Lexington Clipper-Herald Article

Jose Perez honed in on the my goals for creating Reclamation in the first place. In tandem with the year’s final Lunch & Learn at the Lexington Public Library, Jose was able to highlight what my mission for Reclamation was while describing the local communities that fuel the fight against crimes of this nature. Thank you to the Lexington Clipper-Herald for this fantastic feature!

Read the article below!
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“Author discusses novel exploring human trafficking” by Jose Perez for the Lexington Clipper-Herald

Hebron native Lisa Clonch Tschauner captivated a crowd at the Lexington Public Library’s final Lunch and Learn event of 2024 on Wednesday, sharing the inspiration and writing process behind her July 2021 novel “Reclamation.”

Tschauner opened the Wednesday event with a reading from the book’s prologue, introducing the character of Renee, a mother grieving the loss of her daughter Mallory.

The novel is told from the perspectives of five different characters.

The central storyline follows best friends Mallory and Jenna, who decide to take a gap year and travel to Southeast Asia, only to be abducted and forced into human sex trafficking.

“The book’s initial focus was on relationships and overcoming obstacles in life, with human trafficking serving as the catastrophic event that propels the story forward,” Tschauner said.

Tschauner said the inspiration for the novel stemmed from her own daughter’s travels and the anxiety Tschauner experienced as a parent. She also drew from her own life experiences, including her daughter leaving for college, a divorce and a career change.

Tschauner explained the importance of making the characters relatable and grounding the story in the Midwest, a region she is familiar with through her parents’ time living in Lexington after she graduated from high school.

Tschauner also discussed the challenges of accurately portraying the realities of human trafficking, a topic she researched extensively.

To ensure authenticity, she said, she consulted with women from the Agape International Mission who had participated in rescue missions in Cambodia.

In addition to discussing the book, Tschauner shared her experience with the audio book production, which features Nebraska voice actors.

Tschauner expressed gratitude for being invited to present “Reclamation” at the Lexington Public Library.

She said the responsibility of being an author addressing this subject matter does not fall lightly on her.

In an interview Tuesday, Tschauner described “Reclamation” as a story centered on human resilience and relationships, with human trafficking serving as the narrative’s “antagonist.”

While the characters and plot are fictional, Tschauner said the subject matter is all too real.

“This book is not written for survivors of sex trafficking,” Tschauner said. “This book is written for people that need to be more aware of sex trafficking, which are people just like me.”

Tschauner says the idea for “Reclamation” came from being a writer almost all her life.

“I’ve always felt the need to put the stories in my head down on paper, to make sense of them and share them with the world. If they resonate with others or bring value in some way, that’s an added bonus,” Tschauner said.

“The intent of ‘Reclamation’ was to explore relationships and how human beings interact, recover, respond, how they serve themselves and their loved ones, and how they deal with something terrible happening to somebody that they love and care about.”

To ensure she portrayed the issue accurately, Tschauner relied on the expertise of people who had direct experience with rescue missions and advocacy work.

In addition, she hired a journalist to compile resources on human trafficking prevention and advocacy.

Tschauner also drew inspiration from authors like Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Janet Fitch and Margaret Atwood.

While Tschauner’s characters are not based on real people, she said there are elements of everyone and everything in her life woven into the story.

Her goal was to create relatable characters that readers could connect with, even if they hadn’t directly experienced the horrors of human trafficking.

Tschauner hopes that by drawing readers into an engaging story, they will also become more aware of the realities of human trafficking.

She wants “Reclamation” to inspire people to get involved as advocates, volunteers or financial supporters of anti-trafficking efforts.

“Hopefully everybody learns something after reading ‘Reclamation’ and ends up being satisfied with my story,” Tschauner said.