Character Spotlight ~ Murray Pura's Jude & Lyyndaya

Canadian author and pastor, Murray Pura, releases his first Amish novel, The Wings of Morning, available from Harvest House.

Synopsis

Jude Whetstone and Lyyndaya Kurtz, whose families are converts to the Amish faith, are slowly falling in love. Jude has also fallen in love with flying that new-fangled invention, the aeroplane.The Amish communities have rejected the telephone and have forbidden motorcar ownership but not yet electricity or aeroplanes.

Though exempt from military service on religious grounds, Jude is manipulated by unscrupulous army officers into enlisting in order to protect several Amish men. No one in the community understands Jude's sudden enlistment and so he is shunned. Lyyndaya's despair deepens at the reports that Jude has been shot down in France. In her grief, she turns to nursing Spanish flu victims in Philadelphia. After many months of caring for stricken soldiers, Lyyndaya is stunned when an emaciated Jude turns up in her ward.

Enjoy meeting Jude & Lyyndaya!

Brief physical description

Jude Whetstone - brown hair, brown eyes, average height and build

Lyyndaya Kurtz - blonde hair, green eyes, average height

Actor/famous person 

Jude - think James Franco in Flyboys

Lyyndaya - think Maggie Grace from Lost

Strengths and weaknesses

 

Jude - quiet, confident, brave, loyal - he should speak up for himself more

Lyyndaya - compassionate, forgiving, strong - her temper and emotions can sometimes get the better of her

Quirk (if any)

Jude - silk flying scarves

Lyyndaya - never fastening her prayer kapp properly

Your inspiration for the character

Jude - I suppose the man I would want to be if I were flying a biplane 100 years ago and placed into a combat situation - fearless, confident, putting his men first, loving Lyyndaya even though there are thousands of miles of silence between them

Lyyndaya - my own blonde wife who has the same mix of compassion  and feistiness and beauty - stunning but not aware of how stunning she really is.

Background to the story

Jude and Lyyndaya are Amish and falling in love. The pair of them also love flying and she is thrilled whenever he takes her up. But his skills catch the eye of military authorities and, even though Jude is a pacifist, the US Army coerces him into flying for an American squadron in France during World War One.  

This alienates him from his Amish community in Pennsylvania and also strains his relationship with Lyyndaya to the breaking point. It not only becomes a question of whether or not Jude will survive the war, or whether the romance between him and Lyyndaya will still be alive and well if he does. The bigger question is if the man known as Jude Whetstone will even exist anymore after months of fierce and bloody air warfare in Europe.

Relz Reviewz Extras

Visit Murray's website and AmishReader

Buy Murray's books from Amazon or Koorong