Looking out the Window: Mary Marelli Talks about Her Debut Novel, Moon over Montana. In a Moving Recollection She Also Shares How She Knows Jesus Is Real.
A Warm Welcome to Mary Marelli
Hi Mary, tell us a little about yourself.
I’m Mary Marelli, wife, mother, grandmother, and author. God and family are first and foremost in my life. With them, God by my side and my family to support me, everything else falls into place. We live on a private lake in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. My children are grown, so it is just hubby and myself. Oh, and I can’t forget our hound. She won’t let me.
Were you an avid reader as a child? If so, what did you read?
I couldn’t get my nose out of a book! I remember the hot summer days I would sit in the shade of an apple tree and read. We lived in a rural farming community. My Oma and Opa raised chickens, had a huge garden, and were fairly self-sustainable. Our neighbor across the street raised horses. Horses and reading became a huge part of my life. There was nothing more comforting on a lazy summer afternoon to sit there and read, Oma and Opa bustling about, and horses grazing in the pasture.
Why do you write?
I think I write because I have so much going on in my mind that I sometimes feel as if I can’t contain it. I once told a group of first grade children that if you can imagine, you can write. Our daydreams are stories waiting to be written.
Tell us about your latest book.
Moon over Montana carries a message of strength to overcome grief, and forgiveness. The story takes place in the small cattle town of Five Forks, Montana. Heroine, Megan Donovan, is a wildlife photographer seeking a new start after suffering a devastating loss. She goes to Five Forks to settle the estate of her estranged grandfather, and is met with an unsettling mystery. When she meets rancher, David ‘Cam’ Campbell, her life takes an unexpected turn she never imagined. The discovery of a herd of wild horses inhabiting the open range and the bottom section of her grandfather’s land, further adds to her dilemma. Her earlier decision to sell the land and move on, hit a roadblock. The horses are in danger. Megan can’t walk away from them, or from Cam.
What do you love about this book? And what do you hope readers will tell others about it?
I love the way Megan and Cam look past their differences, the challenges both face in life, and learn to trust again. I bring out the beauty of the American west in my story. Having lived in South Dakota, this is very dear to my heart. Another important message I hope to carry, is the plight of America’s wild horses. Our horses, as the horses in my story, are in danger. I pray this brings awareness to their plight and the efforts of people and various groups around the country, to save them.
Mary Explains How She Knows Jesus Is Real
As a Christian I believe, but have been challenged by that age-old question. My answer is simple. Jesus has always been there for me, even before I was saved and didn’t realize it. He was there, never more so than when we lost my mother to liver failure at the age of 63, a bleak time for myself, and my family. Mom needed a transplant, yet we couldn’t bring ourselves to pray for someone to die, so she could live. We put the decision in God’s hands.
My father and I went to the hospital every day. It didn’t matter that I had to drive an hour to pick up Dad, and another hour drive to the hospital. We visited. The week Mom slipped into a coma, we still visited. When my brother and sister went to see her that weekend, there was no change in Mom’s condition. However, on Monday, Dad and I found her bright and alert. She spoke with us, and then she sent Dad away so I could have some quiet time with her. I’ll never forget what she said.
“Maggie, I had a visitor Saturday night.” A visitor? I knew my brother and sister were there, but Mom shook her head. This was the middle of the night, she said.
“Who, Mom?” I asked again.
Mom grew quiet. She smiled and held my hand. “Jesus.”
My breath caught. I felt as if my heart stopped beating, but I knew what she spoke was true. “Jesus came and sat alongside me. I told him I wanted to go home.”
Where some might question such an occurrence, I never thought to do so. I believe Mom saw Jesus that night. Upon thinking more, I realized He visited me, also. Mom’s sickness took a toll on the entire family. Sleep was impossible. I often woke and sat at the table in the dark. Sometimes I prayed. Sometimes I forgot how to pray.
There didn’t seem to be an easy answer. But that Saturday night I woke around three a.m., as I often did. Only instead of getting out of bed and sitting at the table, a comforting warmth spread over me. More like through me, you know? The feeling was all encompassing, something I couldn’t deny if I wanted.
A soft voice whispered to my soul. “Everything is going to be OK.” That’s all. Those simple words by an unseen, but deeply felt presence, brought such a tranquil peace to my body and soul, I nodded and went back to sleep.
It was only after my visit with Mom, did I come to the realization that both of us, indeed, had a special visit from Jesus. He sat with my mother, on her last lucid day on this earth. The last day she spoke to any of us. She passed later that week, and I knew she had gone home.
Jesus told her so.
Thank you for sharing that wonderful testimony with us.
About Moon over Montana
Megan Donovan's broken engagement has left her aimless with only one place to go: Montana. Her estranged grandfather has left the broken-down ranch of her mother's youth. Trouble is, Mom's memories of that time are so tainted that Megan doesn't want anything to do with the place.
The wild horses that David “Cam” Campbell protects from rustlers need a sanctuary to roam free. What better location than Old Man Jenkins' acreage adjacent to his own successful ranch? But Cam's gotten off on the wrong foot with Megan, and that gal's not selling—not unless Cam can convince her that it's best for everyone involved.
But is giving Megan a reason to leave, really the best he can do?
An Excerpt
She braked to a stop in front of the darkened house, her heart sinking. The onset of dusk only accentuated its dilapidated condition. Old, gray paint flaked off and blew away in the wind. Shutters hung loose, and what was left of the screen door leaned against the house. Bricks from a crumbling chimney and broken grass littered the ground. An old rope swing hung from a gnarled oak tree, a splintered seat dragging on the dusty ground. Megan experienced her first glimpse into her mother’s childhood, and an eerie sense of foreboding washed over her. She climbed from the truck and shuddered. “Idiot. You afraid of ghosts or something?”
Megan stepped onto the porch, and her foot plunged through a rotted floorboard. She screamed, pulled her leg free, and jumped to the ground. “You were right, Mom. I should have listened. I never should have come here.”
She ran back to the truck and locked the doors. She had no desire to go inside. From the broken windows, rotted porch, and sagging roof, it would be a miracle if she survived without incurring serious injury. Not to mention spiders and whatever creatures crawled within the darkened confines.
Courage waned, and she cursed her decision to come in the first place. The sun sank below the mountains in the west, and a small black body swooped low across the hood of her truck.
Megan squealed and fell back against the seat. “Great. Just great. That's all I need.”
Not one to shrink in the face of adversity, the curiosity of a photographer winning out, she reached for her camera behind the seat and climbed from the truck. She slipped off the lens cap and walked to the side of the house.
Set against a backdrop of leaden, gray clouds, a hint of darkness shrouding the land as the sun sank below the horizon, Megan snapped frame after frame of a long stream of bats flying from the crumbling chimney. The colony swooped and dove until they were out of sight, gobbled up by the creeping darkness.
Buy on Amazon
Bio: A writer of romance and young adult, Mary Marelli brings the word of God and love of animals through her stories. Her debut novel, Moon over Montana, is packed with mystery, romance, and a young couple’s fight to save a herd of wild mustangs from rustlers. Mary’s book is published by White Rose Publishing.
Mary lives with her husband Mike, and hound, Stacey, on a private lake nestled in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains. Mother of two and grandmother to a teenage boy, her writing is inspired by a variety of true life experiences and a cause dear to her heart, the preservation of America’s wild horses.
Long walks around the lake with Stacey lead to quiet times and talks with God. Mary believes that prayer doesn’t always have to be formal. It can come at any time and in any place. Sitting on the shore of the lake with her dog, brings comfort. Long talks with God bring peace. Mary’s strength comes from the Lord and she hopes to bring that out in her work.
Learn more about Mary on her Website
Comments
That is a sweet testimony. Thanks so much for sharing it.
Good luck and God's blessings with your book.
PamT