At What Cost, Silence? The Texian Trilogy (Book One) by Karen Lynne Klink. Diverse Historical Adventure #LGBTQ

 

At What Cost, Silence? The Texian Trilogy (Book One)

Karen Lynne Klink

 

PRICE:  $17.95, $9.95

 

A young man grapples with his integrity and masculinity as he and his unconventional sister struggle for respect in a future laden with the dark secrets and unbridled passions of two plantation dynasties.

SYNOPSIS:

Adrien Villere suspects he is not like other boys. Neighbor Jacob’s betrayal results in secret abuse, setting off a chain reaction which neither Adrien’s sister, Bernadette, nor his close friend Isaac can stop.

Two contrasting plantation families live in pre-Civil War Texas, where strict rules of belief and behavior exist. Years after Jacob’s betrayal, Adrien falls in love with Jacob’s sister, whose father has affianced her to a wealthy older man.

Will Adrien emancipate Isaac? Will Bernadette find the unconventional life she seeks? Or will their entire world collapse as states secede and war creeps closer?

AUTHOR WEBSITE, SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:

Author Website: www.karenklink.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KarenLynneKlinkWriter/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/karenlklinkwriter/

 AUTHOR BIO:

Karen Klink is a sexual abuse survivor with a Bachelor’s Degree from Kent State University. After several years of therapy, she pursued her interest in psychology and spirituality, exploring numerous paths to personal growth that inform her characters. Karen lives in Tucson with her cat, Dickens. At What Cost, Silence? is her first book.

 

 BLURB:

“a family saga that transforms the way we see the past, turning over little-known history by focusing on the antebellum world of East Texas. This is both an epic novel spanning decades of culture and politics, and an intimate, passionate tale of love and morality, rooted deeply in the contradictions and complexities of its many characters. Klink has captured it all with great care, compassion and understanding.”

-          Molly Gloss, author of The Hearts of Horses

EXCERPT:

Chapter Forty-Seven

 Jacob

Jacob Hart had been on the lawn meeting and greeting since the first carriage arrived over an hour past. As eldest and heir, playing host was his job when the old rooster had not yet deigned to present himself. Probably up there having a cigar, overseeing his kingdom or some such. Let him. Not many more years and it would be Jacob’s turn to rule the roost.

          The old fool. Like those steamboats, his time is nearly past, and he doesn’t know it. Jacob had warned Randolph Hart and his cronies of the importance of the railroad, but they hadn’t listened. They refused to pay what the railroad requested to place its tracks through Washington, and the tracks went further west through Brenham instead. Well, now those fossils regret it. Washington is sinking fast in Brenham’s rising wake. The railroad brought goods and services up from the coast safer and faster than riverboats. Flood season did not delay trains.

          Jacob recalled the last time his father beat him with his fists, the morning Randolph slapped Jacob’s mother against a bedpost. Fourteen- year-old Jacob, nearly as tall as his father, swore he would do the same to Randolph one day. His mother was beyond his father’s reach now, passed away in the yellow fever that took so many others in the summer of 1853.

          Jacob strolled across the lawn to greet Adrien and Bernadette, and what a pair they made. Perhaps he should have waited for Bernadette to grow up, despite the trouble she might have given him. And Adrien, absent since Jacob overstepped himself. That business was probably one of his biggest mistakes. His emotions got the best of him, and they never would again. At six one, he stood gratifyingly taller than Adrien—it wouldn’t do to look up at the boy. He gave him a sly smile before bowing and taking Bernadette’s hand.

          “My, but you are lovelier every time I see you. I almost wish I were single.”

          “You own a velvet tongue, Jacob.” She smiled and retrieved her hand.

          Jacob turned, straightened, and cocked one knee, the picture of southern manhood.

          “Hello, Adrien. I don’t believe we’ve seen you since before you left for that college—Center something, wasn’t it?”

          “Centenary.” Adrien straightened as well, weight equal on both feet, chest and chin slightly raised, eyes narrowed and bright.

          God. He must be eighteen. It was beneath him to bate the boy, but he couldn’t help himself. “Centenary. Our local Baylor unworthy. I suppose you’re a man now, aren’t you?” he said, raising a brow.

          “I don’t need two children to prove it.”

          Ho. He's developed a sharp tongue as well as a man's frame and height.

          “Must you two bicker?” Bernadette tapped Jacob on his left biceps with her closed fan, moved forward, and took Adrien’s forearm in one hand. “We were such devoted friends. As children, you were a dear older brother to us, like Lucien.”

          “You are right, my dear. I apologize.” Jacob said, “William and Lily will want to see you; come up to the veranda.” He gave her his arm. I was never like Lucien, who paid as little attention to his siblings as did their father to his children.

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