Author Roseanna White & Abigail
Today’s guest is Author Roseanna White who is a fresh new face in Christian Fiction. She writes about her heroine Abigail. Here’s Roseanna:
“Abigail was seven when she lost her father. Eight when her mother died, after being forced to remarry. She found herself alone in a family not her own and sold before her mother was even buried. Sold to the enemy of her people–a Roman soldier.
Still, Jehovah would not abandon her, even if she secretly wished he would. He wanted her to be a slave? So be it. She would serve her new master and mistress well and even love the kind couple who treated her as a daughter. She would be good. She would be humble.
She knew her place.
Her place changed when her master’s son returned from Rome.
Abigail was fourteen by then, and content with her lot. Why did Jason have to shake everything up? He was her master, she had no right to refuse his advances. She could go to no one–her fellow slaves may try to defend her, but it would mean trouble for them. She could not reveal such shame to her mistress . . . what was she to do but submit?
For A Stray Drop of Blood, I spent a lot of time familiarizing myself with the culture of Jesus’ day and plopped a heroine into it that was a mix of its best and its worst. She was a slave, so had humility forced upon her. But within her was a spirit that refused to bow and bend . . . which nearly made her break.
It’s hard for us today to remember what it would have been like for women two-thousand years ago. They were eligible for marriage as soon as they hit puberty. They had huge responsibilities for the house and children, yet none of it was theirs if their husband died. They were under the complete authority of whatever man was over them, be it father, husband, or master . . . yet within that system they could find such love and freedom!
Abigail was more learned than most, especially for a slave. She could quote Aristotle, recite Homer, debate Plato, and knew the Law of Moses. But when it came to applying it to her own life, she relied on the faith of her mistress. That’s something that transcends the time barrier, isn’t it? Taking faith from academic to personal requires more than strength. Abigail wonders at one point in the story how anyone can know the truth, especially as concerns the stories of Jesus she’s been hearing.
Then she sees him on the day he is crucified, a stray drop of his blood lands on her, and Abigail’s place changes again. She feels the fire in his blood, and it burns away the chaff in her soul. What it leaves behind is the knowledge that matters most, the conviction that she needs and has found a savior.
In that moment, she becomes mistress and teacher rather than slave and pupil. Through Jesus, she finds a freedom of the soul–and learns that true submission to the Lord is not clinging to the place you’ve been put, but seeking the place he wants you to have.”
Roseanna M. White is wife, mommy, writer, reviewer, and lover of all
things literature-related. She has one book published, A STRAY DROP OF
BLOOD (WhiteFire Publishing, 2009), and another due out summer 2011. She is
the editor and senior reviewer of the Christian Review of Books, and a
member of ACFW, HisWriters, and HEWN Marketing. She makes her home in the
mountains of Western Maryland with her husband, two kids, and the colony of
dust bunnies under her couch.
Blog link: http://roseannamwhite.blogspot.com
I wonder if any of Roseanna’s dust bunnies are related to mine!–Lyn