New Blog Address

To read about my latest book, The Winds of September, please go to www.frances-bennett.blogspot.com.

How Communities Came Into Existence

The Journey
Press Release Author: Frances Bennett / Bookstand Publishing
Industry: Media
Press Release Summary: The Journey is a historical fiction
novel that describes a way of life for settlers that few of us can gather in. Read about 1899 Americana History, a story of homesteading, conquering a wilderness, and naming a community in order to receive mail. Read excerpts and place an order at http://www.francesbennett.blogspot.com/ http://www.bookstandpublishing.com/m/francesbennett
Reviews at http://www.amazon.com/. Press Release Body: The Journey ISBN: 978-1-58909-454-3
Contact Details: Frances Bennett 1359 Hwy. 3121 Spearsville, LA 71277 phone: 318 7783896
E-mail; francesbennett7@gmail.com. Frances Bennett never dreamed that the articles she began writing for a Union Parish, Louisiana paper in 2004 would lead the way to a book publisher. For the weekly article, she searched her memory and wrote of nostalgic things such as school days in the 40’s, and how things were done when two grades occupied the same room in the little sawmill town of Urbana, Arkansas. But Bennett soon realized that her memories wouldn’t sustain the column for long, so she began a serialized story from her mother’s bible records and things her maternal grandmother told as they sat in front of a crackling fire on cold winter nights. As a nine year old, Bennett tucked it away in her heart and relived it all before she fell asleep.
The continued story was an instant success, and through questions to Bennett and her editor as to whether she was writing a book, the seed was planted. From this came, The Journey.
The story begins in 1899 when newly weds, Lona and Charlie Stegall, along with two of Charlie’s brothers, leave North Carolina on a wagon train headed for Union County, Arkansas, where another brother has settled. They cross rivers and bury the dead to finally arrive at their destination. Frighteningly beautiful descriptions of happenings fill the pages of The Journey during Lona and Charlie’s lifetime on a homestead that was carved from a wilderness.
Frances Bennett is an artist and a Christian writer. She is the mother of four with six grandchildren and one great grandchild. In 1951, Frances rode with a friend to attend a gospel meeting at the Antioch Church of Christ near Spearsville, Louisiana. She met her future husband, Billy Bennett, at the Sunday morning service. At that time, the white church building on a hill was made from lumber and the church dinners were held underneath shade trees. Billy and Frances married in June of 1952, and still live on the farm they bought in 1954. They worship on that same hill, only now, from their home they look across fields and see a red brick church.
Frances writes a column for a local parish paper. The Journey was her serialized column at one time, and begins with the story of her maternal grandparents wagon train migration as newly weds in 1899 from North Carolina to homestead in Union County, Arkansas. She used childhood memories of conversations at dusky dark as a tightly rolled rag smoked to keep mosquitoes at bay, things her grandmother told, and her mother’s bible records to spin the historical fiction column. It was an instant success, and through positive feedback and questions as to whether she was writing a book, the seed was planted. From this came The Journey.
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Check out the NEW GREAT BOOKS PAGE

I am honored for Peter N. Jones to include my historical fiction book, The Journey, on the GREAT NEW BOOKS THAT ARE A MUST READ list on newgreatbooks.blogspot.com /. It is always interesting to see what different people percieve about the book, and Peter's review is certainly worthwhile reading. Frances Bennett

For you South Arkansas and North Louisiana folks!

My historical fiction novel, The Journey by Frances Bennett, Spearsville, La. is at the following bookstores:

Harrison's Christian Bookstore, El Dorado, Arkansas.
Jefferson's Bookstore, El Dorado, Arkansas.
Bernice Drugs, Bernice, Louisiana
Read about it on my blog, http://www.francesbennett.blogspot.com
http://www.bookstandpublishing.com/m/francesbennett
Reviews at, http://www.amazon.com

Frances Bennett will speak on June 8th regarding The Journey.......

The Union County Arkansas Genealogy Society will meet at 2 pm in the Barton Library of El Dorado, Arkansas on June 8, 2008. Frances Bennett will be the speaker as there was quite a bit of genealogy work before her historical fiction novel, The Journey, was published. Frances will relate childhood memories and happenings through past years that led to her becoming a writer, also the part that her newspaper column, Reflections, played in her decision to write a book. A review and description of The Journey will be included in the June 2nd mailing of Tracks and Traces, a genealogy paper that goes to almost every state.

Southern Hospitality

For seven years. I wrote a weekly column for The Bernice Banner. I turned in short family related stories before I began a serialized account from my mother's bible records and things my maternal grandmother told about leaving North Carolina in 1899 as a new bride on a wagon train bound for Union County, Arkansas. This historical fiction story, The Journey, was an instant success. Through questions as to whether I was writing a book, the seed was planted and by the time I had turned in chapter 72, my mind was made up. Through Bookstand Publishing, I had The Journey published in book form. Frighteningly beautiful happenings fill all 232 pages of this Christian book.
I no longer have my column, but I am presently working on The Winds series. I have completed what I plan to be the first book of four, and I'm on chapter 40 of the second book. (I am updating these posts. Today is 2, 22, 2012, and I have already published The Winds of September, and the second book, The Winds of Time that came out in Oct. 0f 2011.) These are fiction, and describe the life of settlers who migrated from a Texas soddy to homestead in the Appalachian Valley of Tennessee. Same family, different stages of their lives. To purchase a signed copy of The Journey, ISBN #: 978-1-58909-454-3, The Winds of September, ISBN #978-1-58909-584-7,or The Winds of Time, ISBn# 978-1-61862-032-3, send a check or money order in the amount of $23.00 to:
Frances Bennett
1359 Hwy. 3121
Spearsville, Louisiana 71277
http://www.bookstandpublishing.com/book_details/The_Winds_of_Time
http://www.bookstandpublishing.com/book_details/The_Winds_of_September
http://www.bookstandpublishing.com/m/francesbennett
http://www.amazon.com (Search: The Journey by Frances Bennett)
francesbennett7@gmail.com

What Some People Say About The Journey

Many people say that once they started reading, they couldn't put it down until they finished. I've been asked if Lona's necklace is a family heirloom, and who has it now. Some people plan to visit the Philadelphia Cemetery in Union County, Arkansas that I write about in The Journey where a lot of Stegalls' are buried. The death of eighteen month old Ila Bessie has been compared to the death of a two year old boy in a family where the mother lined his footprints in the garden with turnip green leaves to try and preserve them. Heart wrenching and joyful stories come to me from memories that The Journey has evoked in readers. For a signed copy, send a check or money order in the amount of $23.00 to:
Frances Bennett
1359 Hwy. 3121
Spearsville, Louisiana 71277

ISBN: 978-1-58909-454-3
Read reviews and buy at: http://www.amazon.com(The Journey by Frances Bennett)
http://www.bookstandpublishing.com/m/francesbennett
francesbennett7@gmail.com