My first historical novel is finished. With tears and sniffles, I closed the book and said good-bye to my first heroine, Maureen. She is a feisty one, an 18 year old Irish immigrant, who goes on a quest to find her brother in the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in any American conflict. Armed with only a pocketful of coins and her father’s pistol, she faces a world at war. Along the way she finds good friends, a friend who loves her — conditionally — and her own calling. But will she find Joe? She remains ever hopeful she will.

Divided Loyalties —its first draft written during NaNoWriMo 2015 — is now in the hands of publishers. When the day comes to announce its publication I’ll be here shouting and jumping up and down.

In the meantime, I’m off writing my second novel. It too is a historical fiction, set in early 20th Century Baltimore.