Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #7

Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1 and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 3 grand prizes!

• The hunt BEGINS on 10/23 at noon Mountain Time with Stop #1 at Lisa Bergren’s website.
• Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
• There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 10/26 at midnight Mountain Time). So take your time, reading the
  unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
• Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the entry form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

If this is your first visit here, let me introduce myself! My name is Karen Barnett, and I write historical and dual-timeline fiction set in our beautiful national parks. My novels offer a bit of armchair travel, transporting you to breathtaking landscapes where history comes alive and God’s fingerprints can be seen in every towering peak, rushing river, and ancient tree. You can learn more about me and my books here on my website as well as on Facebook and Instagram.

My newest release, Through Water and Stone, hit bookstore shelves just a few weeks ago. Set amid the soaring cliffs of Zion National Park, Through Water and Stone intertwines two generations of the Eriksson family—one in 1948, when a park ranger and his wife discover an abandoned infant, and another nearly eighty years later, when their great-granddaughter returns to the canyon in search of new beginnings. As long-buried secrets surface, both past and present reveal that family runs deeper than blood, and that faith is often found in the quiet places between loss and hope.

Whenever I write about a national park, my first goal is to make that setting come alive for my readers. The only trouble was—when I first started planning this book—I’d never stepped foot in Zion. I knew I had to fix that right away!

Through the Writer’s Lens: Discovering the Heart of Zion

Research trips are one of my favorite aspects of the writing process—part vacation, part treasure hunt. Before I’d written more than one or two experimental scenes for Through Water and Stone, my husband and I packed up our camper van and drove to Zion National Park to experience it firsthand. As a former park ranger, I can’t help but see national parks through both a naturalist’s eye and a storyteller’s heart.

We arrived on a beautiful November day, and the cottonwoods that lined the banks of the Virgin River were a brilliant gold that perfectly set off the red Navajo sandstone cliffs beyond. I immediately began scribbling notes about color, texture, smells, and sounds. We hiked the trails, pausing often so I could photograph plants or jot descriptions of the canyon light. When I walked into the visitor center armed with my photos and notes, a young ranger named Darcy M. beamed with excitement. She was eager to answer any questions I had about wildlife, history, and behind-the-scenes stories. Her enthusiasm and insights helped shape many small, authentic details that appear in the novel.

One morning, my husband bravely hiked the strenuous Angels Landing trail, best known for its final half-mile section where hikers grip onto chains as they maneuver along a narrow sandstone spine with sheer drop-offs on both sides. I stayed below—my fear of heights would’ve made me a liability! He became my eyes and ears, and later recounted the journey for me so I could make it come alive on the page. While he was hiking, I explored the historic Zion Lodge and studied the layout of the gift shop where one of my characters would spend her working hours. I can still picture it—books on the far right, t-shirts displayed on wooden tables, stuffed animals tucked onto shelves, and stunning indigenous artwork featured in front of the sunny windows.

Back home, I transformed those field notes and photos into scenes where the canyon itself became a living character. The word Zion is said to mean “heaven” or “sanctuary,” and that’s exactly what it felt like—a refuge of beauty and grace carved by the steady persistence of water and time.

Thank you for joining me on this journey through Zion! If you’d like to keep exploring the landscapes behind my stories, I invite you to sign up for my newsletter, COMPASS, here. And if you haven’t yet read Through Water and Stone, you can discover Zion’s heart through its pages—available now wherever books are sold.

Here are the stop #7 basics:

If you’re interested, you can order Through Water and Stone on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ChristianBook, Parable, or at your local bookstore!

Clue to Write Down: in your

Link to Stop #8, the next stop on the loop: Mesu Andrew’s site!

Before you go . . .

You can also enter to win a signed copy of Through Water and Stone (or one of my other novels, if you prefer). All you have to do is sign up to get my COMPASS Club newsletter (top right of this page, gray box) or note that you’re already a subscriber. Additional points are available for those who follow me as an author on BookBub or on Instagram! (USA only).

Happy Reading (and Scavenger Hunting)!