Today I’m joined by author Cindy Bradford. She is on a virtual tour to promote her second novel, Promises Kept. I’ve asked her to talk to us about how the theme of the power of the human spirit runs through the novel. But first I’ll let her tell us a bit about the book:

Cindy: Promises Kept is Faith’s story, an unforgettable young woman whose life’s journey has been filled with uncertainty, of searching for people and answers that others take for granted. Compassionate and courageous, she never gives up, showing strength and character beyond her years. It is also the story about the power of the human spirit, of family, friends and love.

As I’ve said, you’ve told me that the power of the human spirit is a theme in the novel. Can you tell me more about this, Cindy?

Cindy: Albert Schweitzer wrote, “In everyone’s life, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”

In the first book, Keeping Faith, Faith is the catalyst, the inspiration, the force that gives Patrick back his life and rekindles his inner spirit. Without her, he is on a hopeless venture where he can find no true happiness. When she comes into his life, that all changes. First as a teenager and then as a young woman, her personal strength and fortitude allow her to open closed doors and soften hardened hearts for many who are caught in Patrick’s tangled web of confusion and cover-up.

But it is in the second book, Promises Kept, that Faith truly comes to grips with life and who she is as a person. It is only then that she discovers her boundaries and limitations. For so long she has focused on helping everyone else, until she suddenly has to stand back and look at herself. As her shift of consciousness begins, her softer side unfolds, but her inner fire begins to wane. She is alone again with only her thoughts and hopes. She realizes that somehow she must work to find balance and harmony in a life filled yet again with uncertainty and confusion.

The writer Bernard Williams once claimed, “Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.” He must have known Faith because she certainly displays this fighting, survival technique, but it does not come without inner strife and outward questioning. For the first time in her life, she doubts that she has what it takes to go on, but just as she was the one person in the first book who awakened Patrick’s soul, there is a single human being who can do that for her. It may surprise you who that individual is and how she responds.

I invite you to join me on the Promises Kept virtual tour and every comment you post on the tour posts – will get you an entry into a drawing for a copy of the first book in this series – Keeping Faith. Visit http://bookpromotionservices.com/2010/03/02/promises-kept/ for the complete schedule. For more details about me, Cindy Bradford, visit –www.KeepingFaithTheNovel.com and www.DocCBradford.com/my-books

Thanks for joining us today, Cindy. I read Promises Kept a few weeks ago (before it was released) and found myself slipping into Faith’s world, wondering what would happen next. I’ll post my review of the book tomorrow. I wish you every success with the novel and on your tour.

Cindy Bradford, Ph.D., is the author of Keeping Faith and Promises Kept. She lives at South Padre Island, Texas, and spends several months a year in Ruidoso, New Mexico. She is a retired public school educator and university professor. She often incorporates her knowledge of wine into her writings and shares the beautiful places she has visited with her readers. www.doccbradford.com