I met Carrie Walker several years ago, and we became writing friends. I’m so excited for Carrie’s debut novel, Emma’s Hero, to make its way into the world and into reader’s hands.
About the Book
After a year of loss and bad choices distance Emma Reynolds from her lifelong beliefs, she finds herself pregnant and alone at a twenty-week ultrasound, hearing the words “incompatible with life.” When her son, Theo, survives birth, she fights to give him the best care possible. As each day passes, Emma’s love for Theo grows-along with her fear of losing him. She can’t understand why God allows her son to suffer.
Seventeen-year-old blogger, Mason Hughes, feels lonely and worthless after his father left their family years ago. When he ignores his mother’s push to “contribute to society,” she volunteers him to help Emma each week. Wishing he’d applied for any other job, Mason has no choice but to grocery shop and practice his rusty social skills with a mother and son he doesn’t know.
Paramedic Ben Sullivan has earned himself the title of “most eligible” bachelor among his friends as they continually set him up on blind dates. While he’d love to avoid the uncomfortable events, his heart can’t help but seek the one thing missing in his life-a marriage like his parents have. If only he could find the woman himself.
As Theo’s tiny life connects them to each other, their loneliness breaks under the love of community, and they will never be the same.
DJS: Emma’s Hero has a great deal of heart. Tell us a little bit about why you felt compelled to write this story.
CW: I’ve always believed every life has a purpose, so I shouldn’t be surprised the first story compelling me to write a novel would center around that idea. My husband and I served as high school youth ministers for ten years, and one of the young women who went through our ministry later gave birth to a baby with the same condition as Theo, the infant in Emma’s Hero. When I visited the young woman and her baby daughter in the hospital, I imagined every life her daughter had touched, and the seeds for Emma’s Hero were planted.
DJS: What was the most surprising thing you learned about yourself as you went through the process of writing Emma’s Hero?
CW: That I really liked writing! Writing book was always one of those “oh I’ll write a book someday” type things, and I’d always had teachers tell me to write growing up, but I never had a seed of a story. When the idea for Emma’s Hero finally took root, I decided it was time. As I went through the process, I realized I had stumbled across something that I loved doing.
DJS: Just from the topic, it’s easy to see that this one can be a real tear jerker. And there are so many layers! Just the idea of the story tugs at my heart. What parts of Emma’s story always make you cry?
CW: There are some scenes where Emma fears for Theo’s life. As a mom, those always get to me, but another scene that provokes a different sort of tears is near the end of the book, the first time Mason starts to see things in his life differently.
DJS: Heart touching moments for sure!
DJS: The writing journey is a long learning process. Often, after we finally reach the finish line of a project, we look back and think we could have done things a different way. If you could rewind and go back to before you started writing Emma’s hero, what would you do differently?
CW: I’d let myself torture the characters sooner. I would’ve avoided so many rewrites. Tension makes for page turning and torture makes for tension.
DJS: Hahaha! Spoken like a true novelist.
DJS: What do you want readers to take away from Emma’s story?
CW: I hope readers are left thinking about the far-reaching effect of each human life, reflecting on the many graces that come from helping others. Also, if they are in a place like Emma and Mason where they feel alone, they come to realize it won’t always be that way.
DJS: What a beautiful message.
Bonus fun question, just because I know Carrie loves to read. (We are always talking books.)
DJS: Does your love for books run in the family?
CW: For the most part, yes. My two youngest daughters are book worms. We recently took part in a Bingo for Books at their school, and the pile they brought home might last a week 🙂
Two of my older daughters read right along with me. One reads so fast I can’t let her start a book before me or she’ll spoil the story! They also help me brainstorm my novels (including reading early chapters and naming characters). My boys aren’t as in love with reading, however my oldest son is currently reading a Charles Martin book and I just got an all-caps text mid-day at school about a plot twist (perhaps he’s hooked?).
DJS: It’s wonderful when we can pass along the love of reading to our children.Thanks so much for visiting with me, Carrie!
Emma’s Hero is available for pre-order on Amazon here. The book releases April 5th.
Carrie Walker is an award-winning author who lives in Michigan with her husband and seven children. As an avid reader, she pens what she loves to read, stories that bring hope to a hurting world. Besides writing, Carrie enjoys time with family, board games, and counting the days ’til Christmas.
Donna Jo Stone 