1–What is the title of your latest release? THE SWEET BLUE DISTANCE 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? From the author of the international bestseller Where the Light Enters comes a sweeping Western saga centered around a young midwife who journeys from New York City to New Mexico in 1857. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I had been thinking about the story setting for at least ten years. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes. They are generally easy going and interesting people 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? cautious, skilled, courageous 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? The Kiowa, a native nation of the Great Plains, used symbols and drawings to record important events, a kind of calendar. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I’m always editing. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? hazelnuts, gianduja 9–Describe your writing space/office! Small study, piles of books, lots of maps, generally messy. 10–Who is an author you admire? Just one? Really?  Okay, so here you go: Thomas Hardy. 11–Is there a book that changed your life? When I was…

For many historical fiction fans, one of the draws of the genre is watching woman of past confront challenges and restrictions to open up new opportunities for themselves.  In honor of the recent birthdays of some extraordinary women—my mother-in-law, my stepmother and my daughter—this month I showcase a group of enterprising women who dare to dream of doing something more than filling a woman’s conventional place in society. We begin chronologically with THE DARING LADIES OF LOWELL by Kate Alcott.  Searching for independence and a better future, in 1832 farm girl Alice Barrow moves to Lowell to become one of the “mill girls.”  Though the hours are long and the work grueling, she finds a new best friend in outspoken, feisty Lovey Cornell, camaraderie with the other mill girls, and intellectual stimulation in attending lectures at the Lyceum and working on the mill’s literary magazine—where she catches the attention of mill owner’s son Samuel Fiske.  As working conditions become more dangerous and the workers protest, Samuel invites Alice to represent the other mill girls at a meeting with his family.  But when her friend Lovey is found strangled and she suspects the Fiske family of withholding information about the crime,…