Save the Child by Margaret Turley – Countdown to Christmas

 Posted by  Countdown to Christmas, Special Features
Dec 112010
 

14 days until Christmas!

Margaret Larsen Turley began her writing career in high school. She has won contests with her poetry. She has published three volumes of memoirs: A Nurse’s World. Margaret is a member of ANWA, where she has served as a Daytimers chapter president, and a two year term as Secretary on the Executive Board. Current memberships in other writing organizations include: IWWG, and NAWW, and SheWrites. Margaret is a graduate of Dr. Pamela R. Goodfellow’s Crafting the Character Based Novel Classes. She has completed several other college level writing courses and attends writing conferences. Honing her writing skills is one of Margaret’s passions. When she isn’t writing, she is reading.
She obtained her degree in nursing from Yavapai Community College and a Bachelor in Health Care Management at the Tempe site for Ottawa University. She has practiced nursing for over thirty four years throughout four different states, in both rural and metropolitan settings. She uses her background in healthcare in many things she writes.
Save the Child is contemporary reality fiction. The Johnsons are a typical blended American family who reside in Gilbert Arizona. They grapple with one of the Parents VS State issues that have been in recent news. They examine their values as well as their faith as they battle to save their daughter Sharon from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Nancy wants to use naturopathy to treat the child. She strongly opposes chemotherapy. Exploration of conventional medicine and alternative healthcare, parent’s rights verses our current legal system and government bureaucracies dominate the plot. Robert is changing careers mid-life and attending the last year of law school and works part time at law firm. They have run out of Cobra insurance and are very tight financially. Abby, their fifteen year old teen, uses the family car to try to meet a date she makes via internet and she has a tragic accident. She ends up in a coma and is hospitalized midst the medical and legal battle for Sharon. The youngest child, Ben, five years old, attends kindergarten. He feels lost in the shuffle. Phyllis is Nancy’s mother. Ongoing struggles between mother and daughter heighten the drama. Phyllis ends up being the angel of salvation for Abby and Ben and the reasoning factor between Nancy and Robert who edge on divorce due to all the stress and grief. Grandma ends up being the glue for the generation gap and the marriage.
Save the Child is Margaret’s first novel. Sharon’s toy elephant from this story inspired her children’s picture book: Elsie Goes to the Hospital, which is currently being illustrated.
Visit Margaret on her website/blog, on Facebook and Twitter @MargaretLarsenT.
For more information on Writers Unite to Fight Cancer, see the Facebook group page, LinkedIn page, Twitter @WritersCanFight, or email Margaret at writersunitetofightcancer(at)gmail(dot)com.
LDSWBR: What author/book had the most impact on you this year?

MARGARET: New York Best Selling Romantic Suspense Author Brenda Novak. I became involved with her on-line auction to raise money for Diabetes Research and was very impressed with the Suspense Novel she wrote using her experience as a mother of a juvenile diabetic: Every Waking Moment. Her fervor to raise money for diabetic research spurred my interest in forming Writers Unite to Fight Cancer with authors and colleagues I know and we chose American Association for Cancer Research (www.aacr.org) to be our charity. Five of my author friends joined me and we donated books to the Brenda Novak Online Auction last May – as well as our Producer/Publisher and Editor who offered editing services to that auction. We added more author and held a silent auction as Writers Unite to Fight Cancer during the Goodfellow Publishing Services Book Launch on November 4th. Five of the Eight Authors were LDS. All of us are women. All of us have been touched by cancer. This morning I participated in another books sale to raise money for the AACR for Writers Unite to Fight Cancer and we have more events already on the calendar for 2011.

Another author who has influenced me greatly is Jodi Piccoult.

LDSWBR: What books are you giving/asking for this Christmas?

MARGARET: My gift to most people this year will be a copy of Save the Child. I have purchased some children’s books and YA books from LDS authors that I give for gifts.

I buy all of Janette Rallison‘s books for my nieces. (Of course I read them first.) James Dashner‘s books are favorites for my nephews.

I would like to receive new books by Jodi Piccoult, and I have several LDS authors I love to read, some of my favorites are Jenni Hansen, Betsy Brannon Green, Rachel Anne Nunes.

LDSWBR: If you could only participate in one Holiday activity or tradition this year, what would it be?

MARGARET: Being together with family.

LDSWBR: Eggnog or warm apple cider?

MARGARET: Apple Cider.

LDSWBR: Margaret, thank you very much!

Save the Child by Margaret Turley (Goodfellow Publishing Services; July 2010) is available for purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Margaret’s website.

Are your family members mostly nearby, or are you scattered all over the country (or world)? Do you take advantage of the holidays to get together?
Find more gift ideas for the readers in your life in the sidebar of the blog under “More Great Books by LDS Authors.”


***Countdown to Christmas 2010 Contest***

LDSWBR will hold a drawing on December 26, 2010 for a $50 Amazon Gift Card, as well as a variety of books being offered by some great LDS authors.
Book prizes generously donated by the authors:

  • Oh, Say Can You See? by Laurie (LC) Lewis
  • Backlash by Traci Hunter Abramson
  • Alma the Younger by Heather (HB) Moore
  • True Miracles with Genealogy by Anne Bradshaw
  • Dingo by Anne Bradshaw
  • Second Kiss by Natalie Palmer
  • Cross My Heart by Julie Wright
  • Cold As Ice by Stephanie Black
  • Meg’s Melody by Kaylee Baldwin
  • Save the Child by Margaret Turley
  • Anasazi Intrigue (ebook) by Linda Weaver Clarke
  • Mayan Intrigue (ebook) by Linda Weaver Clarke
  • The Star Prophecy by Joan Sowards (and Walnut Springs Press)
  • A cute, handmade apron by Joan Sowards


How to enter:
  • Post a thoughtful comment on the Countdown to Christmas 2010 posts. Comments can be added on any of the countdown posts at anytime during the contest period (December 1, 2010 through December 25, 2010). Only one comment per person per “Countdown to Christmas” post will be entered into the drawing. Feel free to comment more than once per post if you’d like, but only one comment will be accepted as an entry.
  • Follow us on Twitter: @LDSWBR – then send us a direct message to let us know you want to be entered in the Countdown to Christmas 2010 Contest. If you are already a follower send a direct message telling us you want to be included in the contest.
  • Tweet this message each day (one entry per day). Just copy and paste into your twitter message window to send it (LDSWBR must be able to see the tweet): LDSWBR Countdown to Christmas 2010 at http://ldswbr.blogspot.com! Enter to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card & great books! @ldswbr #ldswbr2010
  • Follow LDSWBR on Facebook, then send an email to ldswbr at gmail dot com that you’d like to be entered into the Countdown to Christmas 2010 Contest. If you already follow LDSWBR on Facebook, send us an email to let us know you’d like to be included in the contest.
  • **BONUS +5 entries**- Blog about this contest on your blog in a post that includes a link back to the LDSWBR blog, then send us the link to your specific blog post.


Here are the rules:

  • Contest ends at 12:00 Midnight MST on December 25, 2010. Drawing winners will have until 12:00 Midnight MST on January 3, 2010 to claim their prize. After that time, another name will be drawn to receive the prize.
  • LDSWBR reserves the right to decide what determines a “thoughtful” comment.
  • Physical book prizes can only be shipped within the contiguous United States.
  • Authors taking part in the countdown are eligible to participate in the contest.
  • The drawing held on December 26, 2010 will be a raffle-type drawing. All entries will be combined and names drawn for the prizes.
Please join us in counting down to Christmas with some great reads!


  9 Responses to “Save the Child by Margaret Turley – Countdown to Christmas”

  1. Elizabeth Morgan says:
    December 11, 2010 at 7:18 PM

    My Family is all close by for the most part. Those of us in town have a big Christmas Party together.

  2. Marsha Ward says:
    December 11, 2010 at 11:07 PM

    I didn't know Margaret was an apple cider kind of gal! Thanks for the Interview.

    Most of my family live within 125 miles, but some are scattered among the western United States. I'll be having at least one get-together with family soon.

    I'd love it if you'd consider adding my blog, Writer in the Pines, to your list.

  3. Chantele Sedgwick says:
    December 11, 2010 at 11:19 PM

    My family is all close. I hope it stays that way! :D

  4. Shanda says:
    December 11, 2010 at 11:34 PM

    Hi Marsha! I thought we already had your blog in our list and I was surprised to see it wasn't there! It is now, though. Thanks! Shanda :)

  5. Janette Rallison says:
    December 12, 2010 at 3:43 PM

    Great interview. I'm glad to hear that you get my books for your nieces! I've given your nursing books to my sister-in-law the nurse.

  6. Writers says:
    December 12, 2010 at 6:34 PM

    Thanks for the support and comments.
    Apple cider warm by the fire with a good book is my style. Eggnog rarely tickles my appetite.
    I'd be honored to have my blog/s added to the list.
    http://margaretlarsen.wordpress.com
    http://margaretturley.com

  7. Tamera Westhoff says:
    December 16, 2010 at 2:38 PM

    Most of my family is close by and we're getting together for Christmas, but my husband's family is spread out! So, we'll see some of them this year, but not all of them! That would be nice though!

  8. Judy says:
    December 16, 2010 at 4:41 PM

    My family is spread all over the western states. We will be home alone for Christmas this year for the first time in a long time.

  9. Julie says:
    December 19, 2010 at 10:12 PM

    My brother and sister live close by, and my parents a day's drive away. However, my husbands side of the family lives in Brazil so we only get to see them every few years. It is hard, but thank goodness for technology and video chats!

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