Interview with Rita Gerlach

Author Rita Gerlach

RitaGerlach is the author of new release "Before the Scarlet Dawn" published by Abingdon Press.

I met Rita Gerlach through ACFW and when I was searching for colonial era books several years ago.  She was kind enough to send me copies of her works during a time when I was very ill and I was so touched by her generosity.  We are also both members of HisWriters, those who have either published or planned works with European characters. Rita is also a member of Colonial American Christian Writers and a contributor to the Colonial Quills group blog.

Rita, welcome to Overcoming Through Time – With God’s Help. 

Would you share either the most difficult thing in your life you have had to overcome, with God’s help, or the most tragic situation or circumstance one of your characters has had to get past?

I don’t want to give away critical moments in my newest release, Before the Scarlet Dawn, but Eliza is perhaps the one character that has faced the most tragic moments of any of my characters in the series (Daughters of the Potomac.) That is not to say that Darcy and Sarah face horrific events, but Eliza is the springboard to the series. Life was good for her after she married Hayward, but from the time he is called away to fight in the Revolution tragedy plagues her life. Like a snowball rolling downhill each builds on the other. Soon she faces the fact that the only source of getting through them is God. In order to ‘overcome’ them, she has to trust that He will take care of her and those she loves, no matter how dire the situation.

What is your favorite bible verse and why?

Revelation 21:4

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Why? As I watched my dear father suffer over a year’s period from Alzheimer’s, his decline and passing caused me to press into my Savior for comfort and reflect on the briefly of life. This verse sums it all up. What we will be given in the end, when He finally establishes His Kingdom, is everlasting peace and joy. The loss of our loved ones is but a temporary separation. What happiness we will have when the last enemy to be destroyed is death, and that there will be no more sorrow or crying or pain. He will make all things new.

Disability Friendliness:

Is this latest release available in audio format or do you have any other works available on audio?

Sadly it is not. I look forward to the day when audio books will become a normal part of the publishing process. For now it is expensive for publishers to put books in audio, and they have to be extremely selective. (CFP: I believe the Kindle version will have audio capability because the PDF converted document has this function.)

Surrender the Wind cover

What has been the most important thing you hope your readers will get from your books and why?

That when everything is said and done, in the end it all turns out all right. Love is the cohesive bond that helps us face adversity. For example, the message in my novel Surrender the Wind is wrapped up in fidelity and forgiveness, and the surrendering to our Creator those winds that shove and batter us. In the Daughters of the Potomac Series my hope is readers will see circumstances that relate to their own lives.

As author Marylu Tyndall put it in her review of Before the Scarlet Dawn:

 It is about a woman who so desperately wants her husband to love her that she goes to great lengths to please him. Perhaps many women out there can relate. The story brings many questions to one's mind about marriage and commitment.  .  .

As you researched your books, did you learn anything that particularly touched your heart?

This question brings me back to the new series. Most of my research I do as I am writing the novels. But before I began I read a book called ‘White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain’s White Slaves in America’ by Don Jordan and Michael Walsh, that touched me deeply about the horrific white slave trade that took place in the 18^th century, where men, women, and children were kidnapped in England and sold into indentured servitude in the Colonies.

In this latest work, do you have any topics useful for bibliotherapy, or therapeutic influence through reading about a disorder or situation?

This is an interesting question. I’ve always believed good storytelling can have a healing effect. I see this mainly in Christian and inspirational fiction. The goal of my writing is to give readers a respite from the hectic world we live in. Sometimes immersing in a good book helps us escape the troubles we are facing and easy our anxiety.

Thank you Rita for agreeing to answer these questions.  Have a blessed day and keep on writing!!

Thank you, Carrie, for the privilege of this interview!


GIVEAWAY: A copy of one of Rita's books - your choice!