One of things I love about doing what I do is the opportunity to meet and be in touch with fascinating people who are doing interesting things. Recently, I posted an interview with Marta McDowell, celebrating her publication of  the first modern edition of A Curious Herbal, the landmark herbal compiled by Elizabeth Blackwell in […]

If you’ve read Hemlock (China Bayles #28, 2021), you’ll remember that China was asked to help find a missing rare book: Elizabeth Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal. This is not a fictional herbal, but a real one, compiled in the 1730s under quite astonishing circumstances by a very real Elizabeth Blackwell. She drew pictures of the […]

The critics can’t find much to like.  “Underwhelming,” the Guardian sniffs. “Crying out for an editor.” “Sags under a deluge of detail,” snarks the New York Times. “Has the same flaw as him,” the UK Telegraph observes (ungrammatically), and scorns it as “a mite too insider-ish.” I loved it. Maybe I’ve been reading too much true […]

I enjoy novels that tell a strong story. I especially admire novels that manage to tell more than one story and do it well. In Horse, Geraldine Brooks tells three stories, effectively, carefully, tenderly braiding all three into one compelling narrative. What’s more, two of three are true–and there’s as much sad truth as fiction […]

A year ago, I posted about the book banning in neighboring Llano County. Since then, a group of Llano library patrons and friends challenged the ban. And now there’s good news to report. District court judge Robert  Pitman ordered that the banned books be immediately restored to the library shelves and card catalog, pending the […]

I’m fascinated by biographical/historical fiction. What interests me most about these novels is the complicated challenges they present. They have to meet all the usual requirements for successful historical fiction: an intriguing story peopled with engaging characters and supported by true-to-period details of settings, dress, food, slang, and lifestyle. But biographical/historical fiction has the additional […]

If you’ve read China Bayles’ latest mystery, Hemlock, you may be curious about Elizabeth Blackwell, the author of The Curious Herbal andthe main character in my historical novel-within-a-novel. So was I. Curious, that is–because I love using true stories as the basis of fiction. And this part of my story is true—as true as historians […]