Patti Lacy, author of Reclaiming Lily (October 1, Bethany House) talks to Tyora Moody, managing editor of Christian Bookworm Reviews and coordinator of the Reclaiming Lily Virtual Book Tour.

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Tyora: Welcome, this is Tyora Moody with Tywebbin Virtual Book Tours. We are delighted to have as our guest today, Christian Fiction author, Patti Lacy.

Just a tidbit about Patti. Patti, is a graduate from Baylor University with a Bachelors in Education. She taught at Harltand Community College in Normal Illinois until she retired in 2006 pursue writing full time. She and her husband Allan have two grown children. Patti, thank you for the opportunity to interview you today.

Patti: Well, thank you, Ty, you’re always so great and gracious and I just appreciate the invitation.

Tyora:  Oh not a problem. I enjoy being able to do virtual book tours with you and definitely enjoy the opportunity to introduce your latest book Reclaiming Lily to new readers as well as to readers who know about your former titles. Patty, this is your fourth book – is that correct?

Patti: That’s right.

Tyora: Okay. Tell us what are your other book titles?

Patti: My first novel is, An Irish Woman’s Tale, and that came out with Kregel Publications in 2008 followed by What the Bayou Saw’the next year, and then in January of this year 2011 Kregel published The Rhythm of Secrets and now on October 1st, Bethany House will release Reclaiming Lily.

Tyora: Awesome. Tell us a little bit about background behind Reclaiming Lily. I like that title ‘Reclaiming Lily’. Who is Lily?

Patti: Lily is the Chinese sister. One of the lost daughters of China and as I became more interested in China because my parents lived there as missionaries for two years, I found out that following the cultural revolution there was a one child policy placed on families. And because of the desire of many families to have a son because of China’s patriarchal bans, families will either abort children or abandon female babies on river banks, in dark alleys, and some on orphanage steps and ‘Reclaiming Lily’ is based on the life of one of these lost daughters of China – a little girl named Lily.

Tyora:  So I understand you said your parents were missionaries in China?

Patti: Yes.

Tyora: And so you actually, you took a trip to China yourself as well for research purposes. Is that correct?

Patti: I did last May.

Tyora: Tell us a little bit about that trip. How was the cultural experience for you?

Patti: The cultural experience blew me away. I had a lot of misconceptions about China even though I had read about 20 research books and one was that religion was outlawed by the communist government and I actually went into a Christian church there were Philip Ansey preached. And saw people wearing crossed and freely carried my Bible around and didn’t feel any problems with that. And another misconception is China is dirty and I saw more Mercedes and haute couture clothes in Beijing than I thought I have seen in Houston and other big cities in the U.S. and I also saw a people that loved their children and a people that struggling with the one child policy now and changes are being implemented in China to try to deal with not only with the orphans in the orphanages but with the fact that some couples would like to have more than one child.

Tyora: Wow, that’s great. You did break a couple of myths that I thought about China as well. Well, you say you were able to walk around and carry around your Bible? I would I guess there are some differences in the Chinese culture in how they practice Christianity over in the East versus the U.S. over here in the West. Do you see any of those differences or…

Patti: Well Ty, I was totally limited because I speak no Chinese [Laughs]. I did have a friend that’s a Chinese national and she was my tour guide and my banker and my translator. She is not a Christian and she did take me to churches where westerners and Chinese with foreign papers were allowed to worship. The Chinese issue on religion and Christianity is about as complex as their government right now and being kind of a very capitalistic place that is called communism.
They have three self churches which are supposedly Christian churches ran by the government and I’ve been told that they do not practice certain things in the Bible and are not allowed to talk about them but the people attend those churches do use the Bible. So they are able to read. And there are also probably what you’ve heard of and what I assumed all churches in China were the underground churches which are house churches that have been persecuted in some areas but in some areas they haven’t.

And Christianity Today recently did an article to sum the complexities of religion in China and how many Chinese don’t want their churches to be an extension of American religion and they would like to keep some of their own more ways such as not necessarily ancestral worship that admiration of ancestors and sticking to some old practices.

Tyora: Hmm, that’s very interesting. Wow. So now you went over to China to kinda learn more about the Chinese adoption process. Is that correct?

Patti: I did Ty, unfortunately I was not able to get into an orphanage. I made many attempts to make contact by email and phone before I went and I had no luck whatsoever and was kinda later told that a westerner that had writer on her Visa would never be able to get into an orphanage without many more connections than I have.

Tyora: Oh I see. Okay let’s go back to ‘Reclaiming Lily’ a little bit. You told us who Lily was, who are some of the other major characters in the book?

Patti: Well the main character is Dr. Kai Chang, who is the sister who actually laid her younger sister on the orphanage steps and so for a decade Dr. Chang has carried around this guilt that she actually gave away the precious jewel of their family and her mother’s dying wish is for her to reclaim their sister for their Chang honor, and so Kai as a young girl makes a vow with her sisters to become a doctor and she actually does get admitted into Harvard Medical School. She comes to America though not just for her education and for profession but to look for that daughter that has been adopted by an American pastor and his wife.

And that American’s pastor’s wife Gloria is another key figure in the story. See you actually have kinda a triangle of two women who thinks they know what’s best of this little girl, that’s Chinese, and they’re both kind of afraid of each other and in the case of the pastor’s wife she actually you know kind of hates the Chinese sister because she’s not doing very well as a parent and she wonders if China would have been a better place for her daughter and she’s not able to admit that to her pastor husband or really to anyone. So that’s kind of a lot of the inner conflict is that the American mother of Joy – who which is the adopted name of Lily – really doesn’t feel like she’s been a good mother and so has resentment and fear of the Chinese sister.

Tyora: Sounds like two women and two cultures definitely clashed there.

Patti: Colliding [Laughs].

Tyora:  Colliding [Laughs]. Well if you don’t mind, can we get into something about Lily, whose American name is Joy in the book, what are some of the things that’s kinda troubling her that’s causing a little bit of trouble between the American mother and the Chinese sister in trying to come together?

Patti: Well Ty, I tried to examine something that psychologists and sociologists are wondering about, what effect there will be on a child that is taken from a very rich culture at a young age and transported you know from the East to the West and kind of you know arranged in another family. And even if the family is secure and happy, is there some price for removing a child from their culture and I think the Native American culture has examined this and many Americans are aware of this kind of debate. And so Joy as she grows up is not really embraced by the Caucasian community in which her family lives.

The Christian church which they go to very much sees her as an outsider; other little girls don’t wanna play with her. Part of that is because Joy is kind of nerdy. She’s smart. She doesn’t gravitate towards the thing that’s kinda the in-crowd likes, you know, the pre-teen girls that like boys and pop music, and so she’s kinda already an outsider and as she grows and becomes a teenager she doesn’t see anyone else with her almond eyes and her skin color and she really starts having problems with how she looks and she really starts having a lot of angst.

And so, she actually shoplift and acts out on her behavior and she tries to get attention by hanging around with trying to get into a gang and trying to be a goth to some extent. She dyes her hair kind of in, you know, a purple color which for that time period – the nineties – in Texas would definitely be, you know, a different group – not the norm of the high school. And then as kind of a last resort she actually attempts a cutting episode – a self mutilation.

Tyora: Hmm. Hmm. Wow, this sounds like another very well developed book from you where you’re bringing forth women or characters who are definitely in pain. And I like the way you always in your books bring forth the cultural part of a person as well. So I’m gonna go ahead and kinda wrap up this interview. I definitely like the fact that you were able to take the time out to talk to me today and can you tell us where people can find you online or what other things are coming up for you as Reclaiming Lily starts to come out and people start to see it on bookshelves and get it on online.

Patti: I’d be happy to tell you Ty, I love to have readers contact me especially through Facebook. Everyday I post an art piece which I try to pick paintings around the world and from different eras and art periods and that kind of started when I talked humanities and some of my students still kept in touched and talked about how they enjoyed looking at the paintings that they had thought were so awful when they were in class but they find they actually miss them.

And I also try to post some inspirational piece everyday on Facebook and then you can also visit www.pattilacy.com/blog. I post once a week and I usually just post about life as a writer or what’s it like to live in Normal, Illinois which is where I live. And those are the main ways to find me.

I also will be doing a Facebook party and they’ll be giving away a nook. So that’s gonna be coming up in the next couple of weeks and then the fabulous Ty Moody is doing a blog tour and there’s also Christian Fiction Blog Alliance tour in October. So there’s lots of chances to win books and other prizes and some gift cards and so I really hope that I connect with some new readers and some old friends.

Tyora: Awesome. Well I do wanna thank you again for choosing Tywebbin to work on this virtual book tour and definitely for those of you out there you can visit Patti online at pattilacy.com and as she said you can find her on Facebook. Patti, I’m looking forward to your virtual book tour where you will share your experiences about writing this book, going to China, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the readers have to say about Reclaiming Lily as I’m sure you are too.

Patti: Thank you Ty, you do a wonderful job.

Follow the Reclaiming Lily Virtual Book Tour