Frequently Asked Questions

What was your inspiration?
Why a series on Christian history?
What's the premise of the series?
What came first, the research or the story?
Why AD 69?
But Vesuvius is featured prominently in the end.
How did you choose the location?
What did you find most intriguing in your research?
What did you find most difficult in writing?

What was your inspiration?

Sitting in Bible studies at my church in Florida, I wondered what it would be like to live in the first century and be part of the early church.

Why a series on Christian history?

I found it intriguing how a small band of followers grew to billions worldwide.

What's the premise of the series?

Each story takes place in pivotal points of Christian church history in each century. The characters in subsequent novels are descendents of the main characters of the first one.

What came first, the research or the story?

I started doing the research and the story fell into place.

Why AD 69?

I chose AD 69 because it was after Nero and before the eruption of Vesuvius.

But Vesuvius is featured prominently in the end.

Yes. When I secured an agent, she told me what many other agents and publishers told me before - it's too short. It was about 54,000 words at the time. Main-stream novels are around 80,000 words. That's when I decide to take the characters ten years later and have them arrive in Pompeii a few days before the eruption.

How did you choose the location?

In Acts 28:11-14 the Apostle Paul, on his final trip to Rome, landed in Puteoli, Italy and spent a week there with believers. No movie, fictional or documentary addresses this time in Paul's life. Who were these believers? What did Paul do with them? I fictionalized that week in the novel with my characters as the "believers".

What did you find most intriguing in your research?

The Roman gods and how the Christians tried to convert them - explaining to them why it was wrong to believe in multiple gods and there was only one God.

What did you find most difficult in writing?

How the Christians converted pagans. It took me a while to understand it. I ended up using Paul's encounter in Athens in Acts 17:22-34.