Springtime of the Spirit

What turned your focus to
World War I in The Great War Series?

Family history. My grandfather was
in the Signal Corps in the first World War and gave me a whole box of pictures
from France during that time. He’d written on the back what was going on in
each shot, and it’s fascinated me ever since.

What can readers expect in Springtime
of the Spirit?

I learned so much writing this,
mainly because the political drama of 1919 Germany seems to touch on many
topics we hear about in the news today: How big do we want our government to
be? How much should we depend on government to take care of us? Does faith play
into the design of government?

Questions like those fascinated
me, but to make the story fun instead of a textbook, I knew I wanted to include
a romance. So my hero and heroine explore things like socialism and faith, and
since they’ve survived different war experiences, they have very different
opinions. How they work through those differences—eventually risking their
lives in the process—is where the romance and drama really mesh together. 

How did you tackle the
classic question about God and suffering—how could God allow war? 

Anyone who’s lived long enough has
probably asked why God allows suffering, and after the brutality of war, it
seemed especially appropriate for my characters to question this. At one point
my hero, whose faith is solid, says that if God had stepped in to end a war
that we started of our own free will, He would have to step in and stop other
mistakes we make as well. Where would our free will be then? As my hero says:
Doesn’t having to allow the little mistakes mean His having to allow the big
ones, too?

Do you have a fondness for a
particular character in the series?

I do love Christophe, the hero in
this book. However, my absolute favorite in Springtime of the Spirit is
Annaliese, my heroine. She’s so determined, so sure of herself and so totally
unafraid to do what she thinks best. And she has absolutely zero fear of
speaking in front of the biggest audience she can draw—something I always
admire, because I possess not one ounce of such a talent.

Where to next in writing for
Maureen Lang?

I’m heading into an even more
romantic thread with my next project, this one between a thief and a sheltered
young woman aspiring to become a thief as well—until God catches their
attention. My settings are headed home to the USA, placing my next story in New
York City during the 1880s. No more wars for the time being, but hopefully just
as much excitement.

Click here to purchase Springtime
of the Spirit.