If I could go anywhere during the month of November, I’d run to the foothills and mountains of North Carolina.  There’s nothing like the Blue Ridge these crisp autumn days!  That’s where Night Bird Calling, my ninth novel, unfolds.

For me, writing Night Bird Calling was both a “coming home” to those welcoming foothills and an emotional journey into difficult issues of racial injustice and domestic abuse.  It was not an easy story to tell.  Deep in my bones, I think I always knew I’d one day need to write it for the sake of women everywhere and as a thanksgiving to the God in Heaven Who brought me through a dark and broken past and into the light.

Night Bird Calling:

When Lilliana Swope’s beloved mother dies, Lilliana gathers her last ounce of courage and flees her abusive husband for the home of her only living relative in the foothills of No Creek, North Carolina. Though Hyacinth Belvidere hasn’t seen Lilliana since she was five, she offers her cherished great-niece a safe harbor. Their joyful reunion inspires plans to revive Aunt Hyacinth’s estate and open a public library where everyone is welcome, no matter the color of their skin.

Slowly, Lilliana finds revival and friendship in No Creek—with precocious eleven-year-old Celia Percy, with kind-hearted Reverend Jesse Willard, and with Ruby Lynne Wishon, a young woman whose secrets could destroy both them and the town. When the plans for the library also incite the wrath of the Klan, the dangers of Lilliana’s past and present threaten to topple her before she’s learned to stand.

With war brewing for the nation and for her newfound community, Lilliana must overcome a hard truth voiced by her young friend Celia: Wishing comes easy. Change don’t.

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“A sumptuous, textured ode to small-town relationships” (Foreword Reviews) in the tradition of classics like Cold Sassy Tree and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café.

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I hope you enjoy Night Bird Calling.  Next year Tyndale House Publishers and I will bring you a companion novel, A Hundred Crickets Singing, a time split story (American Civil War and WWII) in which you’ll once again meet some of No Creek’s characters, learn more of their complicated past and unravel a mystery hidden since the days of Generals Grant and Lee.

Until next time, happy reading and a very Happy Thanksgiving to you!  May you know the joy and fulness of God’s love with each sunrise,

Cathy

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