I finished the first draft of my latest historical novel and sent it off to my beta readers. It was a relief to have the project finished, at least this first step. I’m surprised it has taken me so long to finish it. “Lock Ready!” is the third book in the Canawlers series. The second book came out in 2003 so it has been 10 years.
Wow! Typing that made me realize just how long it has been.
It’s not that I’ve haven’t written other things in the interim, but I’ve known the title of the third book in the series since probably 2004. I’ve even had bits and pieces of the story written. Pulling it all together had escaped me, though. Now, I think I’ve finally got it.
“Lock Ready!” continues to follow the Fitzgerald family as they boat on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal during the Civil War. For those of you who don’t know, the C&O Canal runs along the Maryland side of the Potomac River so it was essentially the border between the North and the South during the war and not a safe place to work.
David Windover, the ex-Confederate soldier, has decided to leave the canal rather than torture himself being near a woman who doesn’t love him. He takes a job in Cumberland and soon become involved with the network of Confederate sympathizers who still live in the city. Alice Fitzgerald begins to wonder if the canal isn’t too dangerous for her family. She misses her dead husband and David and feels torn between them.
As the season progresses, Tony Fitzgerald stumbled onto a plot to sabotage the canal and enlists David’s aid to try and prevent it. This brings the pair face-to-face with both their pasts and unless they can overcome it, canallers will be hurt.
That’s the basics. It’s seems odd that it took me so long to put it all together. I hope you will like the results when it comes out later this year.