What inspired the story in this new novel?
Cindy: I fell in love with the idea of if we lose all of what makes us, us—who are we? How do we find our way back to ourselves…or to God? Can we find our way back?
I’ve had the ideas of this story simmering for years, and one facet of the story is about a close-knit group of fifty-something women who are forced to take a closer look at how they give of themselves to others. Most of us want to give, but we like to pick the when, where, and how.
What happens if “it” picks us? And what happens if the “it” is a young homeless woman who seems mentally unstable and is stealing from us?
The Glynn Girls found the whole situation taxing, and what they wanted to do and what God seemed to be asking were two very different things.
What or who inspired these characters?
Cindy: A seedling idea came to me one morning as I was waking. It was about three close-knit teens who’d bonded while living in the foster care system.
My desire to understand foster kids beyond the clichéd portrayal took root. Who were these girls? What would life be like as adult teens without any family support system?
To help us dive deeper into understanding the girls, Erin went to Asheville, North Carolina, where the girls are from originally, and she connected with a legal advocate for the juvenile court system. That was a tremendous help!
The research was quite a journey—uplifting and unnerving. As the Tide Comes In shows Tara at eighteen, trying to get her feet under her when family needs arise.
There’s one responsible adult holding life together for Tara’s two half brothers—a dying elderly woman who isn’t related to Tara. None of it is easy or fair—because when adults abandon their children due to addiction, the concept of life being unfair takes on all new meaning.
The Glynn Girls—the group of fifty-something women who’ve been best friends since they were ten—were inspired by many Southern women I’ve met over the years. They’re quirky, funny, and overbearing at times, but their hearts are in the right place.
When Tara’s world collides with theirs, it’s interesting because the Glynn Girls don’t understand her at all at first, and they treat her poorly. When they begin to see her for who she is, Tara, at almost thirty, isn’t capable of yielding to their maternal ways.
Which character(s) surprised you most in this novel?
Erin: I’d say Sue Beth, the Glynn Girl who at the beginning of the book isn’t getting along with Julep, who is another Glynn Girl and the hero’s mother. Cindy and I started out thinking Sue Beth was a shallow flirt. That’s how she appears to everyone, but by the final draft, Sue Beth is a complex woman who’s hiding her wounded, long-term marriage from even her closest friends.
When Barnes and Noble wanted an exclusive bonus feature, we wrote a short story about Sue Beth that opens readers’ eyes to who she really is. I hope readers will get chance to check it out because she gets a point of view that we didn’t have time to explore in As the Tide Comes In, although there’s lots of character development for Sue Beth in the main storyline too.
For readers of your Amish fiction, Cindy, which elements of As the Tide Comes In can they look forward to most?
Cindy: If readers love picturesque settings, we have readers covered with the beautiful setting of St. Simons Island! If readers enjoy strong female characters who live a life of sacrifice while holding onto that unique part of who God made them, we have that covered too.
And readers can expect a clean read with no explicit language or scenes. Another element that’s shared with Amish fiction is the strong sense of community, and these characters have that in the St. Simons Island setting. No one has to face the world alone, and we loved developing the interactions and relationships between the characters.
What are your favorite ways for readers to support their favorite authors?
Cindy: We live in a great time for readers to support their favorite authors! I love it. Word of mouth is so very important. One reader can reach hundreds or thousands of people by posting a review on Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon and the like. That is so very helpful!
Just a shout out of: “I’m reading As the Tide Comes In and loving it” or “I’m reading As the Tide Comes In and I’m in need of tissues one minute and of covering my mouth to stifle laughter the next.”
Those are simple, but very effective, and if readers post an image of the book’s cover to go with that, wow, it’s a powerhouse of support!
Another great support is to Like and Share authors’ posts on social media, for me that’s mostly Facebook. I can’t express how much I appreciate my readers’ help with spreading the word about each book on their own social media pages. My debut novel came out in 2006, and I don’t know where I’d be without readers’ faithful support for each book, both online and word of mouth to their real-life family, friends, and even strangers in bookstores.
Visit Cindy Woodsmall’s author page:
https://www.familyfiction.com/authors/cindy-woodsmall
Visit Erin Woodsmall’s author page:
https://www.familyfiction.com/authors/erin-woodsmall
As the Tide Comes In
Cindy Woodsmall and Erin Woodsmall
WaterBrook
A New York Times best-selling author releases her first southern novel, a Steel Magnolias-meets-Sweet Home Alabama story set on St. Simons Island.
When an unthinkable loss sends Tara Abbott’s life spiraling out of control, she journeys from North Carolina to Georgia’s St. Simons Island. Although confused and scared, she hopes to find answers about her past – her life before the years of foster care and raising her two half-brothers as a young adult. Will she find steady ground on the island, surrounded by an eccentric-but-kindhearted group of older women called The Glynn Girls and a determined firefighter? Or will the truth splinter what’s left of her identity into pieces?