Journeys BEYOND the Peaks
BOOK 1
Tales
of Time-travel into the Past
By
M.F. Erler
In this historical-fiction novel,
thirteen-year-old Cinda Parker and her young brother, Ian, know they have a
special mental connection. But it’s not
until a mysterious stranger named Lexi comes to visit from the future, that
they realize they are more than typical mid-twenty-first century children. Lexi convinces them that they must travel back
200 years into the minds and lives of some of their ancestors, in order to help
their father,--who is still dealing with anger and grief over his own father’s
death from cancer several years before.
March 2018
This is a work of fiction. While some of the events described are
historical, most are from my imagination.
Some of the characters are based in part on stories I’ve heard about my
ancestors, but none of the characters in this book are meant to represent
actual historical people. Any resemblances
to actual persons, past or present, are coincidental, with one exception: Elena Hansen Hinrichsen and her husband
George were historical people (my great-great-grandparents), and they did have
four surviving children, Louisa, Hinrich, Elena, and Sophia (my
great-grandmother).
FOREWORD
Much of the inspiration for this
book has come from a diary written by my great-great-grandmother, Elena Hansen
Hinrichsen between 1887 and 1892 in Houston, Texas. I am indebted to my Houston-area relatives
for their assistance in making this diary available to me and to augmenting the
information recorded in it.
With the permission of these
relatives, I have occasionally quoted from the diary, and have used the actual
names of the Hinrichsen family members, although I have changed the spelling to
the more traditional German rendering of Heinrichsen. Not all of the names of the grandchildren
have been kept the same, and in places there have been shifts made in their
birth orders.
In addition, the events and
experiences presented in this book are not recorded exactly as they happened,
but I have tried to give an accurate depiction of later nineteenth century
life. For example, the story of their lost daughter, Lorna, was drawn from
another person’s family history, not theirs.
As a writer, I have taken some “literary license” I must admit. For, while truth is sometimes stranger than
fiction, a simple account of day-to-day life doesn’t always make for a good
novel.
However, I’ve found that the longer
I work on this, the more kinship I feel with Elena Hansen. In some way, I have truly gotten to know
her. Words written by the first translator
of her diary echo my own feelings:
“In conclusion, let me say that
this translation has been a labor of love…To follow the daily thought and
feeling of one so refined and spiritually consecrated has been to me a means of
grace. And may I add the prayer that God
may bless its perusal to those who cherish the memory of one who is not lost,
but only gone before.”
A.E. Rector, San
Antonio, Texas, 1938
I personally am looking forward to
the day when I pass the pearly gates of Heaven and get to meet Elena, my
‘grandmama’ face to face.
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