This week I’m hosting Janet Dean with An Inconvenient Match, Merrillee Whren with Montana Match, Andrea Kuhn Boeshaar with Threads of Hope, and Linda Rondeau with The Other Side of Darkness. If you want to enter the drawings for the 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. The drawings end Sunday (January 15th) evening.
Interview with the hero The Other Side of Darkness by Linda Rondeau:
1. Jonathan Gladstone , tell me the most interesting thing about you.
I am the last surviving heir of Dawn’s Hope, a large estate nestled in the southern Adirondacks. My ancestor, Emmanuel Gladstone defected from the British Army and fought with Benedict Arnold in the Battle of Saratoga, later founding the town of Haven. For generations before, masters of Dawn Hope have willed the estate to their first born sons in keeping with English tradition. Not in my case. Knowing my penchant for art rather than a desire for politics, the profession of the majority of my ancestors, my father disinherited me, leaving the estate to my son not knowing the boy had been born with a serious and pervasive developmental delay disorder. A few years later, my wife and son died in a drowning accident. Now there is no heir to Dawn’s Hope. I receive a sizeable stipend, but I am little more than a gloried caretaker to a land I both love and loathe.
2. What do you do for fun?
I am an artist or at least I was an artist, famous for my landscapes of Mirror Lake. I lost the will to paint natural beauty after Angelica died. Now my landscapes are horrific and grotesque, caricatures of bleeding hyacinths. I do enjoy taking the ATV out on the trails and walking the perimeter of the lake. Though, I avoid the spot where my wife and son’s bodies were discovered. Sometimes my friend Zack stops by and we fish. I rarely leave my mountain.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
My dead wife calls to me to paint one last portrait of her then walk into the lake to be with her and Elliot for eternity. But another voice calls to me to live, a voice I cannot decipher. I’m not certain whose voice I should listen to. Part of me wants to contest the will and another part of me wants to go to Paris and study a different form of art…anything other than landscapes. Yet, I feel tethered to Dawn’s Hope.
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
I am a man unable to define what he truly wants from life, especially since the death of my wife and son. But, one passionate plea I would make to the Almighty is that I could be half the man my ancestor, Emmanuel Gladstone was.
5. What do you want out of life?
At times, I think I want to be the true Master of Dawn’s Hope.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
Dawn’s Hope…but not as my father desired it…the vehicle of power and prestige. For me, the legacy of Dawn’s Hope is far greater—a citadel of enduring hope in a new land.
7. Do you read books? If so, what is your favorite type of book?
I read history books and family journals. My friend, Zack Bordeaux’s father is a history professor and has written several good books on the history of the Soutern Adirondacks, as well as on my family legacy. The Southern Adirondacks played an important role in both the American War of Independence and French and Indian Wars. The area was also important in the Underground Railroad.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
People describe me as dour and sinister. I would love to develop a sense of humor. I think what attracts me most to Samantha is her wit. A close second is my poor social skills. I’m reclusive by nature and don’t like crowds. I like my own company and find it hard to carry on small talk.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
I have no pet in the main house. But Dawn’s Hope is filled with wildlife. My groundskeepers make sure the woods are animal friendly. I don’t allow hunting on my property…only fishing.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
I would love to go back to the day Emmanuel Gladstone claims to have wrestled with an angel until dawn’s light, and decided to name his estate Dawn’s Hope. What made him change his ways? In his journals he describes himself as the worst of sinners. Yet, he became a pillar of spiritual advancement in Washington County, regarded for his generosity and humility. Whether or not he truly saw an angel will never be known this side of eternity. But it is documented that from that day on, Emmanuel walked with a definitive and unexplained limp. I’d love to the advent of his changed life.
