helped co-write a screenplay and keeps the cast and crew quite entertained
when he spends some days at Proscenium Studios.

• Where can readers find out more about you and your books?

You can find me on Facebook under Amy Walsh or on my author page Amy Lynn Walsh.
I have a website/blog for my Christian fiction, sweet and contemporaries, and YA fiction:
http://www.walshmountainpublishing.com My favorite thing about the blog is that you can meet
many incredible authors whom I respect and admire with my “Wisdom from a Wordsmith”
posts. And if you love to write, each of these posts ends with advice for aspiring authors.
My other website is http://www.dollsofmahoganymanor.com Readers can find my blog,
Whimsy by Candlelight under my pen name Amelie Lynn on that website. As Amelie Lynn, I
write fantasy novels about a doll family that was brought to life and then abandoned by a
grieving sorcerer. Though these books are about an imaginary realm, a biblical theme based on
Philippians 4:8 is subtly woven through the novels as the dolls try to focus on truth and
loveliness as they fight to survive in a world where so much is going against them. This site also
showcases a lovely coloring book designed by my illustrator, Connie Sica. If you love dollhouses,
tea parties, libraries, and Victorian gardens, you will love this coloring book and the freebies on
Whimsy by Candlelight!

• Any current or upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?

One of my current projects is Voices in the Sanitorium. It takes place on the grounds of the West
Mountain Sanitorium overlooking Scranton, Pennsylvania — in the 1930s and modern times. Aislyn, the
main, modern character, starts having major mood swings when her parents relocate the family to their
new home. When she purchases an old diary written by a young lady with tuberculosis who once stayed
in a “cure cottage” on the grounds, she becomes more interested in her surroundings. She tries to be
more positive, but then strange things begin to happen….
I love writing this dual timeline story, but it is also much more challenging to write than my prior
novels. Since it involves local history, I am trying to be so careful to get the details right, but I keep on
running into roadblocks with my research. For example, there are contradictions in local stories that I
can’t get to the bottom of as of yet. There is also an unexpected twist to the story that takes some
delicate handling as a writer.
One of the book’s highlights is that Brigid, the main character from the 1930s, gets to meet Dick Smith, who wrote the lyrics to Winter Wonderland during his stay in the West Mountain Sanitorium. In addition, I incorporated some other actual patients and staff that I came to know through my research in old newspapers, interviews with locals, and a visit to the historical society.

Blog Stops

Locks, Hooks and Books, January 22

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, January 23

Texas Book-aholic, January 24

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, January 25

Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, January 26 (Author Interview)

deb’s Book Review, January 26

Inklings and notions, January 27

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, January 28

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, January 29

For Him and My Family, January 30

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, January 31 (Spotlight)

Pause for Tales, January 31

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, February 1

Wishful Endings, February 2 (Author Interview)

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, February 3

Stories By Gina , February 4 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Amy is giving away the grand prize package of $50 Amazon gift card along with the eBooks of three novels, A Cursed Enchantment, A Misplaced Beauty, and Elsie Whitmore: A Star from Oak Hills!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/186bb/elsie-whitmore-celebration-tour-giveaway