I’m delighted to introduce you to debut novelist, Robin W. Pearson, a new voice in Southern fiction, as she celebrates release day for A Long Time Comin’.  This book has just received a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly as well as some glowing endorsements from some of my most beloved authors. Take a look!

Please share a little about your characters Beatrice and Evelyn.

Beatrice has raised herself and her seven children on a generous diet of faith, hard work, and discipline. To her, enjoying the goodness of the Lord “in the land of the living” means a heavenly reward, so she doesn’t expect to experience any joy in the here and now. Loving equates with sacrifice, something she does even if it kills her—which it most certainly will if she doesn’t learn to let someone in.

Evelyn Beatrice is a young married woman who takes more than her name from her Granny B. She loves as faithfully and is just as determined to do things “the right way”—even if that means going it alone. And just like her grandmother, Evelyn needs to learn what it means to accept and extend grace to herself and those she loves.

How has the departure of her husband shaped Beatrice?

Her husband’s departure was in bits and pieces; he faded gradually from her life over the years. It made her bitter. When she finally got up the gumption to shut the door on him and that part of her life, it eventually opened her up to healing, but it was a long process.

Why is Evelyn so determined to “fix” Beatrice’s issues with her children?

The family—and the community—regards Beatrice as a force of nature. Everyone allows her to have her own way, and once Evelyn learns of her grandmother’s diagnosis, she realizes that it may be to the woman’s detriment. At first, Evelyn feels that a reconciliation might change Beatrice’s mind about getting medical help, but later she hopes that “fixing” those issues with her children will bring healing of a different kind.

Describe your book in 5 adjectives.

Inspirational. Cultural. Family-focused. Literary. Evocative.

What are the pivotal themes of this story?

Forgiveness. Faith. The effects of joy and grace. The impact of family and family dynamics.

To hear Beatrice Agnew tell it, she entered the world with her mouth tightly shut. Just because she finds out she’s dying doesn’t mean she can’t keep it that way. If any of her children have questions about their daddy and the choices she made after he abandoned them, they’d best take it up with Jesus. There’s no room in Granny B’s house for regrets or hand-holding. Or so she thinks.

Her granddaughter, Evelyn Lester, shows up on Beatrice’s doorstep anyway, burdened with her own secret baggage. Determined to help her Granny B mend fences with her far-flung brood, Evelyn turns her grandmother’s heart and home inside out. Evelyn’s meddling uncovers a tucked-away box of old letters, forcing the two women to wrestle with their past and present pain as they confront the truth Beatrice has worked a lifetime to hide.

Which character did you enjoy writing the most?

Beatrice Agnew was definitely fun to write. She didn’t need to be liked, and she did what she believed was right, no matter the cost. Beatrice loved hard, she had a sense of humor, and she had so many life experiences to share. She didn’t suffer foolishness.

Which character gave you the most grief?

Again, Beatrice challenged me. I wanted to convey her intelligence, love for family, and humor without compromising her character and her voice. She was tough but not mean; she wasn’t formally educated, but she was wise beyond measure. I didn’t want to make her easy to like, but I wanted to create a character readers would connect to and love as I do.

What emotions do you think your story will generate in readers?

Passion, inner conflict, empathy, gratefulness, joy, frustration, anticipation, surprise.

What emotions did you experience while writing this story?

Nostalgia—it brought back a lot of memories of time with family, reliving our sibling rivalry, growing up in a small town.

Regret—I wish that I had been an “Evelyn,” spending as much time as I could with my grandparents, soaking up their wisdom and developing friendships, treasuring those moments.

Hope, sadness, bitterness, joy, healing, grief, etc.—I really wore the “shoes” of my characters, and I experienced what they did. I hated to see them go because they became very real to me.

This is your first published novel—congratulations. How have you enjoyed/struggled with the experience?

Thank you! As a homeschooling parent, my children have witnessed and inspired every bit of this long journey. It has been a blessing to celebrate each step with them—finding an agent, signing with a publisher, seeing the published book, listening to the audio, and even writing about them. They have cheered me on and cheered me up. But as a homeschooling parent, I’ve had to work the “third shift,” writing late at night, on the fly, in between, and on the go. I have to be very creative with my time and resources. God has given me more than one calling and ministry—homeschooling and writing—and I want to be faithful to both.

You have long been involved with publishing—did anything surprise you with this journey to publication?

I worked in school publishing, both in-house and as a freelancer, and that experience laid a great foundation for this part of my journey because it trained me to edit, to develop a strong “hook,” and to work under pressure. Yet I was surprised—at first—by the length of this journey and how much I had yet to learn. Years ago, I thought, Okay, the book is done. Now get it published. There’s so much more to it than that.

First of all, the book wasn’t “done,” and there was a mountain of work between A and Z. And let’s not talk about building a platform, which might have been the biggest surprise of all. I’ve loved connecting with readers, authors, parents, and publishing professionals through my blog and my books. This journey to publication has taught me that it’s never really done; you can’t check it off and move on to something else. There are endless offshoots of this path to experience (translation: sing about, cry over, grit your teeth during) along the way. The title says it all.

How does your faith impact your writing?

God is my source and my resource! My faith reminds me this process isn’t about me, though I do try to sing that “me-me-me” song constantly. Though the characters of A Long Time Comin’ are African American, its setting is in the South, and it focuses on women, the faith of the Agnews is a unifying, not diversifying, theme. My work encourages all readers to use their faith day by day as they consider the following: What do I believe? Who do I trust? How do I tackle life’s problems? How can I live and love better and more intentionally?

What’s next?

Right now, I’m working on my second novel due for release spring 2021. It’s part of the series about the characters of Spring Hope and Mount Laurel, North Carolina.

Robin W. Pearson’s writing sprouts from her Southern roots and her love of her husband and seven children. Both lend authenticity to her debut novel, A Long Time Comin’. After graduating from Wake Forest University, she has corrected grammar up and down the East Coast in her career as an editor and writer that started with Houghton Mifflin Company twenty-five years ago. Since then she has freelanced with magazines, parenting journals, textbooks, and homeschooling resources. Follow her on her blog, Mommy, Concentrated, where she shares her adventures in faith, family, and freelancing.

Relz Reviewz Extras
Read the first chapters
Visit Robin’s author website and her blog, Mommy, Concentrated
Buy at Amazon: A Long Time Comin’ or Koorong

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