Release Date: May 12, 2022
About The Book:
In 19th-century Charleston, a Catholic priest grapples with his secret African ancestry and his love for a slaveholder’s wife.
Joseph Lazare grows up believing his black hair and olive skin come from a Spanish grandmother, and he’s shocked to learn she was an enslaved African. At thirteen, Joseph allows racial prejudice to limit his future and chooses the seminary. At twenty-three, he is ordained “a priest forever.”
When he meets Tessa Conley, a devout Irish immigrant who shares his passions for music and botany, Joseph’s ordered world cracks at its foundation. He must conceal his true feelings as Tessa marries another man—a plantation owner who treats her like property.
Acting on their love could ruin Joseph and Tessa in this world and damn them in the next. Can two broken people heal each other and find heaven on earth—or will there be hell to pay?
About The Author:
Elizabeth Bell has been writing stories since the second grade. At the age of fourteen, she chose a pen name and vowed to become a published author. That same year, she began The Lazare Family Saga. It would take her nearly three decades of research and revision to get it right. New generations kept demanding attention, and the saga became four epic historical novels.
Upon earning her MFA in Creative Writing at George Mason University, Elizabeth realized she would have to return her two hundred library books. Instead, she cleverly found a job in the university library, where she works to this day.
Elizabeth’s historical quartet The Lazare Family Saga follows a multiracial family struggling to understand where they belong in the turbulent decades before the American Civil War. The first book, Necessary Sins, was a Finalist in the Foreword Indies Book of the Year Awards. The second and third books, Lost Saints and Native Stranger, were Editors’ Choices in the Historical Novels Review. https://elizabethbellauthor.com/
Social Media:
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/elizabethbellauthor/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/elizabethbellauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/elizabellauthor
Book Blurbs:
“Necessary Sins is a rare breed of book, invoking family epics of the past… [Elizabeth Bell] renders a vivid world that truly feels like stepping back in time. … Extremely highly recommended.” – Historical Novels Review
“A feast of a novel by an extraordinary new voice. Haunting, meticulously researched, and exquisitely told through characters so human you’d swear they have beating hearts.” – Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of The Kitchen House
“From the ashes of rebellion to heart-rending forbidden love, Necessary Sins is a work of art.” – Jessica Cale, host of Dirty, Sexy History
Bloggers On Tour:
June 17th- Books and Coffee MX https://instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx
June 28th- Pages and Pups https://instagram.com/pages_and_pups
June 29th- She Just Loves Books https://instagram.com/shejustlovesbooks
July 10th-Books Love And Understanding https://instagram.com/booksloveandunderstanding
July 14th- Shooks Books https://instagram.com/shook_sbooks
July 18th- Delightfully Brittany https://instagram.com/delightfully.brittany
Aug.1st- Geaux Get Lit https://instagram.com/geauxgetlit
Aug. 2nd- Sarahs Bookish Reviews https://instagram.com/sarahs.bookish.reviews
Aug. 4th- The Page Ladies https://instagram.com/jacleomik33
Aug. 6th- Subakka Bookstuff https://instagram.com/subakka.bookstuff
Aug. 8th-Rozier Reads and Wine https://instagram.com/rozierreadsandwine
Aug. 12th- CMT Loves Wine and Books https://instagram.com/cmtloveswineandbooks
Aug. 14th- Plains Reading https://instagram.com/plains_reading
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