Author Guest Post: Linda Sammaritan -- Reaching into Silence

7 days ago

4 min read

I am excited to have Author Linda Sammaritan on my blog for a guest post.

Linda Sammaritan, a 2024 Carol Award finalist, writes realistic fiction, mostly for kids ages ten to fourteen. The World Without Sound series is her debut for middle grade and young adult audiences.

Parents of special needs children have also found hope in this story of a deaf child and her sister, based on Linda’s own childhood.

Linda always figured she’d teach teens and tweens for sixty years or more, at which point, school authorities would present her with a retirement wheelchair and roll her out the door. However, God changed those plans when He gave her a growing passion for writing fiction. In May of 2016, she blew goodbye kisses to her students and dedicated her work hours to becoming an author.

A wife, mother of three, and grandmother to eight, Linda regales the youngest grandchildren with “Nona Stories,” tales of her childhood.

Now for her post!

Pushing Through to Joy

LET ME TELL YOU A STORY.

Once upon a time there lived a happy family. A mom and dad who loved each other. A daughter and two sons who got along as well as any loving siblings can get along. And a wonderful existence where Mom baked lots of cookies and Dad flew his Air Force jet all over the sky to protect America. All was well.

Until.

A new baby girl arrived. And the father had to go to war.

The baby was weak, and doctors knew she had been born with many problems. The family was determined to help their new baby if only they knew what was wrong. Doctors told them to send the baby to an institution. Well, that was not going to happen! The parents kept visiting new doctors, the brothers protected the baby, and the big sister decided she would teach her little sister all kinds of things even if real teachers wouldn’t do it.

The father flew dangerous missions for a whole year. The brothers and big sister promised him they would help their mom and baby sister. They really tried to be good, but sometimes they failed horribly. At last, the father returned home.

And they all lived happily ever after.

You’ve just read the fairy tale version of my childhood. In real life (1965), our family grew strong together in the midst of a crisis when the rubella epidemic affected the health of my sister while she was in-utero.

Rubella maims unborn children; it can even kill them, and many families sent their “rubella babies” away per doctors’ recommendations. My parents refused to do so. They committed to finding doctors who would help my sister develop as normally as possible. Their marriage strengthened through their perseverance. My brothers and I learned compassion as we put our baby sister ahead of our own desires.

Told from the big sister’s point of view, I’ve written a fictionalized version of our experiences in my series, World Without Sound. The three books are sequential, but each can stand alone. Reaching Into Silence introduces the family and the issues with rubella. Dancing in the Silence, a Carol Award finalist, follows the joyful baby’s development while the rest of the family is stressed when Dad goes to war in Vietnam. In Speaking Through the Silence, big sister Debbie battles the educational establishment to use sign language to help little sister Krista.

After I wrote my family’s story, I realized it reflected the first five verses in Romans 5. No matter what went on in our lives, we ended up rejoicing in hope. Suffering produced perseverance. Perseverance built character. Character grew into hope. Hope and joy walked hand in hand.

They still do.

Whenever my brothers and I speak of our sister, we see tender smiles reflected in each of our faces. One or the other of us will say, “What would we do without her? Without her joyful spirit? She has made us all better people.”

Sixty years ago, three kids were willing to offer whatever they could to make their baby sister happy. To our surprise, her God-given exuberance for life, recognizable from the day she was born, infused us with her joy!

Here's about her book!

The rubella epidemic of 1964-65. The Vietnam War.

Both converge on twelve-year-old Debbie when her sister is born with disabilities and her father may be flying into danger.

Labeled as a “rubella baby,” Debbie’s sister Krista is born blind in one eye and with a hole in her heart. Although she survives risky open-heart surgery, months pass, and she doesn’t babble or crawl like most babies do. Doctors decide Krista is cognitively challenged—she’ll never be able to learn—and they advise her parents to put her in an institution. Just forget about her and raise their three “normal”kids.

Not on Debbie’s watch. She’s sure Krista is deaf, but no one will believe a kid.

Along with all the medical drama, Debbie must deal with problems at school—best friends who move away, mean girls who don’t, bullies, and boyfriends. Refusing to give in to self-pity, she soldiers on as Krista’s champion.

However, Debbie’s optimism falters when her father’s next orders will send him to the war in Vietnam. Can she hang tough for her mother, keep helping Krista, and prepare for life without Dad, possibly forever?

Buy Now

Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win an ebook copy of your choice of book in the series!

(Giveaway runs for one week. Winner will be contacted by author.)