Sins of the Father (30 page)

S
ins of the Father
made its way into print due to the hard work of a lot of people. Though it is impossible
for me to name every person who contributed, I’d like to single out a few.

My first thanks goes to Carolyn Marino, my previous Harper editor, for leaving me
in the wonderfully capable hands of her assistant Wendy Lee. Thanks also, Carolyn,
for being there to help us develop a great tagline.

I don’t really know how to express my gratitude to my editor, Wendy Lee. Wendy, you
were all the things an editor needed to be to get this book out of me. You were understanding
when I needed to be understood, flexible when I needed flexibility, and stern when
I needed discipline. I appreciate you for all the things you were to me and to
Sins of the Father.
Because of you, it is a much stronger book and I am a much more enlightened author.

As always, thanks to Natasha Kern, my agent, and Carol Craig, my personal writing
GPS, for their unwavering belief in me and
the vision I have for my work. Ladies, I am fortunate to have you in my life.

I offer a special thanks to the other members of the Avon/HarperCollins team who worked
to get
Sins of the Father
into print and into bookstores. Once again you have blessed me with a wonderful cover
and enticing back cover copy. To Michael Morris in Sales and Emma Beavers in Publicity,
I know the magic you worked for
Up Pops the Devil,
and look forward to see that magic in action again with
Sins of the Father.

Finally, a special thank you to all the readers who have picked up
Sins of the Father.
Many of you have been with me since my first book,
Bands of Gold,
was published in 1994. Others of you have found me more recently and after reading
my newest works, bless your heart, now you’re trying to find
Bands of Gold.
Please know that I don’t take you or your hard-earned money for granted. My goal
with each book is deliver an entertaining and uplifting story that will keep you turning
the pages until the very end and leave you wanting more. Thank you for being my inspiration.

FROM
ANGELA
BENSON
AND
AVON A

1. Abraham tries to become closer to his children by offering them access to his business
   and vast wealth. Do you think this is enough to make up for his absence during their
   childhood? Do you believe that it is possible to atone for something like abandoning
   your children? Why or why not?
   
2. Michael refuses to meet with Abraham, while Deborah is quite willing to reconcile
   with him. Do you think Michael is correct to act in that fashion, or do you think
   Deborah’s way is better? If you were in their situation, what would you do?
   
3. Why do you think Deborah likes to date older men? Is it just because she is looking
   for a father figure? Do you think that she and Alan will make a good couple? Why or
   why not?
   
4. Isaac doubts Rebecca’s love after he learns she’s kept a secret from him. Do you think
   his doubts are justified? What do you think Rebecca should have done to convince him
   of her devotion?”
   
5. Saralyn and Leah both say that they were Abraham’s true girlfriend, while the other
   was just someone Abraham cheated with. What do you think is the true story behind
   these relationships? How would Abraham’s life be different if he had chosen Leah instead
   of Saralyn?
   
6. Leah tells Melvin that although she is not in love with Abraham anymore, much of her
   life has been consumed by him. Can you think of a similar situation in your life?
   Have you ever been unable to let go of a relationship with someone, romantic or not,
   despite knowing it was for the best that you do so?
   
7. Why do you think Michael didn’t tell Josette that Abraham was his father? Do you think
   she should be upset with him about it? If your spouse or significant other withheld
   that kind of information from you, would you not trust them as much? Why or why not?
   
8. Do you think Josette’s decision regarding Michael and the baby is a good one? How
   does the situation between Josette and Michael mirror the situation between Leah and
   Abraham? Do you think children are destined to repeat the mistakes of their parents?
   Why or why not?
   
9. How do both Isaac and Michael exhibit traits of their father? Who do you think is
   more “Abraham’s son,” Isaac or Michael, and why?
   
10. Do you think that Michael will ever become close to his father and half brother? Will
    it ever be possible for the Martins and the Johnsons to become one big family, or
    is their shared past too much to overcome? Why or why not?
    

An Essay by Angela Benson

I’ve been thinking (and writing) a lot about siblings these days. I only have one—a
brother—though there were many times growing up when I thought there were six of him.
The boy was a holy terror, sometimes without the holy.

I have the funniest memories of him growing up. Though he’s three years younger than
I am, when he was around five or six he used to beat me up. He did it because I’d
never hit him back. Well, I woke up to that pretty quickly when I accidentally socked
him one day. Guess what? My brother’s love of hitting his big sister suddenly faded.

My brother used to torture me with dessert. Like a normal person, I would eat my dessert
immediately after the meal. Not my brother. He’d save his for later that night when
I had none. Then he’d sit in front of me eating his, waiting for me to ask for a bite
so he could deny me. I wish I could say I never asked, but I always did.

As we grew older, I seemed to get the upper hand on my little brother. My mom worked
two jobs when we were kids, so when I was old enough, she gave me cooking chores.
My first dish was fried chicken. How hard could it be? I’d seen my mother cook it
often. So I fried this chicken. It looked golden brown on the outside but I wondered
about the inside. I didn’t know, but I knew how to find out. I served my good-looking
chicken to my brother. As I watched him take his first bite and saw the streams of
blood flowing out, I concluded the chicken wasn’t quite done yet. Guess
what? I never had to cook again. Why? Because my brother refused to eat anything else
I cooked. That bloody chicken ended it for him.

To be honest, I didn’t lose any sleep about not cooking. What kid wants to cook? What
kid wants to do any chores around the house? Not me. I soon figured out how to evade
all chores: pretend I was reading or doing homework. You see, my mom was a strong
proponent of getting a good education. Unfortunately for my brother, he never figured
this out so he did a LOT of chores. Sometimes I felt sorry for him and wanted to clue
him in on my chore evasion strategy, but I couldn’t trust him not to tell Mom. So
I watched him cook (yes, he cooks), clean, and iron, while I pretended to study.

As we grew older, things got a bit more serious. I remember an incident that occurred
when I was off at college and my brother was still home. He called me to share a secret
about a problem he was facing. He made me promise not to tell our mother. Of course,
I promised. Unfortunately, as soon as we hung up the phone, I dialed my mom and told
her the secret. Now, I love my brother, but there was no way I could keep that secret.
To this day I don’t remember what the secret was, I just remember feeling that it
was too big for me too handle. It took my brother a while to get over this one and
share another secret with me, but he did.

One of the dearest memories I have of my brother is the day I realized he’d become
an adult with insights to help me with my problems. I remember pulling the phone away
from my ear and looking it, while thinking, When did my little brother become a man?
A very precious moment indeed.

I cherish my relationship with my brother, as you can probably tell from these stories.
Because we live thirteen hours apart, we don’t see each other often, but we talk several
times a week. There’s a richness to our relationship because of its ups and downs,
and because it seems to grow stronger and deeper through those ups and downs.

I like to read about relationships that remind me of me and my
brother. I love to read about people caring for each other, through the good times
and the bad. The bumps on the relationship road only make the relationship more cherished.
It’s not surprising, then, that my stories have strong sibling relationships. I’m
waiting for the day my brother recognizes our relationship in one of my stories. When
he does, I’m sure he’ll want a commission.

Siblings. Mine’s a keeper. I hope you know yours are, too.

You have an unusual background for a writer in that you have degrees in mathematics
and industrial engineering, and you teach educational technology at the University
of Alabama. Does that background influence what you write?

Not as much as you would think. I have never set a story in the engineering world
or in the academic world. I guess I go to my personal life when I write rather than
to my professional life. I have often thought of writing a thriller set in the engineering
world, where the heroine has to save the world from “technology gone amuck,” but I’ve
never come up with a solid idea. I tried the college campus with my last book but
found the setting restrictive. I’m not sure why since other authors have written engaging
stories set on college campuses.

Your first novel was published in 1994, and
Sins of the Father
will be your twelfth book. Where do you get the ideas for your stories and characters?

Ideas come from everywhere, even my own life. My family is convinced my first book,
Bands of Gold,
was autobiographical. I even had a cousin call me up and ask if the book was about
me. It’s not; trust me. My life is not exciting enough for a novel. That
said, I do use bits and pieces of my life in my stories, but I have to spice them
up a lot to make them novelworthy. I had a cousin who struggled after being released
from prison, so he inspired my last book,
Up Pops the Devil.

My stories are not really about the people or events that spark the idea, though.
Rather, they are about the questions those ideas raise for me. In writing my novels,
I explore those questions. I grew up without a father, so
Sins of the Father
allowed me to explore what it would be like for an absentee father to return.

Faith seems to be a very important component of your books. Can you talk a little
bit about the role of faith in your work?

My writing has always been about hope. My career started with writing romance novels
because that “happily ever after” ending was a sign of hope. Faith is the other side
of the hope. I started writing Christian fiction in 2000 because I wanted to make
that faith explicit on the pages of the story. Faith, church, and religion have long
played a pivotal role in the American family and in the African-American community.
Sins of the Father
is another faith story, but I consider it more inspirational fiction than Christian
fiction because I focus more on the faith and less on church and religion.

How did you decide to become a writer? What practical advice would you give to a writer
who’s just starting out?

My earliest memory of writing fiction is from Ms. Milazo’s fifth grade English class.
We wrote short stories each week and read them aloud to the class. My classmates loved
my stories and always clapped after I finished reading them, which
made me feel really good about myself and what I’d written. The story that made me
the all-time class favorite was “My Interview with the Jackson Five.” This was a pretty
special story for me, since I had a very strong crush on Jermaine Jackson at the time.
Okay, now I’ve dated myself. That was more than thirty years ago.

I decided that becoming a published author was a realistic goal in 1992 at a Romantic
Times Magazine Readers and Writers Convention. I remember sitting in a workshop led
by three published romance writers. As I listened to them talk about how they wrote
their stories, the thought that filled my mind was, They don’t look any smarter than
I am. If they can write a book, so can I.

Of course, the actual experience of writing a book turned out to be more difficult
than I thought it would be, but I persevered. After that convention, I went back home,
joined the local chapter of Romance Writers of America (RWA), and began my first novel.
That novel, which I started in early 1992, was completed in early 1993, sold to Arabesque
in late 1993, and arrived in bookstores in late 1994.

My advice to new writers is to keep writing. I accumulated a stack of rejection letters
from publishing houses and agents. Every time I’d get a rejection, I’d send out another
proposal or query letter. Remember, “The race doesn’t go to the swiftest, but to him
who endures to the end.”

What are some of your favorite books and writers? What titles would you recommend
to a reader?

Two books that touched me most deeply are Sharon Ewell Foster’s
Passing by Samaria
and Julie Garwood’s
For the Roses.
The stories, though very different, showed me how powerful fiction can be in helping
us see ourselves, our hypocrisies, and our goodness.
Passing by Samaria,
which has racism as one of its
themes, brought home for me how difficult forgiveness can be.
For the Roses,
a simple western romance, had me crying like a baby. I wasn’t crying because of the
romance, though. I was crying because of the relationship between five orphans, one
black, who made themselves into a family.