The Launch of The Living Cross

The day has come – today is the official launch day for The Living Cross: Exploring God’s Gift of Forgiveness and New Life, published by the Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF). In the times of old in publishing, the launch date may have been met with a bubbly-infused luncheon or a glitzy party at night. Times have changed, however, and those publisher-sponsored events are largely a thing of the past – at least at my level of authorship!

In loving memory of Olwen Pye.

But we have marked the birth of this second book-baby by hosting two events, one on each side of the Atlantic. Babies come at all sorts of odd times in life – I have a friend, for instance, who gave birth on her birthday, and I am glad that a family member has a September 13 birthday and not a September 11 one. This book-baby arrived at a time of sadness in our family. Days after my husband and kids arrived in Minnesota, laden with copies of The Living Cross that had arrived while I was in Michigan, Nicholas’s mother died unexpectedly. He was able to cut short our visit and fly back home to England to be at her bedside when she died, for which we were grateful. We decided to go ahead with the already-planned book celebration a couple of days later, feeling the loss of her but sensing she’d want us not to cancel the celebration. For Olwen always so encouraged me in my writing, and one of our last conversations was about how happy she was that Finding Myself in Britain had won an award. I honour her memory with this book on the gift of forgiveness – a gift to be unwrapped in the close proximity of family life.

I think too on this launch day about the advice from another who has moved onto glory, Marion Stroud. In her last post for the ACW blog, just weeks before she died, she spoke of author Cynthia Ruchti’s practice of praying on a launch day. Praying for all those who would read the book; praying for those going through the struggles that her characters experienced. I too am embracing this practice today.

Starting next week, I’ll be hosting another guest blog series, Forgiveness Fridays. I’m so excited to share with you some fantastic posts on the freeing gift of forgiveness, written by an interesting range of people.

Lent is a long ways away – we haven’t even entered Advent yet! But if you’d like to buy copies of The Living Cross (maybe as a Christmas present?), I’d be happy to sign copies and send them out to you. They retail at £8.99 but I’m selling them for £8 each or two for £15, plus postage. Email me at amy@amyboucherpye.com. You can also buy it from:

• Great Christian bookshops in the UK – I’ll be at the Faith Mission bookshop in Portadown on 2 December; Sarum College bookshop on 6 January and Church House bookshop on 8 February signing books.
• Eden.co.uk – a wonderful online retailer. I’ve blogged there about Finding Myself in Britain and have some blogs on Advent coming up.
• Amazon – yes, the giant has my books. In the UK the link is here; if you’d like a copy and you’re Stateside, this is the only place to buy it – here’s the link.

I leave you with photographs from the two book parties, the US one was hosted in Minnesota by our lovely friends Tim and Heather Peterson. The UK one was held at our church, St Paul’s Finchley, on Remembrance Sunday. I started off my sermon with the opening of my book, exploring the question posed by a Jewish prisoner of a concentration camp – Should I forgive?

Photos from St Paul’s Finchley:

Being interviewed by the vicar.

Preaching!

These gorgeous flowers were sent to me by my friends at Our Daily Bread, in memory of my mother-in-law. Perfect to have them gracing the books.

I had my helpers as my cashiers…

Selfie with another beloved helper.

My friend Ali obviously had me riveted!

Photos from the Minnesota book party:

Sadly my only photo with my hosts, Heather and Tim Peterson, with author Julie Klassen.

Three of my forever friends, Pam, Sue, and Kara.

Loved having some of my relatives there! Here’s my cousin Lenore and my aunt Margaret. Love how you can see my parents in the background. The Petersons’ conservatory is tops.

What a delight to have people come to the book party whom I hadn’t seen for years. This photo is of Mark Aleckson and my dad, and the one below is of Sharon Aleckson and my mom. I used to babysit for the Alecksons many, many moons ago!

What a huge delight to meet Gail Helgeson! She’s been a massive encouragement to me online. Here she is holding her underlined and highlighted copy of Finding Myself in Britain. How humbling is that!

Delightful to be with Gail and Julie – novelists!

Very fun to have my neighbors-growing-up at the party. Here I am with Paul Chlebeck and Melody (Wolleat) Johnson.

Ruth and Mark Vukelich have been longtime friends of my parents. So lovely to have Ruth and her son Tom (who works at Bethel University, where I went) attending.

Dawn and Kurt Marka – Kurt’s an encouragement online. I love how friendships evolve, even though I don’t think we knew each other very well in high school!

A photo with my mom!