Leanna EnglertI never intended to be a novelist. But life handed me something I couldn't resist, and from that Compromise with Sin and my novel-writing career were launched. It began when I was serving on the board of the Nebraska chapter of the National Society T Prevent Blindness, I was intrigued to learn that the organization was founded in 1908 to promote passage of legislation to prevent the blinding condition known as 'babies' sore eyes.' That term grabbed me. I had to know more. It took a great deal of research to understand this disease, responsible for one-fourth to one-third of all admissions to asylums for the blind, and the grassroots campaign for legislation. And if I hadn't been hooked before, discovering that Helen Keller played an important role clinched it. Wondering what would happen to a family whose child was blinded by babies' sore eyes is how a project that began as non-fiction veered in the direction of a novel. But since I'd been a freelance writer of articles in such varied fields as healthcare and manufacturing, that meant I had to re-tool. Those writing muscles that were in the habit of producing sentences like, "During a PET scan, the patient's head is positioned in a ring containing radiation-detecting crystals," had to be retrained to write fiction. It took years before I was satisfied that Compromise With Sin was a novel I would want to read. Causes on behalf of preventing blindness and serving blind people have been a lifelong interest. At one point I belonged to a little band of volunteers who transcribed print books into Braille. Years later, I had an opportunity to use my ability to read Braille (by sight, not by touch) and write it when I taught the first blind student mainstreamed into an Omaha, Nebraska, high school. I'm now at work on a trilogy. The first book takes a character from Compromise With Sin answers the question, "Why did Irina Taylor vanish from Riverbend?" Read More Read Less