fuonlyknew

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

I have loved stories and books my whole life, and in college I studied fiction writing with E. L. Doctorow and other celebrated writers. But self-criticism and a fear of failing at what I most desired blocked my efforts.

Still, wanting to make literature my career, I became an editor. I loved working with writers, though I always felt a yearning to be one of them. In 2005, in a wave of corporate downsizing throughout publishing, I was laid off. I told myself the time had come to try to make my writing dream a reality.

What was the inspiration for Stones River and its sequels?

My husband, a professional trumpeter, played in a Civil War-style band in the early 2000s and I went along with him to events. One night at a reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg, I walked around the vast Union camp and marveled at the authenticity of the scene— white tents glowing throughout the forest, firelight and candles the only illumination, horses and mules tied among the trees, groups of “soldiers” chatting or playing fifes around campfires. No modern technology spoiled the 19th century illusion.

I suddenly had an inspiration: What if a young woman at an event like this wandered away from camp, and met someone she took to be a fellow reenactor–handsome, with an old-fashioned courtesy, in every way the kind of man she had almost given up hope of finding? And then she discovered that he was the spirit of a Civil War soldier who had died 144 years earlier.

It was a huge risk for Jessie to enter into a relationship with a ghost. Likewise, it was a huge risk for me to confront my fear of failure and commit myself to writing Jessie and Lem’s story. But once I began, the novel flowed. I was compelled to follow the lovers, and other characters in Stones River, in two sequels, Soldier’s Joy and Bright Canaan.

Is there a theme that unites all three books in the series?

All the books in my Sentinel Heart Trilogy have one theme at their heart: that death is not the end. It doesn’t end relationships, in that we continue to feel the presence of those we’ve loved and lost. We remember them at every milestone in our life, and we may even seek their guidance when faced with important choices.

Because of the early, shocking loss of my beloved father, I found consolation in imagining a world in which the spirits of the dead can actually be present with those who loved them. In Stones River, Jessie finds a passionate love with Lem, and helps to free him from his earthly vigil even though it means losing him to the afterlife. Or so she thinks–but in Book II of the trilogy, Soldier’s Joy (to be published in early 2026), Lem is still watching over Jessie and his newly-discovered 21st century relatives from the spiritual realm. At great risk to himself he can even re-enter the mortal world to protect them. His main mission is to help his great-great-great nephew, Avery Gowan, recover from the trauma of the Iraq war, and to bring Avery together with the woman whose love will help him fully heal. Book III, Bright Canaan, (Spring 2027) tells the stories of the five women who have loved Lem—his mother, sister, and 19th century sweetheart, and, in the 21st century, Jessie and Sally Gowan, Avery’s mother. One of them enables Lem to find eternal peace at last.

What’s your definition of success?

My definition of success is to keep on writing, and to give readers the same experience of losing themselves in a story that has made reading my lifelong joy.