In the season that celebrate the birth of an extraordinary baby, it's fun to think about how babies are portrayed in our books. They are scene stealers, for sure, so must be used wisely!
In literature as in life, how people react to babies is a real illumination of their character. The baby born to my heroine Ursula at the end of Book 2 of my American Civil War Brides series, Mercies of the Fallen, is featured prominently in Book 3, Ursula's Inheritance. I was delighted to draw on the effervescent spirit of my little grandson to fashion little Henry Ryan Buckley, born into the hands of his soldier father and uncle the middle of the infamous New York City Draft riots and massacres of the summer of 1863.
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| Baby D... always ready to inspire! |
The joy of his mother's heart, Henry is also being cared by these two men when they're on army leave as Ursula's Inheritance begins. The novel's antagonists, out to steal his mother's inheritance, now have a new foe, as Ursula has an heir of her own. And they will stop at nothing.
So Henry's got a squad of protectors besides his nearest and dearest. His father Captain Rowan sends for one of the three women who raised him after he was orphaned in Canada. Little Henry will soon be spouting French as well as English thanks to his devoted Tante Marie Agathe. And the whole family of Ursula's beloved cook and companion Miriam, who have escaped to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Weeksville after the riots, welcome Baby Henry into their thriving community. There's a mysterious teenaged orphan Penina (hiding behind her fan on the cover) who he takes a shine to, too. Was ever a little fellow so lucky?
I enjoyed featuring a baby to brighten my wartime story. Babies can be a wonderful presence in a novel, besides revealing the characters of all around them, and serving as symbols of our hope for a better future, when placed in any time period!
I hope readers will enjoy the antics of Baby Henry in Ursula's Inheritance.
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