INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR DONNA FLETCHER CROW, 2021 MODEL

 

Author Donna Fletcher Crow, with her latest book series

Since starting this blog, I may have had interviews with an author in one installment and review their book in another. But up to this point, I've never had a return interviewee, until now. Which not surprisingly is the same person I interviewed for this blog. Also, the first novelist I interviewed when I was blogging for Hoosier Ink, the blog of the Indiana Chapter of the American Christian Fiction Writers. So I'm pleased to welcome Donna Fletcher Crow back to my blog. 

JR: Let me start off with something that caught me by surprise. Do you know you have an entry on Wikipedia? I've tried to find some of my other favorite authors, and they didn't make it (though, unsurprisingly, Kerry Nietz did). Besides that major accomplishment, what other claims to fame do you have, such as writing awards or organization memberships, etc.?

DC: Oh, Jeff, my real claim to fame is my grandchildren—15 of them—and all stellar. But in the writing world, my first award, being named “Writer of the Year” at the Mount Hermon Writers’ conference in 1983, was such a thrill. I suppose my biggest awards have been having Glastonbury and The Fields of Bannockburn each named “Best Historical Fiction” for the years they were published. And then, if you’re looking for surprises, not many people know that I was Miss Rodeo Idaho in 1960. Yes, I know—before most of you were born.

JR: Before I get into reality, let me take a trip into the fiction zone, where fictitious characters spend their lives when not being written about. This particular day, Lord and Lady Danvers happen to have a table at the banquet with Elizabeth and Richard and Father Antony and Felicity. What do you think they'll be talking about? Literature? Theology? Classical music? History? And do you think your ears would be burning?

DC: Ah, well, since my current project is writing a collection of short stories using these characters in mysterious adventures on the Riviera and in Switzerland, I expect they’ll be sharing notes on their favorite places and how things have changed since Victorian times. Elizabeth and Richard, of course, will be most interested in the literature and Father Antony is sure to bring things around to theology. I do wish I could sit in on the conversation—that would make writing the up-coming stories much easier. If readers are interested in seeing the background to all this, I’m doing a blog series on my research trip now.

JR: I believe your latest endeavor is the Celtic Cross Series. Could you tell us about this look into the history of Scotland and Ireland?

DC: The Celtic Cross Series is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, so I’m thrilled that it is becoming a reality. My Scottish and Irish epics The Fields of Bannockburn and The Banks of the Boyne have been out of print for nearly a quarter of a century, so it was past time to do something about it. Since each of those 800+ page tomes is divided into historical sections, (and since Amazon won’t print books that big) it made sense to give each story its own book. I’m loving the process of completely rewriting these stories with a new editor and I’m thrilled with the covers Ken Raney is painting for them.

JR: Many of your stories have your modern characters learn lessons from the past. With your study of British History, is there any common threads or helpful applications from the past on the other side of the Pond to our COVID affected, politically divided country?

DC: History always speaks to today. I never feel I’m writing about history—I’m writing about today because the basics never change—just the technology. The most important thing that writing Glastonbury taught me was that, no matter how dark things look today, they have always been darker in the past. And humanity has always survived—triumphed, even. The Light always overcomes the Dark.

JR: This may seem like another way of asking the previous question, and pardon me if it does, but what struggles did Britain in the past have with religious liberty? Is that right more secure now, more vulnerable, or about the same in the 21st century than it was here?

DC: Always and everywhere religious liberty has been and is under threat. I’m not sure whether the greatest threat, though, is having political leaders oppose religious faith or try to suppress it. Real faith has always grown when it’s under threat. The important thing is not to look at the depressing statistics about how church attendance is slipping here and in Britain, but to look at all the good things that are happening—and try to be part of that. People often ask me about failing faith in England (and I know there are struggles), but I visit so many thriving churches in the UK, belong to so many super Christian organizations there, and have such wonderful Christian friends all over Britain—including many faithful pastors and priests—that I know there is definitely a strong beacon of light still shining.

JR: Besides the Celtic Cross series, what looms on the agenda with your writing?

DC: As I mentioned above, I am working on a short story collection. When that’s done, I hope to get to a stand-along mystery I have wanted to write for many years using as background the great revival that swept the Hebrides right after World War II. I did the research clear back in 2000, so I think it’s had sufficient time to germinate.

JR: Thank you for your time. For those who haven't taken the opportunity from my previous interviews with you (I believe this is at least the fifth... and interestingly the first that isn't following the release of the latest Monastery Murder), how can we keep in touch with you?

DC: Thank you, Jeff. I always love your interviews because you ask the most surprising, searching questions. I would love to have your readers follow me—and there are lots of options: Subscribe to my newsletter (and receive a free Lord Danvers book), follow my blog, follow me on facebook, or follow me on Amazon. And you don’t have to choose—it’s all free.