Talkshow Thursday: Meet Sarah Hanks!

Talkshow Thursday: Meet Sarah Hanks!

My grandpa first saw my grandma in 1959 walking outside of Velvet Freeze, a popular ice cream joint in St. Louis. He says, "She had a scarf under her nose and cigarettes rolled up in her shirt, wearing her Levis. I saw her and said, 'Wow! What a woman.'" She'd just gotten thrown out of Beaumont High School for a knife fight. Her siren's call drew my grandpa in. He was smitten.

Their first date was on the Admiral, a popular river cruise boat featuring live music and dancing. It did not go as planned. Still, he knew she was the woman for him.

They had two weddings: a secret one, and a church one. It's an excellent, hilarious story. You can read all about it in New Creations, my new split-time novel releasing on August 16th (my grandpa’s birthday). Reality needed little to no tinkering here.

Other stories included: that time "Floyd" cut a man's ear off, home improvement endeavors that rival

National Lampoons, a blackberry snafu that left a grocery store in alarm, and that time he got his finger stuck in a wiper blade and had to have dinner brought to him at the car. I'm telling you, my grandpa is a legend. You're going to love him!

New Creations isn’t a memoir. While many of the stories from the historical storyline are based in truth, the more contemporary storyline is nearly entirely fabricated. The 1990s storyline is based on my memories of growing up singing and dancing for older ladies in the back of my grandparent’s shop as they waited under dryers, but there’s a lot of creative leeway. I switched up names (My grandpa’s name is Douglas Floyd. In New Creations the protagonist is Floyd Douglas. Clever, huh?) and condensed the storyline, but tried to stay true to the heart of my Papa’s character.

This is a book that will make you laugh. It will make you cry. It will make you want to hug your loved ones tight. For those who love family stories, nostalgic vibes, and character-driven novels, you might just fall in love with this one.

If you enjoyed Amanda Cox's The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery, Susie Finkbeiner's The All-American, or Katie Powner's The Wind Blows in Sleeping Grass, you might just love New Creations. (All photos courtesy of Sarah Hanks)

Here’s the blurb:

Floyd Douglas is a blundering barber who faces retirement wondering if the past sixty years of his life have been a waste. When he's presented with the opportunity to go on a mission trip, it seems like the answer to his prayers and a way to finally make his life count for something. Now with a series of obstacles standing in the way of his newfound dream, he must decide whether to push through or find contentment in being the faithful family man he's always been.

Emira has always looked up to her grandpa, especially since her parents’ marriage fractured and left her foundations shaken. Now, she scrambles to assure the man who taught her how to love what a deeply meaningful life he’s lived.

New Creations releases on August 16th. You can preorder the Kindle book now.

Sarah Hanks is an award-winning author of Christian fiction in both the contemporary and historical genres. After spending over a decade mostly writing and teaching Sunday school curricula for churches in her community, she jumped into writing fiction full-time with her split-time novel Mercy Will Follow Me. She and her husband have nine children, a couple of whom seem to have inherited their mother’s love for playing with words and crafting stories. Though Sarah dreams of a cabin by the beach, the family lives jammed together in beautiful chaos near St. Louis, Missouri. She buys earplugs in bulk.

You can follow her on Facebook or Instagram @authorsarahhanks or connect with her at her website http://www.sarah-hanks.com.