Patricia M Osborne

It gives me great pleasure today to introduce author, Kellie Butler, as my Tuesday guest. Kellie has come along to discuss her family saga series ‘The Laurelhurst Chronicles’. Without further ado, let’s go over to Kellie. 

Thanks, Tricia, for hosting me on your blog to discuss my books. It’s a pleasure to chat with your readers.

The Laurelhurst Chronicles

Kellie Butler 

I’m the author of The Laurelhurst Chronicles, an Anglo-American family saga series set in the UK and the US between the 1940s through the 1970s. It centers around two siblings, Lydia (Lydie) and her brother Edward Cavert, who are orphaned during the first blitz of the Second World War.

I enjoy writing family sagas especially though because it allows me to explore some of those common threads that we all have: hope, loss, pain, joy, jealousy, fidelity, romance, revenge, passion. You know, all the good stuff. 😊 I get to follow these wonderful and sometimes devious characters around and chronicle their lives. I’m just the vessel for them, and I get to have fun doing it. It’s given me a creative outlet to express certain emotions through characters, and it’s very cathartic.

I think people are curious at times why my novels are partially set in Lancashire. First, it’s because I wanted to take Lydie far away from anything she’s known, and therefore make it more difficult for her (naughty, I know.) But secondly, I also have roots in northern England and Scotland. It’s through my research, especially into the Lancashire dialect, that certain phrases I’ve always heard finally made sense. Now I know where that comes from.

In many ways, exploring it through writing has felt like coming home. It’s part of why I host my Northern Reads Series on my blog, to showcase the immense beauty and talent that the north has to offer.

The Laurelhurst Chronicles Books:

 

Beneath a Moonless Sky

Nothing good ever happens past twelve. When thirteen-year-old Lydia Cavert returns to Laurelhurst Manor, the wild, lush boyhood home of her beloved Papa, she rediscovers that its secret rooms and locked doors are more sinister than any London street.
Orphaned by the blitz of 1940, her guardian uncle Alistair and his circle of friends hold Lydie captive at the estate. Lydie must unravel a dark web of deceit, jealousy, and revenge to expose who really murdered her mysterious aunt on that fateful night in 1932. Will she restore her family’s name or suffer her aunt’s fate?
Set amidst the backdrop of the Second World War, Beneath a Moonless Sky is a suspenseful coming of age tale of the power of memory, innocence lost, redemption restored, and the triumph of light over darkness.

Before the Flood

A beautiful, haunting celebration of the lasting bonds of family and friendship, Before the Flood returns readers to the world of the Cavert family and the Laurelhurst saga.

Fiery art student Lydie Cavert nearly has it all after putting the shadows of her uncle’s sinister legacy behind her: great friends, a blossoming art career, and romance with the handsome but reserved Dr. Henry Bainbridge, her brother’s best friend and colleague.

Her hope for peace is shattered when she returns to England to help Henry’s recovering sister Kate find her own happiness during the London Season. The sinister empire that claimed her uncle has plans for Lydia. Plans that could threaten her and Henry’s happiness by exposing secrets both would like to keep from resurfacing.

From New York City’s vibrant streets and the idyllic farmlands of Upstate New York to the cosmopolitan avenues of London and Paris, Before the Flood tells a story of the richness of family bonds, the searing heartbreak of betrayal, and the redeeming power of love and friendship.

The Broken Tree

 

Lancashire, Summer 1959. Fifteen years ago, Lydie Cavert Bainbridge left the dark memories of her youth at Laurelhurst Manor behind her.

Now thirty-two, an expectant Lydie returns with her family of five with two goals: to protect her children from her horrific experience at Laurelhurst and to spend a peaceful summer before the arrival of her fourth child.

When Lydie comes across an ancient oak tree split in the middle on the edge of the estate, it reveals an old secret from three hundred years ago involving an enemy along with the specters she had hoped to leave behind.

As the tree casts a shadow upon the house and loyalties are tested, Lydie must choose between the love she holds for her family and the love for her brother. Can the Cavert family stay together, or will splinter like the tree in the garden?

Out of Night (releasing June 2020)

1968

Two mothers living polar opposite lives, yet united by a common thread. Forcibly separated from their children and the ones they love, these two women will forge new paths to reclaim themselves, finding it in the most unexpected of places.

Kate:

The quintessential society girl, Kate has been a mainstay on Swinging London’s party circuit for years. As her old vices of alcohol and drugs consume her pain from yet another failed marriage, Kate finds herself left to her own devices as Lord Elliott Cutterworth, a master architect of chaos, kicks her out of her home and takes custody of their daughter, Violet. Kate is plunged into the seedy underbelly of London and must figure out a way to reclaim her life and get her daughter back. Determined to start anew, she finds assistance in her reluctant brother-in-law (and the one that got away), all while trying to stay away from Elliott’s evil clutches, lest she becomes yet another person to mysteriously disappear.

Lydie.

When Lydie and her husband Henry discover that their youngest son, Cole has intellectual disabilities, it leads them down a path of uncertainty. Faced with the institutionalization of her baby boy, Lydie enters into a deep sea of depression, and her once loving marriage to Henry is in jeopardy. After a lengthy series of ECT treatments at another hospital leaves her memory in tatters, Lydie is sent to the famed Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas.
When Lydie’s brother Edward and long lost childhood friend, Kit Alderley, come to visit her in Kansas, it opens a new set of problems. Will she make peace with her estranged brother, and will Kit’s presence spell more trouble for Henry and Lydie’s marriage, or will he reconcile them all?

Poignantly beautiful yet at times gritty, Out of Night mirrors the decade of the 1960s as innocence is lost, confusion abounds, yet hope is always on the horizon.

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Wow… what a great series. Wouldn’t you agree? Please see links below to purchase Kellie Butler’s books, but first let’s find out a little more about Kellie. 

About Kellie Butler 

Kellie Butler is the author of Beneath a Moonless Sky, Before the Flood, The Broken Tree, and the upcoming Out of Night, all part of the bestselling ‘The Laurelhurst Chronicles’ series. Born in the deep south and educated at Mississippi State University and Louisiana State University, she has traveled and lived around the globe. Besides writing books, she enjoys knitting, yoga, cooking, hiking, classical film, her MSU Bulldogs, and her dog, Chippy. She lives in Arizona with her family.

Links to Kellie’s books 

NOTE:

For a limited time Kellie has reduced her first three books to 99p/99c and you can download for FREE with Kindle Unlimited. Why not grab a copy while they’re only this price?

Kellie says:
‘We’re living in some uncertain times, so I feel my books should be more easily accessible to readers.’

Series buy link 

Pre-order Out of Night 

 

Links to follow Kellie on Social Media 

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