Greetings from Chris
My new novel, Under A Cloudless Sky, is a complex unraveling of a secret hidden 70 years by a woman named Ruby. Her daughter, Frances, desperately wants to protect her mother from making a mistake on the road—so she takes her mother's car keys.
This, as they say in the writing business, is the inciting incident.
And that "taking of the keys" produces some unintended consequences in the lives of everyone in Ruby's life—and some who aren't in her life.
I dedicate this story to my grandparents on both sides of my family. In some ways they lived it because they were part of the hard life of living in the southwest coalfields of West Virginia. It was a hard, harsh life they built against the backdrop of the violence and beauty of those mountains.
I hope you'll not only read about Ruby and Bean, Hollis and Juniper, and the rest of the cast of this novel—I hope your life will be enriched by the story and that you'll see yourself in these pages.
Awards
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| Dogwood (2009) Almost Heaven (2011) Not in the Heart (2013) The Promise of Jesse Woods (2017) Looking into You (2017) |
Almost Heaven (2011) |
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New Release: Under a Cloudless Sky
A lush and storied coal-mining town—and the good people who live there—is in danger of being destroyed for the sake of profit. Will the truth about the past—including the decades-old secret of a feisty octogenarian named Ruby—be the town's final undoing or its saving grace?
1933. In the mining town of Beulah Mountain, West Virginia, two young girls form an unbreakable bond against the lush Appalachian landscape, coal dust and old hymns filling their lungs and hearts. Despite the polarizing forces of their fathers—one a mine owner, one a disgruntled miner—Ruby and Bean thrive under the tender care of Bean's mama, blissfully unaware of the rising conflict in town and the coming tragedy that will tear them apart forever.
2004. Hollis Beasley is taking his last stand. Neighbors up and down the hollow have sold their land to Coleman Coal and Energy, but Hollis is determined to hold on to his family legacy on Beulah Mountain. Standing in his way is Buddy Coleman, an upstart mining executive who hopes to revitalize the dying town by increasing coal production and opening the Company Store Museum. He'll pay homage to the past—even the massacre of 1933—while positioning the company for growth at all costs.
What surprises them all is how their stories will intersect with a feisty octogenarian living hundreds of miles away. When Ruby Handley Freeman's grown children threaten her independence, she takes a stand of her own and disappears, propelling her on a journey to face a decades-old secret that will change everything for her and those she meets.
Read More about Under a Cloudless Sky
"Under a Cloudless Sky captivated me from page one. I cared immediately what happened to Ruby and Bean, and the stakes kept rising as tidbits of history were revealed, unraveling the mystery that held Ruby captive. A terrific reading experience!"
— Francine Rivers, New York Times bestselling author
Looking into You
Now available in softcover!
Every day, Paige Redwine is haunted by a choice she made when she was only seventeen. Now, just past forty, still single, she lives a tidy, controlled life as a well-respected English professor at a college in Nashville. Nothing could prepare her for the day Treha Langsam—the daughter she secretly placed for adoption—walks into her classroom as a student, unknowingly confronting Paige with both her greatest longing and her greatest fear.
As Treha sets aside the search for her birth mother to concentrate on her education, Paige summons the courage to reach out to her daughter, never dreaming her actions will transform them both as she faces a past she thought she'd laid to rest.
Read More about Looking into You
Looking into You continues the story of Treha Langsam introduced in Chris' award-winning novel Every Waking Moment, but can also be read and enjoyed as a standalone story. The two novels are also available in a combined eBook edition titled The Treha Collection.
We're pleased to announce that Looking into You has received the 2017 Christy Award in the Short Form category! For a complete list of this year's finalists and winners, please visit the Christy Awards website.
Special eBook Offer! Looking into You is on sale for $0.99 for Amazon Kindle and other major e-readers through September 30. Visit Tyndale's E-Book Deals website for quick links to your favorite online vendor!
The Promise of Jesse Woods
The summer of 1972 was the most pivotal of Matt Plumley's childhood. While his beloved Pirates battle for back-to-back World Series titles, Matt's family moves from Pittsburgh to Dogwood, West Virginia.
A fish out of water, Matt forges a fast bond with two unlikely friends: Dickie Darrel Lee Hancock, a mixed-race boy, and Jesse Woods, a tough-as-nails girl with a sister on her hip and no dad in sight. As the trio traipses the hills and hollers, Matt begins to fall for Jesse, and their promises to each other draw him deeper into her terrifying reality.
One night, Matt joins Jesse in a rescue that saves one life and ends another . . . and severs the bond of their friendship.
Years later, Matt is pulled back to Dogwood and to memories of that momentous summer, determined to learn the truth behind the only promise Jesse Woods ever broke.
Read More about The Promise of Jesse Woods
Exciting news! The Promise of Jesse Woods has been awarded the 2017 Christy Award in the General Fiction category. For a complete list of winners and finalists, please visit the Christy Awards website.
War Room: The Novel
Tony and Elizabeth Jordan seem to have it all—but appearances can be deceiving. Their world is actually crumbling under the strain of a failing marriage.
But their lives take an unexpected turn when Elizabeth meets her newest client, Miss Clara, and is challenged to establish a "war room" and a battle plan of prayer for her family.
Based on the motion picture by Alex and Stephen Kendrick.
Read More about War Room
The Dogwood Collection
The Dogwood Collection bundles three of Chris' beloved novels into one eBook for a great value!
Walk the roads of West Virginia with Karin, Ruthie, June Bug, Billy, and other memorable friends in this recently released collection of Dogwood, June Bug, and Almost Heaven. Available on Amazon Kindle and other major e-readers.
"Solidly literary fiction with deep, flawed characters and beautiful prose."
— Novel Reviews on Dogwood