I am thrilled to have Jan Sikes here today to discuss her upcoming release, “A Noble Bargain.” I loved the first book and am very eager to read this story!
Thank you, Denise, for allowing me to take over your blog today so I can talk about my upcoming new release, A Noble Bargain. I’m deeply grateful for your generosity and support!
How it all started:
When I wrote A Beggar’s Bargain, I was sure it would be a standalone. However, I was driving home from visiting my sister (a five-hour drive) when some new characters started talking to me. Oliver Quinn came first. I knew he was of Irish descent and that he worked at a sawmill in Arkansas. Then, Rose Blaine began to tell me her story, and it is one of heartbreaking abuse and suffering.
I often wonder if these characters are people who really lived in another time and place and want their stories told. I have no explanation about how it all comes. I just know that it does. And, my theory is that if I am given a story, it’s my duty to do something with it. Stories can come from anywhere when we are open to them.
And that’s how A Beggar’s Bargain got turned into The Bargainer Series. At this point, I am thinking it’s a trilogy, but I hesitate to say as some other characters may pop up and demand that I listen.
I know it all sounds a little crazy, but when we open that creative stream, things show up.
Here’s how A Noble Bargain begins:
Music and laughter drifted around twenty-two-year-old Oliver Quinn as he tipped his paddy cap to a pretty young girl sitting alone on a bench against the wall. He’d had his eye on her since she’d arrived. It didn’t escape his notice that she seemed to fold into herself, mostly staring down at her hands on her lap. Single lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling cast an auburn glow on her nut-brown hair.
The threadbare plain cotton dress and worn, scuffed shoes spoke of struggles that required no explanation.
The year was 1948, and in the small town of Crossett, Arkansas, local dances drew people from all around the area.
Young men showed up in their Sunday best, hoping to steal a dance and, if they were lucky, a kiss from their favorite girl. Old men came with jars of moonshine, looking for a good card game or perhaps a chance to jaw with their neighbors, while their wives gathered in close-knit circles to share the latest gossip or new recipe.
Folks in Crossett worked hard and played hard.
And Oliver did both.
He’d danced with almost every unattached girl since he’d arrived. He loved twirling them around the dance floor, dipping them at the end of the song.
After escorting his latest dance partner back to her parents, with a hand in one pocket, he sauntered over to the young girl he’d been watching. “Howdy.” He gestured toward the crowded dance floor. “Care to dance?”
She glanced up, her face flushing bright pink, then quickly lowered her eyes, but not before Oliver glimpsed the most striking violet blues he’d ever seen. “Don’t know how.”
“Well, then.” Oliver bowed at the waist. “Let me be the first to teach you.”
“I…” She hesitated. “I can’t.”
Oliver followed her quick gaze to two boys around his age leaning against the opposite wall. “Miss, I can assure you I have the most honorable of intentions. Do I need to ask their permission?”
“No. Please.” Tears pooled and her gaze widened.
“Your brothers?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s your ma and pa? I can ask their permission.”
She jerked a thumb toward the back door. “Pa’s out there, but he’s in an awful mood, spoiling for a fight.”
Oliver pulled off his cap and tucked it under his arm. “You got a name? If you don’t tell me, I’m going to call you Violet. You have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen.”
“Name’s Rose. You’d best be movin’ along. My brothers are heading this way.”
Squaring his shoulders, Oliver stayed rooted. “I’m not afraid, if that’s what you think.”
Her voice barely audible over the fiddles, guitars, and banjos, she pleaded, “Please go. Don’t need no trouble.”
Ignoring her quiet plea, Oliver leaned closer. “Rose, my name’s Oliver Quinn, and I never back down from trouble. Seems to me you came to a dance, and what most folks do at a dance is, well—dance.”
A rough hand on his shoulder spun Oliver around.
BOOK BLURB:
A true testament of character, resilience, and the magic of never giving up.
The year is 1948 and folks in the sawmill town of Crossett, Arkansas, work hard and play hard. Oliver Quinn does both. Oliver is the son of Irish immigrants who firmly believe in pursuing the American dream. His deepest desire is to play major league baseball. He only needs one chance to prove himself.
Rose Blaine is living in a nightmare where dreams don’t exist. She’s suffered for years at the hands of her violent moonshiner father and his partner. During a brutal attack, she must fight back or die. The aftermath is devastating.
Fueled by desperation, Rose strikes a life-changing bargain with Oliver. If he’ll take her and her brother to St. Louis, Missouri, she’ll introduce Oliver to her uncle, a baseball legend.
While their journey is fraught with unseen perils, they forge an unbreakable bond and make surprising allies.
When destiny throws them a curve ball, they must find the courage to create a hopeful future out of the ashes of shattered dreams with newfound fortitude.
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