Get to Know the Author: Margaret Turley

Today’s interview is with author Margaret Turley. Margaret is the author of Save the Child (you can view her book trailer on her website), as well as three books published under the pseudonym Rachel Anderson: A Nurse's World, A Nurse’s World Volume II, and A Nurse's World Volume III, Things I didn't Learn in Nursing School.

Margaret is currently finishing revisions for Witnesses, a book of short stories based on New Testament scriptures, illustrated by Kali Higgins, an artist from Scottsdale, AZ.

All of Margaret’s books are available on Amazon, B&N.com, or directly from her website (http://margaretturley.com).

JDP: Did your mother read to you as a child?

Margaret: Both my mother and father read to me as a child. We read all the Dr. Suess books, all the of Aesop's fables, fairy tales, Arabian nights and so on until I could read on my own, and still we shared reading frequently on family trips and so forth.

JDP: Do you remember a favorite book from your childhood?

Margaret: I don't know that I have a favorite. On Sunday's I read a book written for children that was stories based on the Book of Mormon. I've looked for it in my mother's library but can't find it. I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and have read it a few times since. I read in bed with the covers pulled over my head so my parents wouldn't see the light on. But when I fell asleep and the lamp caught my hair on fire that kind of ruined it. I still spend many nights reading instead of sleeping.

JDP: Whoa! Catching your hair on fire for a book. Now that’s devotion! LOL! Name a favorite author as an adult.

Margaret: Hard to keep it to only one. Jodi Picoult is near the top.

JDP: Share a book you’ve read multiple times (not the scriptures)

Margaret: Gone With the Wind

JDP: Kindle, Nook, or good old hard copy?

Margaret: Hard copy - I'll always prefer to hold the book in my hands.

JDP: (Ah, my kind of girl!) What’s your favorite place to read?

Margaret: Anywhere. I always have a book with me to read wherever I go.

JDP: What are your three favorite reading genres. 

Margaret: Fantasy, Inspirational Fiction, Mystery Suspense

JDP: What’s the last book you read?

Margaret:  Trespass by Sandra Grey - I posted a review of this book on my blog. This week I'll be posting my review of Lisa Finder's romantic fantasy: Black Sand.

JDP: What are you’re reading now?

Margaret: Our Lord of the Gospels by J. Reuben Clark Jr.

JDP: What’s next on your reading list?

Margaret: A romantic suspense trilogy by Brenda Novak.

JDP: What you would like to read more of? (author, genre, etc) I love to read Sarah M. Eden, Janette Rallison, Donna Hatch, Joan Sowards, JDP, Marsha Ward (get the picture? I love to read books written by my sisters in ANWA (American Night Writers Association). I love to read almost every genre - just not Horror.

JDP: Share a favorite book that you’ve read in the last 12 months

Margaret: I participate in blog tours for new Valor Publishing Books and Walnut Springs Press. I have enjoyed all the books I have read this year - it has been fun to read new authors, and old favorites. Karen Hoover's Sapphire Flute was especially fun and I look forward to the next one.

You can learn more about Margaret Turley at her website- http://margaretturley.com

Margaret also maintains a blog, A Nurse’s World (http://a-nurses-world.blogspot.com/), where she talks about health care, humanitarian issues, nursing, etc. Her writing blog can be found at Goodfellow Publishing (http://goodfellowpublishing.com/blog).

Summary of Save the Child:

"You are not going to pour poison straight into her heart!"

Nancy's determination to protect her daughter from the chemotherapy doctors insist she needs is fueled by boundless fury. She has seen cancer patients successfully treated with naturopathy. She wants the right to do this for Sharon, her eight year old child suffering from Leukemia.

Robert knows in his heart that chemotherapy is Sharon's only chance to survive. He follows his law professor's advice and forces himself to defend Nancy in public. As Sharon's parents they have to appear united. His work, law school and family demand more than twenty-four hours a day of him, and more than he is capable of giving.

Abby, at age fifteen, craves independence but needs understanding. No longer receiving the attention she deserves from her distracted parents, she seeks adventure on-line, with a stranger. The result sends her to the same hospital as her sister in a coma. Five year old Ben misses his sisters. He blames his mother for making Grandma go away and his father for leaving him with strangers. Jack, the family dog provides his only comfort. Phyllis, widow of a physician, can not condone her daughter's irrational actions. But love and concern for her grandchildren pull her back to care for Benjamin amidst the raging battle.

Cancer is the enemy. Love is the remedy and Grandma is the angel who glues the family picture back together again.