Today we have an interview with Patricia Raybon author of The Sedalia Code.
When you were a child did you have a favourite book or books?
The Bobbsey Twins. Remember them? I couldn’t read them fast enough. Their near-perfect family lived in near-perfect Lakeport with two sets of adventure-loving fraternal twins—Nan and Bert, the sensible, older 12-year-olds—and Flossie and Freddie, the adorable younger twins who, at age 6, took on the younger-kid exploits, many mystery-related. Was my family like theirs? Not by a mile. But I loved their problem solving, mystery-resolving adventures—a lovely memory for me since I’m writing mysteries stories now.
Do you have a favourite Genre to both read and to write?
Historical mysteries take the prize. They offer riveting puzzles without the gore. The ones I read and write anyway. The clean Bobbsey Twins stories may have influenced me more than I realized.
When did you know you wanted to be an author?
It started early when I first learned Bible stories on felt boards in my little kindergarten Sunday school room in the small inner-city church my family attended in Denver, Colorado. Bible stories showcased heroism with great take-away lessons for life. Hearing such stories every Sunday, I longed to write compelling stories, too.
How did you go about being published?
During my first career—I was a newspaper reporter—I started writing after hours, submitting my personal essays to the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Guideposts, USA Today, USA Weekend, and other outlets on topics of faith, family, and race. I grew up in Jim Crow America, but I’m also a person of faith and I have a family. To my surprise, almost everything I wrote got accepted and published. Soon, a slew of agents started reaching out, asking to represent me if I ever wrote a book. “So, write one,” my husband urged me, so I did. It was a racial forgiveness memoir on growing up under racism in the U.S. and learning how to move past that trauma. My agent sold it to Viking Penguin, a major publisher, and they offered my first book contract. What did I learn? To get published, write! Then, send out your writing. Then, when opportunities come, and they will, say yes. I’ve worked hard to do that my entire writing life, including with Our Daily Bread, where I’m a regular contributor. They asked me to come aboard. I prayed and said yes. I’m grateful for every call.
What inspired you to write The Sedalia Code? How did that come about?
My parents’ wartime romance, during World War II, inspired me. They met and fell in love in the segregated South, during 1943, when my dad was stationed at a sprawling U.S. Army base near my mother’s hometown—not far from a prominent Black boarding school. Later, I learned that thousands of German and Italian POWs were held at the same Army base—a hothouse of tension during a world war. I’d also learned that most codebreakers in the U.S. were young women, many of them math teachers hired by the government and working secretly. So, as a mystery fan and writer, I asked myself what if a young math teacher at a fancy boarding school meets a handsome young soldier who asked her to decipher a message he has been given at the Army base? Turns out it’s a coded Nazi message threatening the life of the U.S. president. Suddenly they’re faced with figuring out how to respond. From there, the story took shape and took off.
How has the writing process been for you?
Exciting and surprising. I plotted The Sedalia Code chapter by chapter. But plot twists and surprises awaited at every turn. I’d always believed, for example, that America’s wartime president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was immensely popular, a key point since my main character—a young math teacher, Laurette Lowe—is now fighting to save his life. In truth, he hadn’t fought hard for non-white people in America. He’d dropped that ball, and that complication tested me. How could I make him empathetic and deserving to get rescued by my Black heroine, Laurette? Likewise, how would I unravel the complications of Laurette’s life—a crucible of social and messy personal troubles—so that she’d become the hero that readers need and want?
Since it’s fiction, she made her share of mistakes. Yet “I was cheering her on every step of the whole way,” one reviewer said on Goodreads. Unravelling the story’s Nazi threat and her personal tests took me through several writing drafts. Then, one day, the story was both finished and done. So much felt so right. I’m excited for people to read Laurette’s story, especially during this time of tensions and divisions across the world. Laurette discovers ways to handle and grow from such pressures while gaining a key surprise. So, I love the story. Thanks for letting me reflect on it.
What do you hope readers will take home out of your books?
That we can become heroes, too. Sure, it takes courage. resolve, follow through, and the blessing of great friends. Being a hero is not a solo journey. It also means walking in step with God. As the prophet Jeremiah said: “Nothing is too hard” with Him. All my novels, along with everything I experience in life, has taught me that, too.
If you could have a meal with 3 living people, who would you choose and why?
Two family members and my closest friend, who all live in far-flung places. I don’t see them often enough, and I miss them dearly. A meal together would be sublime.
Finally, can you tell us about your latest release.
The Sedalia Code is a World War II codebreaking story about a brave young woman fighting to foil a Nazi plot against the U.S. president. But can she do it? Especially while teaching at a prominent Black boarding school in the segregated U.S. South where nobody with authority would believe her warning? So, how does she succeed at this great life test, stay alive, resolve messy family trouble, and fall in love with the handsome young soldier who’s fighting for her, too? That’s the journey the story invites readers to take.
Where can buy the book and where can we find you on the web?
You can pre-order or buy the book in print and digital formats across Australia primarily via global online bookstores like Amazon.Au and Koorong. In Asia, e-book and audiobook editions can be secured globally via digital storefronts like Kobo and Google Play.