Novel Magic: Antebellum Dreams with Claire Gem
Civil Hearts by my Novel Magic guest, Claire Gem, promises an interesting romantic triangle: A southern gentleman, a Yankee girl, and the ghost of a Confederate soldier. Antebellum Dreams by Claire Gem Sometimes story ideas lay their seeds in my brain but hibernate there, germinating without warning some 20-odd years later. It was the mid-1990s, and I had made my home on the west coast of Florida with my husband and three kids. We’d been living there for about ten years, but the cost of living along with the cost of raising three kids was pinching a bit . . . plus, Florida property values were up. Some very good friends of ours had recently sold their Florida farm for fat cash and moved to Alabama, near Birmingham. They bragged about the low cost of living, property, et al. We drove up to visit and toyed with the idea of relocating there as well. Yes, property was cheap, albeit desolate beyond the city limits. We went around with a real estate agent who showed us vacant land for hun