Hero Interview from Bonnie Leon’s Enduring Love

» Posted on Apr 14, 2009 in Blog | Comments Off on Hero Interview from Bonnie Leon’s Enduring Love


This week I’m hosting Bonnie Leon with Enduring Love and Linda Hall with Shadows on the River. If you want to enter the drawings for either or both of these books, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com and let me know which books. The drawings end Sunday (April 19th) evening.

Hero’s interview from Enduring Love:

Thanks so much for having me. It’s so much fun stepping into the characters point of view. Last time we did a character interview I took the side of Hannah, John’s other half. Now it’s John’s turn.

1. John, tell me the most interesting thing about you.

On a personal level, I’m not all that “interesting”, I’m pretty much an average chap. However, my life has taken a remarkable turn. As a boy and a young man everything was mapped out for me, but nothings turned out as planned.

My father owned a machinery company in London, and I spent my growing up years learning the business. When he passed on I took over. My life was one of affluence, although I never truly cherished the status. I wanted adventure instead. When it was thrust upon me the direction it took was unexpected and unwelcome. Being a prisoner is never one’s own choice.

Now I find myself living far from my homeland of England, in a remarkable place called New South Wales. I own a sheep farm. I’m happy here. Or I should say I was until Margaret, my first wife, stepped back into my life. I’d been told she was deceased, so needless to say her appearance was a shock. Nothing is at it should be. I’ve got two wives. I love Hannah, but I’m trying to love Margaret, she’s the one I’m living with.

My life is complicated, but I trust God will unravel the mess it has become..

2.What do you do for fun?

Running the farm leaves little time for small pleasures, but I do enjoy hunting. I especially like joining my chums and going out to track down wild boar.

I also find fishing to be pleasurable. My son, Thomas, and I toss a line in the Parramatta whenever possible. He’s a fine lad.

3.What do you put off doing because you dread it?

I confess to dreading church. It wasn’t always that way, but with all that’s happened recently, showing up on a Sunday means facing Hannah. Seeing her makes our present circumstances more painful. I admit to coming up with tasks that must be done on a Sunday. That way I don’t have to go.

And equally dreadful is waking up each morning to the knowledge that Hannah won’t be part of my day—I dread mornings.

4. What are you afraid of most in life?

Men don’t like to admit to being afraid, and I’m no different there. But of course there are things to be feared. At present my greatest fear is spending my life in a loveless marriage. I want to do right by Magaret, but I don’t love her. I pray God will reignite the spark that once existed between us.

5. What do you want out of life?

A simple enough question, but life is complicated. I feel responsible for Hannah and Thomas, my adopted son. And although I don’t live with them any longer, I carry them in my heart every day. I’m also trying to rebuild a life with Margaret. There doesn’t seem to be enough of me to go around, and I often feel as if I’m living in the midst of an emotional maelstrom. I am torn between two women and a son who feels I’ve let him down. There is no peace. And so above all things I pray for God’s presence and mercy.

6. What is the most important thing to you?

My father was a good man, who raised me to love God and my family, and to do right by others. By example and the teaching of God’s Word, he taught me the Lord’s principles. In so many ways I’ve failed. I lost the business he left to me, ended up in prison, and now I’m hurting the people I love. Family mattered most to my father. I pray he cannot see the mess I’ve made of my life and that I will be able to set things to rights again and earn his respect.

7. Do you read books? If so, what is your favorite type of book?

Aside from spending daily time in devotions, I do enjoy a good read now and again. It’s difficult to find time, but I must admit to having thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe. What a great adventure that was. And although considered a bit sentimental I found myself moved by The Vicar of Wakefield. It would seem I have much in common with the vicar in that he lost his inheritance due to the deception of a man he trusted. However, I was glad to see that all came out right in the end. I pray it will be so for me.

8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Although generally steady and rational I do, on occasion, give way to my passions and behave stupidly. More than once it’s gotten me into trouble. In fact, such an incident is what landed me in prison. I continue to carry this weakness to the Lord in prayer with the hope of becoming more steadfast.

9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?

I have a fine sheep dog named Jackson, but he’s more a working animal than a pet. I do remember a dog I had as a lad, though. We called him Blackie. He was just a mutt, not good for much really, not even as a protector to my family. But he was a good friend. He and I went everywhere together. I still miss the old boy.

10.If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?

If I could take the knowledge I now possess and travel backward in time I’d return to the days before meeting Margaret Cresswell. Instead of giving into her charms I’d make certain to go by the sewing shop of Constance Talbot who had a daughter, Hannah. And I’d make Hannah my wife. We’d have had a fine life together in London. Or perhaps we’d have set off on an adventure to see the world, following our dreams together. If only I could truly go back. Yet perhaps fate is not to be altered. I’m determined to live will live with the life I’ve been dealt, and find the joy in it. God has not forsaken me, but rather He stands with me. I know that.