Step back in time to this full-blooded, deep-spirited American saga
Before the Civil War, three siblings raised at the Lockhouse on the National Mall must rebound from tragedy. As the characters transform, so does the Mall with the arrival of the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian - and then the Union Army. This 15-year family saga of emerging feminist, businessman, and naturalist immerses you in the real lives of Senators and prostitutes, gay and straight national figures, explorers and Civil War boy soldiers. Truly a tale of Americana that shapes our lives today.
Faith on the Mall has received five stars and the "Highly Recommended" award of excellence!
"It takes a skilled writer to transform history into art by placing humanity's flesh and blood onto a factual skeleton ... Ann Beltran gives mid-19th century America this treatment in Faith on the Mall, a novel about three siblings living on the National Mall ... This is an excellent novel whose biggest strengths are its prose and its character analysis. It will be of in interest to anyone who enjoys early American history with a sentimental touch."
You can read the full review here, but be prepared for spoilers.
Encore Learning Presents: The National Mall History Revealed by Author Ann Beltran’s Characters
Cosponsored by Arlington Public Library
When you link, advance to 3:30 to begin my talk and see all the photos and graphics that become a supplementary illustration of the book. There's no spoilers, and some like to see the photos first while others appreciate them after having read the novel.
Meet Ann Beltran
Hi, I like to create character-driven, engaging stories. It’s what goes on in their heads that really interests me.
Faith on the Mall has been my most challenging novel to write. While I was determined to immerse the reader in accurate history from 1848 into the Civil War, at the same time I wanted to write it in distinct first person voices of three siblings who grew up on the National Mall. And make you want to care about them! Along the way I learned so much about how times back then presented so many issues we still live with today.
My prior venture into historical fiction, Love on the Mall, a Tale of the National Mall, was driven by a desire to write a Jane Austen kind of novel. It's a fun ride into the heads of a flirty young woman one hundred years ago and a struggling, vulnerable architect. Soulmates? Perhaps. It takes them twenty years to figure it out.
My prior novels, The Nonprofit Girl Trilogy, span fifteen years from Seattle to India and continents in-between, as the mother/daughter coming-of-age, family saga plays out. There's lots of me in those characters, so it was an easy beginning to my writing career.
Books
Click covers to learn more about each book
Newsletter
Sign up to keep up with the latest posts
