Today, I’m thrilled to have Patty Lacy join us for a Q & A session. She is an amazing lady and I think you’ll see why. She is the author of An Irishwoman’s Tale, What the Bayou Saw, and the newly released Reclaiming Lily.

1. What inspired you to begin writing in the first place?In 1995, God yanked our family from our warm Southern porch and dumped us in the Midwest. To make new friends, I started a book discussion group. After one such meeting at my home, Mary, a red-haired woman, hung around. I thought she just wanted to pick through the Southern Living hors d’oeuvres I’d spent half the night making. But that wasn’t it at all.

Mary seemed nervous, which made me nervous, so I chatted faster and faster.

“What is your first memory?” Mary interrupted some long-winded story about my children.

“I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about it,” I stammered.

“How pretty, not to think about it. My first memory cut into my heart, and I’ve never really forgotten it.”

“What is your first memory?” I managed.

“A scarred oaken table, moon-shaped faces guzzling tea. Cups and cups o’ the steamin’ stuff. Sayin’ the little eejit’s got to go.”

“How awful!”

“Oh, that’s not awful. What’s awful is what happened next.”

For hours, Mary sat in my house and shared her poignant first memory, then the story of her life. I always said somebody should write about Mary’s life. Imagine my surprise when God said it should be me!

2. I see that Romans [8:28] is your inspiration for your fiction. How do you weave that through each story? When I first read that verse, my skeptical side roiled. Like the death of a newborn? The death of a thirty-year-old mother of five? Really, Lord?

God tells us that He works for good in ALL things in the lives of those who love Him, who call on His name. What if we REALLY believed that in our gut and learned to be still and wait to watch the unfolding of His mysterious, perfect ways? Even when abandoned by your mother (An Irishwoman’s Tale)? Even after a rape (What the Bayou Saw)? Even when you give up the one thing you love most in the world (The Rhythm of Secrets)? Even when you place the prized possession of your family on orphanage steps (Reclaiming Lily)?

3. Can you give us a brief synopsis of your latest book, Reclaiming Lily? Two women. Two cultures. One child.

Xia Kai has battled million-to-one odds—and fate—to rise from the ashes of the Cultural Revolution and gain a Harvard medical degree. Yet she longs to fulfill her mother’s last wish and reunite with Lily, the precious lost Kai Fourth Daughter.

Gloria Powell, a former teacher, gained all she ever wanted when China opened its doors for her and pastor husband Andrew’s adoption of eight-year-old Joy.

A private investigator’s report signals the start of Kai’s mission to find her long-lost sister. Will a deadly secret, Gloria’s resistance, or Kai’s own pride doom her quest?

Reclaiming Lily explores issues of sacrifice, faith, and the bond between sisters not only by heritage but in Christ.

Liz, sorry, it’s not brief. Why can’t I write ANYTHING in a succinct way?????

4. How did you come to write this book? In 1987-1988, my parents taught English in China via the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board. YEARS later, my mother scheduled a routine medical exam. When she arrived at the clinic, she met Dr. Kai, who hailed from the same part of China where Mom and Dad had ministered.

An hour later, Mom awoke from the procedure. Dr. Kai, tears in her eyes, said, “You have cancer. But from now on, you will be my American mother, and I will take care of you.” Through my mother I was introduced to Dr. Kai…and to her story, which became the inspiration for Reclaiming Lily. Can you believe God’s ways?

5. You traveled to China do to research. What was that experience like? The best thing about China? The thing you liked the least about it? My passport proves I spent 17 days in a glorious land. I spanned over 15,000 miles, drank gallons of green tea, dined on food rivaling Europe’s gastronomic delights, tiptoed through courtyards where emperors lived, amid their 8,000 buildings and countless servants.

Contrasts abound: Women rinse clothes in a stream swollen with garbage. Women dressed haute couture stroll by. Mercedes limos swerve past rickshacks. Post-modern, neon-lit skyscrapers tower over timeless hutongs (walled neighborhoods) fueled by propane, most with no running water or modern bathroom facilities. My heart found the rhythm of these neighborhoods where we sat on stoops and shared drinks and food with locals.

Oh. That worst part? I didn’t gain admittance to an orphanage, nor did I interview one who’d relinquished hold on a beloved child. Yet I tried to infuse every page of Reclaiming Lily with Eau de China.

6. A few observations about China? Religious freedom does not exist. China is a Third World country. Street food tastes gross and may endanger your health. Much of China is dirty and bleak. China is a ginormous place. But Oh. My. Her beauty swept me away.

You will have to come back next Friday for part two of my interview with Patti!! In the meantime, you can visit her at her website.