Tower of Strength by Annette Lyon

By Brittany Mangus


Below is my interview with author Annette Lyon about her wonderful new historical fiction novel Tower of Strength. I love historical novels and was very thrilled to read Annette's latest creation! I was so excited to read Tower because I went to Snow College and loved the Manti area. Anyway, because of that, I thought I would include some of my own photos in this interview.


Q: Spires of Stone was a take on Shakespeare's Much Ado. Was there a book or play that inspired the storyline of Tower of Strength?

A: The storyline for Tower of Strength grew organically after researching the Manti area and the temple. One day as I was blow-drying my hair, Tabitha appeared in my head. I knew her background and even that she hated being called, "Tabby." Then as I wrote the book, I felt a bit like an archaeologist uncovering a story that was already there. The process was very different than with Spires of Stone, where I went into the book with a pretty clear framework.


Q: This is the fourth book in your temple series. (The other books have centered around the Salt Lake Temple, the St. George Temple and the Logan Temple.) I have ancestral ties to the early pioneers who helped settle the Bear Lake Valley and who helped build the Logan Temple. What draws your interest or inspires you in the historical aspect of the early Utah temples and the Mormon pioneers?

A: My original fascination began solely with the Logan Temple, which has some family connections for me. I wanted to write about it, so I did. Then I decided that it was such a rewarding experience that I wanted to learn more about other temples and write about them. Both sides of my family came into the Church relatively recently, so I personally have no pioneer blood. Writing about the Saints who settled Utah and Arizona has made me feel connected to Church history in a way I never did before. I also have a greater appreciation for temples than I used to.

Q: I love names. How did you choose the first and last names for your characters in Tower of Strength? Do they have a special significance? At any point were they changed?

A: Tabitha showed up with her own name. Will's name changed at one point after my critique group debated on whether his original nickname fit the period, but I don't think anyone else had a name change.

I keep a running list of names from the 1800s that I've found in either old records or on headstones from that era. When I need a first or last name, I consult that list. One name I picked deliberately was Wilhelmina--it sounded a bit abrasive and uptight, so it seemed to fit her character.


Q: Did you have a working title for the book that was not Tower of Strength?

A: This may sound odd, but I don't usually have working titles. The marketing department picks the title, and it's almost never what the author submitted a book as. For me, it's hard to call a book something and then have to rename it, so I just refer to manuscripts along the lines of, "my Manti book." I was pleased with the title they picked--the towers are under construction during the story, so the title can refer to the temple, but it also refers to a major theme with Tabitha, who's had to be a major tower of strength in her own right just to survive.

Q: Margaret Mitchell famously wrote the last chapter of Gone with the Wind first. Did you know how the story would end before you finished it, or, while writing it, did the story take on a life of it's own and dictate its own ending?

A: I pretty much knew the basic story arc from the beginning, although I did discover a lot along the way. I didn't know exactly what the final scene would be and even played with the end in revisions even though I knew what would happen with all the major characters, including Mantia.

There's a significant scene near the end between Tabitha, Samuel, and Mantia that I knew about very early on. It was one of the first parts I wrote.

Check out the book trailer! Manti is interesting... (if you learn to ignore the turkey smell).

Tower of Strength by Annette Lyon

Tower of Strength
By Annette Lyon

Covenant Communications

March 2009

Reviewed by Heather Moore

I’ve been waiting for this next historical by Annette Lyon for over a year. Even though I read it in draft form, I was excited to read the final version. It didn’t disappoint. In fact, I can confidently say that Annette Lyon is one of the best writers in her genre. Many of you know that the 2008 Whitney Award finalists have been announced. So I’ve decided to read them all—yes—it might sound crazy, but I only have 1 ½ books to go.

So you can say that I’ve immersed myself in the LDS genre this past month, or at least books by LDS writers. And sometimes these books are automatically labeled sub-par because of previous bad attempts by other authors.

But I’ve taken a critical eye, and read the genre for what it is (yes, most of the characters are LDS, yes, most of them go through faith-affirming trials, and yes, editorial comes into play with the smaller publishers).

So when I started reading Annette’s book, my antenna was on high. One thing I know is that Annette has learned the craft of writing, she understands the rules of fiction and she willing accepts feedback from alpha readers, editors, etc. Yet, she is able to produce such a natural story-telling style, that Tower of Strength runs seamless from scene to scene.

In Tower of Strength, I really enjoyed the characters. Tabitha is widowed at a young age and moves to Logan (from Manti) in order to start over with her infant son. Six years later, she’s asked to return and take over the town newspaper in Manti. I loved the historical tie-ins that Lyon includes—from the prejudice of some of the town members of having a “woman” head up the newspaper, to the building of the Manti temple.

Also impressive is the research that Lyon has done on this time period—to the common dialog phrases used at that time, to the clothing, the food, the thoughts and attitudes of some of the early settlers.

I was most impressed with the complex characterization of Tabitha and how she comes to terms with falling in love again. Samuel, an emigrant from England, is a fun, jaunty character who has his own past and lost love to overcome. He provides a lot of comic relief during the story with his complete lack of ability to care for horses—which happens to be his job. Also, Tabitha’s mother-in-law, “Mother Hall”, is another favorite character in which the reader has a complete change of heart toward this woman by the end of the book.

Overall, I’d highly recommend Lyon’s Tower of Strength, a nice anchor to her four-volume historical temple series.

To see my reviews of Lyon's other historical temple books, visit:

House on the Hill

At the Journey's End

Spires of Stone

Spires of Stone

Spires of Stone is the third book in Annette Lyon's "temple series". Ironically, this book takes place chronologically before her other temple books. Fans of House on the Hill and At the Journey's End will love the cameo appearance of Abe Franklin--as a young boy.

In the author notes, Lyon mentions that the plot is loosely based on the Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing. So I went to her website to see if she expounded on it. And of course she did. It doesn't follow the play precisely, but there are fun elements that you will recognize.

Spires of Stone is centered on the building of the Salt Lake Temple. It's filled with rich historical details of both a slice of time in the temple-building process (remember it took 40 odd years to complete) and an epilogue scene that ties everything together so the most avid historian will be satisfied.

But what I liked best were the characters. Essentially there is a romance thread between two brothers and two wome--who happen to be sisters. Most fascinating is the Ben and Bethany match. They absolutely despise each other in the beginning because of a terrible misunderstanding that took place before Ben's mission. The second pairing is really a love triangle (one of my favorite plot elements in any romance) between Hannah, Claude, and Phillip. Will the good guy get the girl in the end? I'll let you read it to find out.

At the Journey's End by Annette Lyon

This is Annette Lyon's second historical temple book. The story begins in Snowflake, Arizona where we meet Maddi Stratton and are reintroduced to Abe Franklin. This book centers on the St. George Temple, and while it's already completed when the story opens, we learn some of the legendary events that surrounded its construction. At the Journey's End carries over a character from her previous book, House on the Hill. I'm so glad she wrote this book because I really wanted to follow that particular character.

Maddie Stratton has undergone tremendous heartache. She lost her beloved finance and doesn't know if she'll ever find love again. Considering a marriage of convenience and security, she meets Abe Franklin. They become friends, but Maddie can't let herself feel anything more for him because of a great divide between the two of them. She is a devout Mormon, and he doesn't know if he believes.

A romance, an adventure, and a tale of love and loss . . . all rolled into one. I'd recommend this to YA readers and Adult readers alike.

House on the Hill by Annette Lyon

Annette Lyon is one of my favorite LDS authors, so of course I've read all of her books. She has written a historical temple series of a sort (although you can read each book seperately). Her first temple book is House on the Hill. The story takes place in the 1870's, Logan, Utah. Part of the story centers on the building of the Logan temple, so the reader learns all kinds of interesting facts.

The main character is Lizzy Sullivan. As the story opens, Lizzy is doused in the refiner's fire, literally. Her house burns down, and it seems no matter how much faith she tries to muster, her little brother keeps getting sicker and sicker. Her family has to move in with another family until they can get back on their feet. During this time, Lizzy meets a young man--not of her faith. But, her best friend from her childhood tries to court her, and suddenly Lizzy is confronted with the most difficult choice of her life--choosing between the two men she loves.

I love historical fiction, but even more, I love it when I'm so pulled into the story that I don't realize I'm reading "historical" fiction. This book has some romance, some history, but most of all, solid characters that draw us back into a time where we might think life was more simple.