In Silence Cries the Heart follows an American schoolteacher on a trip to Scotland who uncovers the tragic history of a couple from the 17th century and a mystery surrounding their love. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

During the summer of 2019 while on a tour of Scotland, I and my fellow travelers stopped at Urquhart Castle, the ruins of which rest on the banks of Loch Ness. Visiting the dungeon there, I read a placard that mentioned the name of its most famous prisoner, Domhnull Donn, a cattle thief who had been executed not so much because he was a reiver but because he had the audacity to fall in love with the laird’s daughter, Mary Grant. When I asked the tour guide for further information about this doomed pair, he really didn’t know a whole lot beyond what was stated there on the display.

For some reason, I just couldn’t shake the memory of the castle, the dungeon, and the two lovers themselves, so when I got home to New York, I started digging around to find whatever I could about Donal and Mary. During that research, I found a particularly wonderful book by William Mackay called, Urquhart and Glenmoriston, Olden Times in a Highland Parish (1893) which included intriguing comments about Domhnull, calling him “the Rob Roy of his generation” who “had more poetry in his soul than the famous Macgregor had.” In addition, Mackay also recounted Domhnull’s capture, his final days, and even his last words before succumbing to the ax. I started to think, What kind of love could be so strong that it would be worth dying for?

I knew I had the shell of a tremendous story from history; I just needed to flesh it out.

Were you able to achieve everything you wanted with the characters in the novel?

I believe so. I hope readers will be captivated by the story of Mary and Donal and feel transported back to another age and time.

There is so much to be said about love in this book. What do you hope your readers take away from your story?

Two things actually. First (as stated earlier), I hope that they will be enchanted by a love that transcends time. Second, I hope that they will come to realize that silence is something to be welcomed, not avoided. For it is in silence where we learn so much about the soul–the spirit that connects all human beings from ancient times to today. Silence is something we have so little of today. Think of all of the buzzing notifications we get on a minute-to-minute basis: FB updates, incoming text messages, Instagram posts, etc. We simply can’t escape the noise and the distractions. But the truth is, we need silence. It’s a requisite for self-discovery. Only in the silence do we get to know ourselves, and when we can do that, we can then identify the part inside of us that’s the same stuff inside every other person–even those who lived in the Scottish Highlands back in the 1600s.

Thus, the Dedication at the opening of the novel:

“To the voices of yesterday that can be heard in the silences of today”

What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?

I’m currently working on another dual-narrative novel, but this one is set in the years before the Norman Conquest. It’s a tumultuous time, and powerful men are jockeying for possession of the English throne.

Various rulers stake their claim, each believing he is the rightful leader to wear the crown. But the waters grow even muddier when King Edward the Confessor, childless and already in failing health, sends for his nephew, Edward the Exile, to return home. What will this mean for Harold Godwinson? For William, Duke of Normandy? And when the Exile mysteriously dies almost immediately after coming ashore, what will become of his son Edgar, the last surviving male member of the royal dynasty of the king?

While these men assume a significant role in the novel, the two main players are women: Melisende, a simple farm girl from Caen, Normandy, and Margaret, daughter of Edward the Exile and future queen of Scotland. Their two lives eventually intersect when Melisende is forced to spy on Edgar, Margaret, and Margaret’s suitor, Malcolm III of Scotland. Facing adversity, loss, and death, each woman is transformed by those experiences to see her own lustrous reflection mirrored in the other. Enemies no more, they emerge as kindred souls: triumphant, brave, and able to endure. Thus, the title, Therein Lies the Pearl.

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Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2024/04/20/a-love-that-transcends-time/