Dexter author tells story of friends, faith and forging ahead

While Betty Lowrey had developed several manuscripts and had a few fictional characters evolving in her mind, it wasn't until her husband, Bob, encouraged her to take a gamble that her ambition of becoming a published author paid off.

"My husband and I have been involved in farming all our lives, and farming is a gamble. He encouraged me to submit a manuscript. He said, 'Think of it as a crop, and we'll see if it pays off,'" Lowrey said.

Lowrey's book, "Forgiven," which was published by Westbow Press in late summer, tells the story of four women as they work together through trying times. The four are put to the test with the kidnapping of a little girl.

"The characters are drawn from people I've observed. The main character, Ellen, is a person of faith, and I've watched young women of faith go through so many trials, and I've noted how they operate, versus those in despair who don't know what to do. The others observe Ellen, and pick it up," Lowrey said.

"These people -- these characters -- begin to talk to you. These people are in your mind, and you're assimilating their lives. They're characters of quality and integrity, but there's a rascal in the bunch," Lowrey said. She described Ellen as "an old-fashioned girl who always wears pearls. She wears classic clothes because she can't afford the new styles that come out."

Betty Lowrey

So much had the characters invaded Lowrey's mind that she decided "Forgiven" required sequels: "Forbidden" likely will be published by the end of March, and the third installment, "Forsaken," is in the works.

Lowrey and her husband are the parents of a son and two daughters, and have six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. They have lived in Dexter for about five years, after about 40 years of farming outside Dexter -- a town of about 7,800 people in Stoddard County about 60 miles southwest of Cape Girardeau. Lowrey served as bookkeeper for the enterprise, and said her efforts didn't end in the office.

"I did a lot of pulling trailers, hauling grain," on the farm, where the Lowreys raised cotton, for the most part, and soybeans and corn," Lowrey said, adding the farm is now in the hands of their son and his wife.

The book is available in traditional and e-book format online at westbowpress.com, amazon.com and bn.com. It is available in Dexter at Old Timer's Antique Mall and Mr. Charlie's.