Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt!

If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!

  • The hunt BEGINS on 10/21 at noon MST with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.
  • Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
  • There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 10/24 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
  • Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

Hi! I’m Lori Benton, a writer of historical fiction set during the 18th century. My stories will transport you to turbulent frontiers where cultures and people groups meet and mingle–sometimes in friendship, sometimes in conflict–whether that’s on a battlefield, along a line of blue-tinged mountains, or out back of the Big House on a southern plantation. You can learn more about me and all my books here on my site and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Bookbub. My newest release is SHILOH, Book 2 in the Kindred duology (which starts with Mountain Laurel). Here’s what it’s about:

December 1795. A year has passed since Ian Cameron reluctantly sent his uncle’s former slave Seona and their son, Gabriel, north to his kin in Boston. Determined to fully release them, Ian strives to make a life at Mountain Laurel, his inherited plantation, along with Judith, the wife he’s vowed to love and cherish. But when tragedy leaves him alone with his daughter, Mandy, and his three remaining slaves, he decides to return north. An act of kindness on the journey provides Ian the chance to obtain land near the frontier settlement of Shiloh, New York. Perhaps even the hope for a new life with those he still holds dear.

In Boston, Seona has taken her first tentative steps as a free woman, while trying to banish Ian from her heart. The Cameron family thinks she and Gabriel should remain under their protection. Seona’s mother, Lily, thinks it’s time they strike out on their own. Then Ian arrives, offering a second chance Seona hadn’t dared imagine. But the wide-open frontier of Shiloh feels as boundless and terrifying as her newfound freedom—a place of new friends and new enemies, where deep bonds are renewed but old hurts stand ready to rear their heads. It will take every ounce of faith and courage Ian and Seona can muster to fight for their family and their future . . . together.

Not only is Shiloh a sequel to Mountain Laurel, it also continues the story of some key characters you’ll have met if you read my 2013 debut novel, Burning Sky. All three books touch on the topic of 18th century slavery, including the subject of narratives written by former slaves themselves…

 

The Role of Slave Narratives in the Abolitionist Movement

The Kindred series is largely set in the antebellum South during the 1790s, a time when the Abolitionist Movement didn’t exist in the organized way it would decades later. But as I wrote the first book in the series, Mountain Laurel, the question I pondered was… where did it start? Someone, somewhere, had to be the first to aid an escaped slave along her road to freedom.

Since the primary nature of such activity is secrecy, we’ll likely never know that person’s name. I suspect he or she was a Quaker. They were among the first to denounce the institution of slavery–and to act on their convictions. After reading what little is known about how the network of safe houses, routes, guides, and those who provisioned them (what would in time become the Underground Railroad) began, I turned to another source of inspiration.

During the 18th century, a genre of literature known as the slave narrative emerged, something I was thrilled to discover as I researched the grassroots beginnings of the Underground Railroad for the Kindred series. Narratives like that of the formerly enslaved Olaudah Equiano, which I put into the hands of Thomas Ross as the inspiration needed to put feet to his convictions, continued to be published throughout the antebellum period. These narratives helped to educate Americans and persuaded many of slavery’s horrors.

 

For a striking portrayal of Olaudah Equiano’s bravery in publishing his narrative, I recommend the movie Amazing Grace (starring Ioan Gruffudd). This film depicts the long battle that British politician William Wilberforce waged to abolish the slave trade. The movie features Equiano’s character and narrative as integral to that triumph. What a thrill it was to see it portrayed on screen!

 

 

Another way to learn about Olaudah Equiano is through a wonderful children’s book, Olaudah Equianao, From Slavery to Freedom, by Paul Thomas, illustrated by the late Victor Ambrus (of the British TV series Time Team fame).

Along with the Kindred series and other fun giveaways, I’m featuring both Amazing Grace and Olaudah Equiano, From Slavery to Freedom, as drawing prizes (details below).

 

Here’s the Stop #4 Basics:

If you’re interested, you can order Shiloh (Kindred Book 2) and Mountain Laurel (Kindred Book 1) on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD, Baker Book House, or at your local bookstore! 

Clue to Write Down: that

Link to Stop #5, the Next Stop: Elizabeth Goddard’s site!

But wait! Before you go…

I’m offering extra prizes to entrants (USA only). All you have to do is sign up to get my e-newsletter (sign-up below this post) then leave a comment letting me know you’ve done so, or note that you’re already a subscriber. Additional points for those who follow me as an author on Bookbub.

Grand prize

  • The complete Kindred series (Mountain Laurel, Shiloh, and a pre-release copy of the The Journey of Runs-Far novella), all signed
  • A copy of Burning Sky, signed
  • Amazing Grace DVD
  • Olauda Equiano, From Slavery to Freedom by Paul Thomas
  • A lovely morning glory notebook
  • Bookmarks.

First prize

  • The complete Kindred series (Mountain Laurel, Shiloh, and a pre-release copy of The Journey of Runs-Far novella), all signed
  • A copy of Burning Sky, signed
  • A lovely morning glory notebook
  • Bookmarks

Second prize

  • The complete Kindred series (Mountain Laurel, Shiloh, and a pre-release copy of The Journey of Runs-Far novella), all signed
  • A copy of Burning Sky, signed
  • Bookmarks

Bonus prize

(I’m awarding an unspecified number of these)

  • The complete Kindred series (Mountain Laurel, Shiloh, and a pre-release copy of The Journey of Runs-Far novella), all signed
  • Bookmarks

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