Author Interview: Heather Miller

 

 

 

JMR-Welcome to the Books Delight, Heather. Tell our readers where you live, what you do for fun and what does the perfect day look like?

HM-Thank you for hosting me. I’m honored.

I’m from Carrollton, Georgia. I’m a high school English teacher by day, a writer by night. My baby, who is 17, plays lead trumpet in the marching band at our school (I teach at his high school), so on Friday nights, you’ll find me in the stands.

JMR-What’s your favorite historical time period? Why?

HM-That is a difficult question, as I spend my writing time living in Cherokee Nation in 1828.

Although, I love an adventurous trip through the stones to rendezvous with Jamie and Claire Fraser (Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series) or take a boat across the channel  to Elizabethan England to catch time travelers, Matthew and Diana DeClarmont (Deborah Harkness’ Discovery of Witches trilogy).

JMR-Who is your favorite historical figure? Why? If you could ask them one question, what would it be?

HM-It would be such an honor to have tea with Edith Wharton (House of Mirth and Age of Innocence author), or to take a writing craft seminar from Virginia Woolf.

JMR- How did you come to be a writer of historical fiction?

HM-I decided I wanted to try to write the kind of book I wanted to read, historical fiction/romance, family saga. A story that could follow real characters through some of the most tumultuous times in their lives. To tell the story of an unlikely love that sustains over time, through joys and pain, distance and intimacy.

JMR- Some readers think American history is nothing but wars. How do authors of American History reach those readers who love a great Regency romance or a book about the Tudors but won’t touch a book about Americans?

HM-American literature, and its characters, seek new ground, and with hard work and determination build towns and railroads, families and traditions. While those Regency romances and Tudor tales are about establishments and kingdoms, American sagas make their own rules. Underdog heroes may not win, but they fight for their right to believe whatever they choose. American heroes and heroines fight for liberty and freedom and justice and beauty and love.

JMR- Heather, tell us about your new book, ‘Tho I Be Mute.

HM- It is a work of historical fiction, told in dual timelines from three, first-person narrators. The frame narrative begins with daughter, Clarinda Ridge in 1856. A secluded sorceress, a wise woman, she and her dog “Digaleni” (ears in Cherokee), remembers her origins through a tumultous thunderstorm.

Then, the narrative slips into her father’s point of view, traveling from Cherokee Nation Territory (present day Northeast Georgia) to Cornwall, Connecticut. He walks with crutches because of hip scrofula. During the harsh Connecticut winters, he suffers and becomes severely ill. He is taken to the Steward’s home, and cared for by the Steward’s daughter, Sarah.

As John heals, their courtship begins, but once John asks for Sarah’s hand, her parents separate the couple in hopes that Sarah’s affections will dwindle. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Despite defamatory editorials and angry mobs, the two marry and travel south to John’s family in Cherokee Nation. There, the couple faces challenges of culture and faith and political turmoil. They find their way.

JMR- Did you visit anyone of the places in your book? Where did you feel closest to your characters?

HM-Major Ridge’s home, the Chieftain’s Museum, where John and Sarah lived during their early marriage, is about an hour from my home. I’ve been many times. The Oostanaula River runs directly behind the house. Sometimes I go to just sit by the river and listen to the same sounds John and Sarah heard.

Later, John built Sarah, and their children, “Running Waters,” six miles from his father’s house. I’ve been there also, although it is privately owned. It is a beautiful, New England Federalist style two story, white with green shutters, surrounded by valley land and a running spring.

JMR-What projects do you have in the pipeline?

HM- Mute takes John and Sarah’s journey to 1827. My current work in progress, YELLOW BIRD’S SONG, follows John and Sarah from 1827-1835, and the signing of the Treaty of New Echota. This was the document which removed Cherokee from their ancestral land and forced them to Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma.

The conclusion of the story will be from 1835-1856.

JMR- Tell our readers how to find you on social media and the web.

HM-Find me on Twitter @HMHFR, Facebook @HMillerAuthor. My website is https://www.Heathermillerauthor.com

If you’d like to listen to my playlist, inspired by ‘Tho I Be Mute, feel free:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIeCSTEhJ8pBNt9JiIvfEwv2SuUYuCwbB

JMR- What question were you hoping I’d ask but didn’t?

HM-The most interesting question I’ve been asked by an agent I queried was, “What music would you want in the soundtrack if your novel had a film adaptation?” If I ever needed a theme song for Mute, it would be Tim Janis’ “Ever, I Love You” or Josh Groban’s “Mystery of Your Gift.” Listen here…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s_eKblFTkQ     and https://youtu.be/xCChLqGffOY

JMR-Thank you, Heather, for stopping by today it’s been great fun chatting with you. Readers, I know you’ll want to check out Heather’s book so I’ve provided a link to Amazon below.