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Mending Helen’s Heart

Claire Bills • Sep 16, 2023

Today I welcome author Clare Bills back again. This time around, she's featuring the second book in her series.


Words matter. We all know that. But what we sometimes forget is that hate-filled or unkind words spoken over and over to a child will likely shape the child’s personality and future choices. And not in a positive way. This was the case with the protagonist for my second novel, Mending Helen’s Heart, the sequel to Mountains of Trouble. After her grandmother repeatedly told her that she resented her and was angry she had to help raise Helen*, it’s no wonder that Helen went looking for love as a teen. But instead, she found another angry, dysfunctional person who inflicted great harm on her.


I wrote Helen’s story for two main reasons. First, she could have chosen bitterness and instead chose faith and, ultimately, forgiveness to piece her life back together. Second, Helen’s complex story is an example for young women today who are looking for a life partner. It’s a sort of ‘how to’ of what not to do. However, in spite of the trauma, it’s also a second-chance romance.


Helen was the daughter of Cora*, the protagonist in Mountains of Trouble. As difficult as Cora’s life was, Helen suffered what some may call generational trauma. Suffering passed from one generation to another because of trauma in their personal relationships and misery from the world around them, like the Great Depression and World War II.

Helen had incredible gifts, and in the end, she leaned on her gifts to help rebuild her life. Eventually, she found a faith that not only sustained her but healed her. Even in her 90’s, she attended Bible studies and had a rich prayer life. Yes, she was a personal hero for me.


*I changed the names of Helen and Cora, but their stories are based on the lives of these brave women who were my husband’s relatives.


Getting to Know Clare

1.     If I was an animal, I’d be a goat. Stubborn, but tidy, and I like to eat.

2.     The worst thing an editor said to me was also the best thing. After I sent her the first draft of my first novel, she suggested I “take a season off and study writing for novels.” I did and continue to study this difficult, but amusing, art form.

3.     Now that I’m writing more, I’ve given up sewing, which used to be a favorite hobby. I still love to watch birds and wild animals in the woods of Minnesota, where we live. All while baking cookies!

 

About Clare: 

Clare Bills considers herself a nearly normal writer and admits to a degree of eccentricity. She enjoys the challenges of writing both serious and humorous fiction and nonfiction. Her publication credits include numerous magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and three published novels.

 

She and her husband of many years live in the woods of Minnesota with their rescue, Bennie-the-dog. (Note: he also answers to Benny.)

They have three wonderful grown children, seven amazing grandchildren, and one adorable great-grandson.

 

Please subscribe to her monthly newsletter by sending her a quick email to clarebills@live.com. Mention that you saw this blog post, and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a signed print copy of Mending Helen’s Heart. (US readers only, sorry.) Deadline: September 30, 2023.


Follow Clare’s Facebook page: Clare Bills, Nearly Normal Writer.

Instagram: clarebills2711.

 

 

A Peek Inside Mending Helen’s Heart


Chapter 1

 

Helen was a determined sixteen-year-old, flexing her personality and forging ahead with plans to emerge like a butterfly for the return to high school and a particular classmate with a cleft in his chin. Her metal bed squeaked and screeched as she shoved it across the scratched wood floor to the middle of the room. She climbed up two steps onto a small ladder to reach the drab curtain on the only window, tossed the curtain and rod onto her bed, and covered the bed with old sheets. The tall, four-drawer pine dresser was more resistant to movement, but she finally wrestled it away from the wall and then pulled her hair into a ponytail. Ready. She placed a soft cover on a paint roller and anticipated the fun she would have.

           “Helen!”

           Oh boy, here we go! Helen stood up and climbed over her bed to reach the door.

           “Helen Jane!”

           She swung the door open and shouted down the stairs. “What is it, Grandma?”

“Helen Jane! What in tarnation is all that racket?”

“I’m getting ready to paint my bedroom.”

“What? Whered ya get money for paint?”

“From my wages. I told you.”

“Ya never did! Ya aint got permission to go and paint.”

“Grandma! I told you about it. I hate these dingy walls, and I’m painting them this morning.”

Grandma backed away from the stairwell, muttering. “Wasting all that money!”

“Sorry, Grandma. But this will raise the value of the house by improving it.”

Helen shut the door, took a deep breath, and looked around. Life was going to improve, starting today, as she made physical changes to her room that echoed the internal changes pushing her to get past her broken childhood and emerge more decisive, more confident, and, if not popular, at least likable.

Helen threw her energy into the task, watching the room spring to life with every pass of the roller. The dirty grey walls were being erased, like Helen’s troubled childhood.

Mama was gone now, married, leaving Helen to stand up to her grandmother’s daily battles, but Helen was no longer the shy, smelly child with ragged clothes and dirty hair.

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