An Interview with Eileen Rife

Welcome, Eileen. Give us a one-sentence elevator pitch about your most recent novel.

One brother’s dark secret. Another brother’s scorn. Will family ties be strong enough to bind two wounded hearts, once the secret is revealed?

Sounds fascinating. What’s your latest novel’s title, publisher, and release date?

Restored Hearts
OakTara Publishing
February, 2009

Give us a back-cover bio about you. (150 words or so)

Eileen Hinkle Rife is a veteran homeschool mom and author of several nonfiction books. Her byline has appeared in numerous magazines, including Marriage Partnership, Light & Life, Mature Living, On Mission, and Christian Home & School. She is a frequent contributor to Discipleship Journal who first published her article, “When God Calls Your Child into Full-time Missions.” Her first novel, Journey to Judah, is based on her oldest daughter’s love story. All three of her daughters are involved in mission work around the world. She and her husband, Chuck, conduct marriage seminars and speak on a variety of topics for church groups and organizations in the States, as well as overseas. Eileen is currently working on Book Three, Chosen Ones, in the Born for India trilogy.

Now tell us a bit more about the novel’s plot. (150 words or so)

Newlyweds, Gavin and Maggie Munsfield, return to care for the sick and needy at the Oasis Compound in Chennai, India, which is suffering from the effects of the recent tsunami. Gavin’s brother, Tim, a landscape artist from Boston, joins the couple for the clean-up and rebuilding of the Compound. However, Tim harbors a dark past that threatens to destroy his relationship with his brother . . . and a promising new love.
Which character in your novel most interested you while you wrote? Why?

Tim. I never dreamed that I could identify at all with Tim’s struggle, but I soon discovered that all bondage shares common characteristics. I found myself feeling compassion for Tim and his dilemma in a way that I had never experienced before when encountering folks struggling with homosexuality.

Why will readers enjoy your novel?

The novel continues where Book One, Journey to Judah, leaves off, weaving together romance, intense conflict between family members, and the human struggle to break a bondage, all in the exotic setting of India. It is a novel I believe everyone can identify with in some way.

What facet of the writing craft comes easiest to you? Explain.

Coming up with story ideas. My writing mentor says I’m an idea machine. I love brainstorming plot possibilities and dealing with difficult issues that our world faces today.

What do you struggle with in your writing?

Getting the story down in the first draft. I’m always tempted to stop and edit as I write.

A new writer is struggling to make her main character less “flat.” In three sentences or less, give her your advice.

The main character will come alive if you give him a compulsion, a desire, a fear, a motivation, and show him working through these things with action, dialogue, and description. A round character must go through a process of change as the story unfolds.

Choose an inanimate object to represent you. Explain what you have in common with that object.

My fuzzy, velour bathrobe. I spent a month in India this summer, and while I was gone, my two-year-old granddaughter immediately gravitated to my cozy robe hanging on my bedpost at home. She insisted her mother wear it so that she could snuggle up to it. I like to think that I’m a comforting, warm person who can wrap someone up in love and tenderness.

What is the last book you read that impacted you? How did it affect you?

The Debt by Angela Hunt. I will forever view ministry in a different way.

What are you working on now?

Book Three, Chosen Ones, in the Born for India series is in editing stage. Second Half is cooking on the shelf while I actively work on Fatal Distraction, a story about marital infidelity, its consequences, and the healing that can come when spouses seek help.

Where else can readers find you or your writing online? Please include the link for purchasing your book.

www.guardyourmarriage.com
www.freewebs.com/eileenrife
www.eileen-rife.blogspot.com


Restored Hearts is available at most online stores, but for the best price, check out the following:

www.amazon.com
www.christianbook.com
www.buy.com

Eileen Rife
Author of Restored Hearts
New release from OakTara
www.freewebs.com/eileenrife
www.oaktara.com

One brother's secret. Another brother's scorn. Will family ties be strong enough to bind two wounded hearts, once the secret is revealed?

Newly weds, Gavin and Maggie Munsfield, return to care for the sick and needy at The Oasis Compound in Chennai, India, which is suffering from the recent tsunami. Gavin's brother, Tim, a landscape artist from Boston, joins the couple for the clean-up and rebuilding of the Compound. But Tim harbors a dark past that threatens to destroy his relationship with his brother . . . and a promising new love.