meet Maureen Lang



Today is Fiction Friday and my dear friend Joanne is hosting for us at her blog, An Open Book. Be sure to run over there for links to fun fiction.

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Maureen Lang is the author of nine novels, both historical and contemporary. Her stories have won a variety of awards and placements, including a Golden Heart Award (RWA) and Noble Theme Award (ACFW), a Holt Award of Merit, and finaling in such contests as the Christy, the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Contest, ACFW’s Book of the Year, and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. Her newest historical romance is the first of a three book series, Look To The East, releasing from Tyndale House in September of 2009

You can keep up with Maureen at her website: www.maureenlang.com and her blog.



Look to the East
A village under siege. A love under fire.
France 1914

At the dawn of the First World War, the French village of Briecourt is isolated from the battles, but the century-old feud between the Toussaints and the de Colvilles still rages in the streets. When the German army sweeps in to occupy the town, families on both sides of the feud are forced to work together to protect stragglers caught behind enemy lines.

Julitte Toussaint may have been adopted from a faraway island, but she feels the scorn of the de Colvilles as much as anyone born a Toussaint. So when she falls in love with one of the stragglers—a wealthy and handsome Belgian entrepreneur—she knows she’s playing with fire. Charles Lassone hides in the cellar of the Briecourt church, safe from the Germans for the moment. But if he’s discovered, it will bring danger to the entire village and could cost Charles his life.

Here's an excerpt from Look to the East:

Once, in a little village forgotten by time, there lived two feuding families: the Toussaints and the de Colvilles. Other families inhabited Briecourt in Northern France, but their tranquil lives escape memory.

As with most enduring feuds, no one knows exactly why it began. Some say it was over une aventure—an in indiscreet love between one man and a woman not his wife. Others insist money was the cause—a squabble between the miller and the baker over the price of flour. Still others recall it beginning with a simple difference of opinion on the faults and merits of Napoleon between two old men sharing a cup of chocolat…

It is not, however, the origin but rather the result that matters. One hundred years later, even the purest flour made into the flakiest pastry would leave a bitter taste if made by one clan and sampled by the other.

Except for one brief moment in history, the feud rages to this day…

Briecourt, Northern France

Julitte Toussaint sucked in her breath and shut her eyes, as if by closing off her own vision she, too, might become invisible. Stuck high above the ground where someone so grown—just turned twenty and two—should never be caught, she shot a fervent prayer heavenward. Please let neither one look up! She clutched the book-size tin to her chest and went death-still in hopes of going unnoticed.

“. . . those days may be behind us, Anton. At least for a while.”

She heard his voice for the first time, the man who had come to visit the only château within walking distance of her village. The man whose blond hair had reflected the sun and nearly blinded her to the rest of his beauty. The perfect nose, the proportionate lips, the blue eyes that, with one glance, had taken her breath away.

Now he was near again, and her lungs froze. She feared the slightest motion might betray her.

She knew the other man was Anton Mantoux without looking. He was the closest thing to aristocracy the town of Briecourt knew. Though Julitte had never spoken to him, she had heard him speak many times. Whenever the mayor called a village meeting, M. Mantoux always held the floor longest.

“You’ll go back, Charles? join this insanity when you could follow me the other way?”
Charles . . . so that was his name. “Who would have thought I had a single noble bone in my body?”

M. Mantoux snorted. “You’ll follow your foolhardy king, will you?”

“Much can be said about a man—a king, no less—who takes for himself the same risks he asks others to bear. I should never have left Belgium. I know my sister never will. How can I do less?”

“Ah, yes, your beautiful and brave little sister, Isabelle. . . . What is it you call her? Isa?”

“Careful with your thoughts, Anton,” said the man—Charles—whose voice was every bit as lovely as his face. “She’s little more than a child.”

“A child, but not much longer. And then you may have me in the family!”

Feeling a cramp in her leg, Julitte wanted nothing more than to climb down the tree and scurry away. Let them move on! she silently pleaded to God. Send a wind to blow them on their way before—

As if in instant answer to her prayer, a gust tore through the thick leaf cover of the beech tree in which she hid. In horror she watched the tin, dampened by her perspiring hands, slip from her grasp and take the path designed by gravity. She heard a dull thud as it bounced off the perfect forehead of the taller of the two men below, grazing the blond hair that so intrigued her.

A moment later both men looked up, and she might have thought their surprised faces funny had she planned the episode and still been young enough to get away with such a prank.

“I thank You for the answered prayer of the wind, Lord,” she whispered in annoyed submission, “but not for the result, as You well know.”


I've got to tell you--I have this book from another blog giveaway (thank you, Maureen!) and I'm totally loving it! The only bad thing is that I don't have the time to just sit and read it straight through like I'm dying to do! I'm having to read a little here and a little there and it's about to kill me! You really and truly do not want to miss reading this one! It's great!! :-)

You can purchase Look to the East from CBD and Amazon:


Maureen is giving away a copy of Look to the East. To be entered in the book giveaway, leave a comment and check back on Thursday, September 24th to see if you've won. If you want to guarantee that you're notified if you win, then leave your email address in the comment, otherwise, you can just check back and email me through the button in my sidebar. OR you could sign up to have Patterings updates delivered to your inbox. If you sign up for the email notifications and confirm your new subscription, it will give you a bonus entry in the giveaway, otherwise you can enter twice--once for each post you leave a comment on. :^)

Be sure to check out Mary Hake's book giveaway which is currently going on here at Patterings!

I'll see you tomorrow with an interview with Maureen Lang.

9 comments:

  1. Oh, I'd love to win this book thanks.

    ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I get your email newsletter too. Thanks.

    ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know little about WWI, so I'd love to win. Please enter me. Thanks.
    desertrose5173 At gmail Dot com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I, too, am a newsletter recipient.

    desertrose5173 At gmail Dot com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi there! Just to clear up a little confusion--the extra opportunity to enter the book drawing is for those who newly subscribe. :-)

    Look to the East is a FABULOUS book and you'll love it! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Please enter me in the contest!
    Thank you!

    cherierj(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I enjoy Maureen's books very much and would love to read her new series. Thank you for the giveaway!

    I'm also a subscriber.

    cjarvis [at] bellsouth [dot] net

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yeah, I would love to win a book by Maureen Lang. Thanks.

    Please email the winner.

    gahome2mom/at/gmail/dot/com

    ReplyDelete
  9. JoAnn S8:48 PM

    Please enter me in the drawing. The book sounds really interesting.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for stopping by! I love hearing from you.

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