Historical Fiction Triple Play

I was blessed and privileged to be a part of the Berry Fleming Book Festival this past September. Not only was I on the planning committee, but I also served as the moderator for the Historical Fiction panel featuring Jim Minick, Julia Franks, and Daren Wang. All three of their books were excellent and gave me a “reading hangover!” (A reading hangover is when a book is sooo good that the reader must stay up past his or her normal bedtime to find out what happens next, get some answers, etc. The next day this poor reader fails at all adulting responsibilities due to sluggishness and lack of sleep).

The Hidden Light of Northern Fires

Mary Willis returns home with a brand-new college degree and a spirit of abolitionism. Her brother, Leander, is the 1860s version of a slacker and their veteran father, Nathan, is one of the pioneers of Town Line, New York. Although the Willis family lives in the North, escaped slaves are not welcome in the communities of Town Line and Alden due to fears of job and property loss (sound familiar?). Some Northerners (called copperheads) earn money returning escaped slaves to their owners across the Mason-Dixon line. When Mary stumbles across a family of escaped slaves, abolitionism changes from an abstract ideology to real-world activism when she hides a slave in her family’s root cellar.

At first, the citizens of Town Line are overcome with war fever and cheer as the young men of the community sign up to fight for the Union. Their passion and fervor is quickly deflated and reality sets in when most of the young men are killed in battle; the town’s grief turns to rage against President Lincoln and the citizens secede from the Union. Mary’s family soon comes under suspicion for hiding a fugitive slave and tragedy results when the Willis’ are caught attempting to transport Joe (the escaped slave) to a safe house.

(Yes, Town Line, New York did indeed secede from the Union and Daren Wang also manages to sneak in a little-known bit of history into his novel: the missions of the Confederate Secret Service.)

Fire is Your Water

Fire is Your Water takes place in the Pennsylvania mountains and along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1953. Ada Franklin is known throughout the mountains for her powwow skills (healing abilities). After a fire in the family barn and experiencing an eerie vision, Ada unexpectedly loses her healing skills and is unable to heal her mother’s burns: “She had entered the fire, and now she didn’t know who had come back out” (22). Meanwhile, on the other side of the mountain Will Burke rescues and adopts Cicero, an injured raven who lost his family in a thunderstorm. The book is told from the alternating viewpoints of Ada, Will, and Cicero. Ada and Will start a quiet, budding romance but their relationship and Ada’s faith is tested when tragedy strikes the gas station where Will works.

Over the Plain Houses

Irenie Lambey is stuck in a loveless marriage. She and Brodis used to love each other but the dynamics of their relationship changed after the death of their infant daughter. Brodis gave up his dangerous logging job to preach; his brand of Christianity is rigid and stifling. The power and social status Brodis receives as a preacher turns him into a strict, unbending father and a controlling, abusive husband. Irenie starts taking midnight walks to combat her feelings of loneliness and stores the various mountain treasures she finds in a secret cave. Brodis is alarmed by his wife’s nightly absences and he assumes that Irenie is engaging in some form of witchcraft. Brodis is also disturbed at the growing friendship between Irenie and Virginia Furman, the new USDA agent sent by the government to assist mountain families with modernizing their farms and kitchens. Brodis is distrustful of outsiders in general (they always want to make someone change), but the nighttime walks and new friendship fuels a paranoia inside Brodis, a paranoia that soon manifests itself in a disastrous way.

Photos courtesy of Rhian Swain

Questions for the authors:

Jim Minick

·       How did writing historical fiction differ from writing a memoir?

Daren Wang

·       In your novel the hamlet of Town Line, in upstate New York, secedes from the Union. Can you tell us about any real-life Northern towns that seceded from the United States?

Julia Franks

·       How did your Appalachian roots and the love of the outdoors assist you in your writing process and research?

Questions for all

·       What was the inspiration for your story?

·       How long did it take to write your books and were you prepared for how long it took?

·       Julia and Daren, you are debut authors- what surprised you the most about the publishing process?

·       What aspects of your story did you have to research for your books for historical accuracy? Where did you do this research?

·       What projects are you working on now?

      This was my first time as a panel moderator at a book festival. Although I was nervous at first, my butterflies soon dissipated after Jim, Julia, and Daren enthralled the audience regarding their writing and research processes and experiences within the publishing industry.