The seed of a story that takes place in a time that was, begins in our imagination, or does it?
My new novel began somewhere in the midst of my imagination, a real life story from a family’s past — and the mystical things that can happen if we pay attention to what the ghosts are telling us.
I discovered historical fiction when I was eleven years old, lying on the living room floor reading the titles across my mother’s bookcase. Why I pulled out a novel called Raintree County, I really don’t know. It was a thousand-page book that began before and after the American Civil War.
What drew me, I believe, was the scope and depth of a story beautifully told.
Now here I am, years and years later, listening to a time that was and writing the story of the imaginary people who might have been there.
Here is my story of collaborating with ghosts, and writing a novel called With Every Goodbye We Learn.