What Really Matters - One Mother’s Story
Yesterday, I was at my daughter’s school. One of her teachers nicely asked about my forthcoming book. Here’s what I said: “The book is set in the 14th century - the Middle Ages - it’s about a former nun who has lived in secret for 10 years. Then her son is killed, and she goes on a terrible journey to find out the truth about her life, and prove that her son’s life mattered.”
The teacher looked at me and cocked her head to the side. “That’s so different,” she said. “I thought since you work in business, you’d write a techno-thriller or something like that. Why this story?”
It’s a great question.
For several years, I commuted from my home in Olympia to Seattle. I rode the commuter train an hour each way. I worked a demanding job in high-tech with some very smart people. Lots of email, many hours on spreadsheets and business plans. Your busy job in today’s world is probably pretty similar!
But for an hour a day on the train each way, each day, I had time to think.
And I started thinking about what really matters.
Mothers. Children. Friends. Love. Our connection to each other. Our legacy in our children. 
I wanted to write a story about these things. Not about software, or iPads, or spreadsheets. I didn’t want to write about the ephemera of modern life — even though I love books like The Future of Us.
I wanted to focus the lens tighter. What happens when you strip life down to its essentials?
And I remembered a bit of history from the 14th century. Children died in a tragic house fire in a distant village. The families were in such agony that they took their dead children across England to the King’s throne to demand justice!
I could imagine their pain. The torture of losing your child. Their angry search for answers.
Children. Families. Loyalties divided in a village.
In the Middle Ages, there was no Facebook to distract, no email, no websites. Just the realities of what really matters.
So I started writing, in the early hours, as my train wended its way through the misty countryside.
The story became about one woman’s story. One mother loving her child. One tragedy. One relentless urge to find answers.
I wrote my book Sinful Folk because I wanted to think deeply about children, mothers, families, and loyalty. How far would a mother go to protect her child’s memory?
The character of Mear showed me what strength is hidden in the most unlikely heroines. She showed me how strong a mother can be. What power can be concealed in silence. She showed me what really matters.
Thanks for asking!
Review: Sinful Folk exciting, great writing
Really enjoying this book — I thought it would be slow, moving back into the middle ages, but instead this is really fast moving, exciting and interesting. I keep wondering how this woman kept herself hidden for all these years, and how in the world she managed to keep herself alive. Every other chapter, I’m wondering how she isn’t dead yet. But she’s smart, inventive, misses nothing — and she’s close-mouthed and shy. (A lot like me!) Great writing, interesting medieval perspective. I just hope she stays alive to the end of the book! — Anne Stanford on GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12401599-sinful-folk
Review: Sinful Folk fascinating, great read!
Reading this book prior to release…. great read! Interesting story, fascinating medieval landscape, and amazing characters. If you liked Pillars of the Earth or Year of Wonders, you’ll like this book. Also, seems a lot like The Red Tent, for people who loved that interwearving of history and ideas and women’s stories. — Ed Wheeler on GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12401599-sinful-folk
Sinful Folk is a well-paced historical mystery that kept me turning pages way past my bedtime!
The novel Sinful Folk is the story of a mother who carries a hidden secret and a terrible grief. In December of the year 1377, the village of Duns in northeast England suffered a great tragedy. Children died in a house fire. The villagers undertook a desperate journey to demand justice for their children's deaths.
