Ora Smith

When Caroline Gibson marries the Reverend John Mattocks, she leaves behind her privileged life, which she finds easier than leaving behind her prejudices. While she’s content being served, John lives to serve others. Scorning his family’s wealth and long-held practice of owning slaves, he chooses to follow his conscience, becoming an abolitionist preacher. But after Caroline gives birth to a son of African heritage, they both must face their vastly different beliefs. Their marriage mirrors the Civil War’s failure to create a changed society, the turmoil not only leaving the nation in despair but their relationship as well. Can their love find deeper roots in forgiveness and acceptance?

This dramatic story of love, faith, family bonds, and discrimination is based on true events of the author’s great-great-great-grandparents in coastal North Carolina.

Most slaves long for freedom. Eighteen-year-old Spicey longs for a sister. As an orphaned house slave, she’s desperate to belong to a family—even her mistress Caroline’s family. But Caroline is more concerned with courting John, the local preacher, than noticing Spicey’s devotion or caring for her needs. Caroline doesn’t even think to look past Spicey’s skin color to see their relationship for what it is. But when the decision to protect a runaway slave causes them both to risk everything, will the chains of slavery keep them bound to a world of lies and prejudices or be the catalyst that sets them free?

Rich in authentic details and unforgettable characters, Caroline, John, and Spicey’s stories progress in White Oak River: A Story of Slavery’s Secrets. Inspired by the author’s own family events, the novel continues the struggles Caroline endured to overcome the scars of slavery. Look for White Oak River: A Story of Slavery’s Secrets on Amazon.

England, 1606. Thomas Savage yearns to find his worth and feel appreciated. Heartbroken when his father refuses to take him to the New World, the second son of a poor family fears he’ll be forced to accept a dull destiny as a vicar. But when his dying mother has a vision of him speaking to a Native girl, the eager lad is overjoyed to finally set sail.

Following an arduous journey across the Atlantic, Thomas lands in Jamestown only to learn his father has been killed and that he’s being traded as an interpreter to the very chieftain responsible. Now the quest for the excitement he craved may bring about his demise.

Totally unaware of what lies in store, he embarks on a new life entangled with the Virginia Natives and is on a collision course with history…and the legendary Pocahontas.

Will this naïve young settler survive the perils awaiting him and forge peace between two peoples?

Epic in its storytelling, Trading Thomas is Book One in this series of an immersive YA biographical novel. If you like strong-minded heroes, a captivating account of a boy’s resilience, and meticulously researched stories based on true events, then you’ll love Ora Smith’s coming-of-age tale.

Buy Trading Thomas and face the frontier today!

At the height of Separatist suppression and enforced Anglican worship in England, Reverend John Lothropp meets and marries Hannah Howse. The witty, educated vicar’s daughter immediately challenges his decision to put God before a wife. In a world spiraling into hypocrisy, tyranny, and betrayal, Hannah refuses to break from her Anglican roots. But when John comes face-to-face with his deep-seated convictions about religious freedom, he’s forced to make a hard choice—renounce his orders with the Church of England to become an outlawed Separatist or conform and save his marriage, his family, and his life.

Considered one of the most important ministers to follow in the footsteps of the Plymouth Pilgrims, John Lothropp helped plant the seeds of religious freedom in America’s soil and left a legacy of well-known individuals who influenced the nation’s destiny.

Punished for her choice to leave the Church of England and meet illegally with the secret Separatist community, genteel Penninah Howse is thrown into Clink Prison with little chance of release. To survive prison under the evil of Bishop William Laud’s tyranny, she must evade the advances of a malicious jailer, learn to live with a cruel cellmate, and battle the enemies of hunger, filth, vermin, and self-doubt. When Robert Linnell finally succeeds in buying visitation rights, her old and dear friend not only brings food, he brings hope. Is there a chance he’ll find a way to secure her release? Or will this be her life forever?

In the early 1900s, fourteen-year-old Emma did the impossible to survive. Forced to flee her alcoholic father, she moved to Galveston, Texas, and sold her body to start a new life. 

According to history, on Christmas Eve 1905, Howard Hughes Sr. became a father to one of America’s most influential tycoons. More than a century later, rumors still abound that his wife never showed any signs of pregnancy. Howard Hughes Jr.’s certificate of baptism exposes a puzzling discrepancy. Now the conceivable and staggering truth of the famous businessman and philanthropist’s origins has been brought to vivid life in a powerful fictional recreation of a tragic scenario. 

Author and researcher Ora Smith may well be the great-niece of Howard Hughes. In this dramatized account of the story of the mysterious inventor, engineer, pilot, and ultra-rich recluse, she reveals detailed information and evidence that fill in some of history’s most mystifying blanks. With sections creatively retelling the narrative of the wealthy man’s possibly illicit beginnings juxtaposed with Smith’s meticulous pulling-apart of historical records, you’ll be moved by the sensational and wretched past of this enigmatic icon. 

Was Howard Hughes Jr.’s eccentricity born of one young woman’s checkered past?

Unacknowledged: The Possible Biological Mother of Howard Hughes is a thoughtfully written work that dramatically recounts a new theory of the conception and birth of an American legend. If you like true stories stirred with a dash of sensation, bygone eras richly examined, and answers to intriguing questions, then you’ll love Ora Smith’s extraordinary reimagining.

Buy Unacknowledged to delve into an unexplored heritage today!

God’s light shines in all His creations, from the Star of Bethlehem, to the angel proclaiming Christ’s birth, to the Son of God Himself—the light of the world. Through this light, He illuminates darkness, gives us guidance, and shows us how to love one another.

Experience the rich artwork and inspirational messages of A Christmas Story of Light this holiday season and let God’s light bring you the brightness of hope.