The lovely Kathy Harris is our guest this week, sharing with us her inspiration for The Road to Mercy. First, as always, is a sneak peek at the book.

Tragedy, love and secrets meet on a journey of faith.

Contemporary Christian singer Josh Harrison and his wife, Bethany, face a difficult decision that also tests their faith. A rupture in Beth’s carotid artery leaves her on the brink of death even as she’s pregnant with their first child. When Dr. Ben Abrams urges her to terminate the pregnancy to save her own life, she and Josh step out on faith and decide to carry the baby to full term.

During the next few months, Josh struggles with his faith, and Beth hides a secret that may destroy their marriage. But she also discovers a decades-old connection to Dr. Abrams, and a young boy named Isaac Ruben, that could change their lives forever.

Wow, Kathy, I’m intrigued. What inspired you to write the book?

As a young child, I witnessed the aftermath of a small plane crash only miles from where I lived. Among the victims were three children—ages four, three, and less than two years—not much younger than I was at the time.

Most traumatic for me was being on site when my dad, who worked in law enforcement, discovered the body of the final victim. Daddy’s face was pale when he told my mom and me that he had found a baby.

The memory of that morning haunted me for years. For some reason, I felt a special connection to that child. I wished so badly for him to have lived. And I wondered what he might have accomplished in life if he had. It was decades later when that ‘what if’ became the premise for my first published novel The Road to Mercy.

The book opens with the scene that had replayed over and over in my mind. At the time my manuscript was drafted, I knew very few real facts. Ironically, the year the book was contracted, a longtime friend found a newspaper clip about the crash. I was dumbfounded to learn that almost everything I had remembered had been accurate. In fact, a few of the details I had intentionally fictionalized appeared to be actual possibilities in the real-life characters I portrayed.

Of course, the “life story” of Isaac Ruben was purely imagination, because in my book he became the only survivor of the devastating crash. In The Road to Mercy, Isaac’s story drives an entangled plot that spans fifty years. And his character touches many lives.

I’ve always hoped that the real “Isaac Ruben,” if he could somehow look down from heaven, would be proud of the book his short time on earth inspired.

How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. James [4:15] NLT

Kathy Harris (www.kathyharrisbooks.com) is an author by way of the Nashville entertainment business, where she has worked as a marketing manager for more than thirty years. Kathy writes women’s fiction and romantic suspense and is represented by Julie Gwinn of The Seymour Agency. Connect with Kathy on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/KathyHarrisAuthor) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/divinedetour).

If you’d like to win a copy of The Road to Mercy, follow the instructions below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for visiting with us, Kathy. It sure sounds like a great read!