Guest Blog: Becky Van Vleet and Her Strength Within *Prize of E-Book to Commenter **WINNER: Amber

Dear Readers,

I think repeat customers say something good about You. Authors want to come here and engage with you because you're wonderful. Just saying. Bless you, Christina

Introduce yourself:

Greetings! I’m Becky Van Vleet, a “senior” author. I found my writer’s voice only after hanging up my principal’s hat when I retired. My husband (for more than 50 years) and I call Colorado home where nothing beats the beautiful snow-capped mountains and azure, blue skies. Our family tree has blossomed through the years with four adult daughters and a small tribe of nine grandchildren. I think what people notice about me when we first meet is that I’m a little shy at first, but it doesn’t take much for me to embrace new friendships.

Talk about your book:

Blurb for Her Strength Within

The lush, green hills of Poland and Czechoslovakia are all that Alzbeta Holeva has ever known. Yet, as a nineteen-year-old peasant girl in 1921, her life is on the brink of a drastic upheaval. Papa plans to send her to America for a better life. The very thought of severing ties with her family, abandoning her homeland, and facing the frightening unfamiliarity of a new country fills her with an overwhelming dread.

Although her aunt and uncle are willing to sponsor her and have already braved the journey successfully, the thought of venturing alone to a distant land makes her stomach roil. Still, with the haunting memories of German military planes menacing the skies of her childhood and her brothers later embroiled in the horrors of the Great War, she must summon every shred of courage to embrace Papa’s plan. She would pave the way for the rest of her family to follow.

At last, Alzbeta steps onto the SS La Touraine, the mighty vessel that will carry her across the perilous Atlantic waves to an uncertain future. The grueling trials awaiting her in steerage passage will forever change the course of her life and shape her path toward America.

Inspired by a true story.

Share one thing that you found difficult or challenging about writing this book:

Because my book is inspired by the true story of my grandmother’s emigration to America, my heart plummeted a number of times as I wrote about her experiences as a steerage passenger aboard the ship. From her firsthand stories I heard as a young girl, I learned she was pushed down a gangplank and slammed against hundreds of steerage passengers like cattle. A mandatory tag, #215, marking her as cargo in a human shipment, was pinned to her chest. She didn’t know the English language, and her sponsor was a day late in picking her up at Ellis Island, creating anguish and fear. While I wrote about her deplorable traveling conditions on the ship, I found myself fighting tears. It’s one thing to research and write about these historical events, but it’s another thing to know my grandmother lived what I wrote.

A quirky question:

The end of Her Strength Within takes place on a ship traveling across the Atlantic Ocean to America in 1921. Although I have no idea what that was like in 1921, especially in steerage passage, my own memory takes me to a cruise my husband and I took to Alaska in 2005. It was our first, and I had no idea until the last day the ice-cream bar was open 24 hours a day. If I’d only known! Do you have a special memory of any boat or ship experiences? I’d love to hear.

Social media and purchase links:

Purchase link: https://amzn.to/3VuoBPK

Website: https://www.beckyvanvleet.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorbeckyvanvleet/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/becky-van-vleet-ms-806055181/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/becky_van_vleet_author/ 

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/beckyvanvleet/ 

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/becky-van-vleet

Amazon Central Author Page: https://amzn.to/3INHIPB 

Thank you, again, for being a guest, Becky. I appreciate you! Christina