Kim Williams is our guest today.

She wrote a book called Among the Crepe Myrtles.  

Today, Kim is here to share the story behind her story.

Robbed more than once of what he desires from life, Ben Williams is disillusioned with his concept of fairness. The only person still alive who matters to him is his son, but his work takes him from home, leaving someone else to parent the boy.

The railman hides his resentment behind a facade of good-naturedness and an illusion of self-reliance. He has every intention of his mind outwitting his emotions.

Eighteen-year-old Katherine McGinn is unaware that she views herself as an emotional victim, despite her strong faith. Her longing for acceptance and a desire for more than her common life offers her are both held prisoner by her practicality.

The only world she knows exists inside a rural early 1900’s community where she shares a house with her siblings, and where mundane work is a necessity for survival. She guards her emotions for fear of disappointment.

When their lives cross paths, Ben and Katherine attempt to help one another move beyond their inner conflicts, but their bond is threatened by new circumstances that demand the need for forgiveness.

Learn more and purchase a copy.

What inspired you to write this story?

The year was 2009. Family had traveled from out of state to celebrate my parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary. Several of us were eating supper at my parents’ home when my cousin began to talk about letters she had discovered in family heirlooms.

These were letters from our maternal great grandfather to our great grandmother. He was begging for forgiveness and to be reunited with her and their baby. Hovering over the retelling of the letters’ content was the reality that my grandmother never knew her father. She was brought up by her mother, an aunt, and an uncle—siblings who lived together. Adding to the intrigue was the fact that my great grandmother had kept the letters. 

The longing described in the letters struck me and lingered throughout deaths, graduations, marriages, and other life events. Eventually, my cousin sent me the actual letters. Reading the heart-breaking words in the handwriting of my great grandfather intensified my intrigue to tell a story.

Darling, oh how my heart does ache to be with you. I do love you more and more each day.

I know was doing wrong. You show me a man who did no wrong and I will show you a gold house.

I am the unhappiest man on earth. Just to think that I cannot be with the one I love with all my heart.

The true story of my great-grandparents’ romance and tragedy was hushed by their generation. From emotions and details in the letters, tidbits from genealogy searches, memories, and heirloom trinkets, I wrote a fiction story based on snippets of truth. Among the Crepe Myrtles is a love story, but more so a story of the need to forgive and to be forgiven. It is the first in the Letters to Layton series.

What an amazing story! Thanks for sharing.

A former schoolteacher, Kim Williams has spent the past twenty-five-plus years on staff at her local church, First Baptist Woodstock, overseeing ministry to young children.

Kim has traveled in both the U.S. and abroad conducting training in leadership, discipleship to women, parenting, and ministry to children. She had a desire to write for a long time; one day her story met her head on, and she got busy making words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into chapters. The result is her Letters to Layton Christian Romance Series. The series is based on discovered love letters from her great grandfather to his wife. He is begging for forgiveness and restoration with her. Their true romance and remains sealed in their generation, leaving room for a fictional account.

Kim resides in the Atlanta metro area with her husband, whom she met the summer after fifth grade. They have two grown children who are educators and who have the best spouses a parent could hope for. Kim and her husband are also grandparents to an adorable little boy. Kim is a member of ACFW and AWSA.

In addition to her social media, she can be found on Goodreads, Bookbub, and All Authors.

Follow Kim on social media: Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, Website, and Amazon Author Page

Kim is giving away a copy of Among the Crepe Myrtles. Follow the directions below to enter the book giveaway contest.