You’ll want to run away to the circus after you read this glimpse of this engaging story from L. Leander
Her name is changed to INZARED, Queen of the Elephant Riders and the young girl discovers her true calling while learning to live with the nomadic Gypsies. From the hatred shown by some of the performers to the love she finds along the way, Inzared finds herself immersed in the rich folklore and customs of the misconceived performers who make up the show. Her one constant is Cecil, the elephant, and together they form a bond that no one can break while they learn to perform amazing tricks together, becoming the headline act for the circus.
1843
Bertha Maude Anderson. Never liked my given name. Don’t it sound like some old maiden aunt no one ever heard about until someone pulls a family tree out of a tattered Bible and all of a sudden there she is? Ma said I was scatterbrained. Mayhap she was right, if it’s any indication of the way my life turned out.
We lived a hardscrabble life on our little farm in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. Was rightly called hillbillies, a term we was all proud of. Soon as our shovel struck a bit of black soil to plant the early crops we’d hit rock and when the rains come it washed away all the young plants. Or the animals mowed them down. Rabbits and deer was the worst. Come out at night and make short work of the new sprouts. Pa worked tirelessly trying to stay one step ahead. Many a night I’d wake to the sound of his old twelve-gauge as he took aim at the marauding foxes that threatened our chicken coop full of laying hens. Eggs was the main source of income we had back then.
Guess I did fair-to-middling in the looks department. Short, about 4 foot 10 inches, I learned early on to hold my own. My long wavy black hair I inherited from Ma’s Irish side of the family, and my crooked teeth from Pa’s. Was my eyes that stood out, or so everyone told me. Amber, with tiny flecks of green that flashed when I got mad, as I was wont to do. I tried to keep my temper under wraps and act like Ma. She always managed to put people in their place with a withering look and a firm word. Sometimes it worked for me and sometimes not. I didn’t really care one way or the other.
Ma and Pa always favored Ezra, my brother. Never did bother me much, though. Was older than me by eighteen months and the boy Ma and Pa had prayed for. Steadfast and calm, Ezra stuck right to Pa like glue. I wasn’t never jealous – he was the big brother every girl wants. Tall, nearly six feet, like Pa. Same black hair as me, but a lot more handsome. More than once he took a licking for me, like the time I told Ma I didn’t know how all the eggs I had gathered got broke. When he come in the house and saw me in tears, Ma’s firm voice commanding me to get a willow switch, Ezra told Ma he was teasing and lobbed a clod of dirt at me.
“She ducked and dropped the basket and all the eggs broke.” He hung his head. “I’m real sorry, Ma,” he whispered.
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Amazon Link: http://amzn.to/LYYRFl Video Trailer: http://youtu.be/lQHtsFQGAP0 Website: www.lleander.com FB Author Page: http://facebook.com/lleanderbooks L.Leander Blog: http://lleander11.wordpress.com/
L.Leander was born in Michigan and lived in small-town farming communities most of her life. Later, she was able to travel extensively and gained a broader aspect of the world and places she had always dreamed of visiting. Ms. Leander graduated from Hillman Community School and is an alumnus of Hot Springs Beauty Academy, where she also taught cosmetology.
“Living in a farming community I learned to do a lot of interesting things. Cooking, canning, milking, butchering, sewing, cooking, gardening, and churning butter were all things I know how to do that gave me background for my writing. The rest is research, perhaps my favorite part of the writing process.” Ms. Leander has two children, two sisters, and one brother. She currently spends the winter months in Mazatlan, Mexico with her husband, Ralph, and the summer months in Wisconsin.
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