Please welcome our special guest today, Cynthia Owens!
I believe I was destined to be interested in
history. One of my distant ancestors, Thomas Aubert, reportedly sailed up the
St. Lawrence River to discover Canada some 26 years before Jacques Cartier’s
1534 voyage. Another relative was a 17thCentury “King’s Girl,” one
of a group of young unmarried girls sent to New France (now the province of
Quebec) as brides for the habitants (settlers) there.
My passion for reading made me long to write
books like the ones I enjoyed, and I tried penning sequels to my favorite Nancy
Drew mysteries. Later, fancying myself a female version of Andrew Lloyd Weber,
I drafted a musical set in Paris during WWII.
A former journalist and lifelong Celtophile, I
enjoyed a previous career as a reporter/editor for a small chain of community
newspapers before returning to my first love, romantic fiction. My stories
usually include an Irish setting, hero or heroine, and sometimes all three.
I’m the author of The Claddagh Series,
historical romances set in Ireland and beyond, and The Wild Geese Series, in
which five Irish heroes return from the American Civil War to find love and
adventure.
I’m a member of the Romance Writers of
America, Hearts Through History Romance Writers, and Celtic Hearts Romance
Writers. A lifelong resident of Montreal, Canada, I still live
there with my own Celtic hero and our two teenaged children.
Thanks so much for having me today! I’m very excited
to talk about Wishes of the Heart,
Book Seven of the Claddagh Series!
Q: Thank you for joining us! Please
tell us about your book.
A: Wishes of the Heart is very special to
me, because it’s allowed me to write about—and introduce my readers to—the
second generation of the O’Brien family of Ballycashel. The hero, Tom O’Brien,
is the second son of Rory O’Brien, hero of my first novel, In Sunshine or in Shadow. He knows he’ll never be the true heir to
the estate, but he’s worked side-by-side with his father since he was a lad,
when his rebel brother, Sean, fled to America just ahead of the British
soldiers. He loves Ballycashel, and he’s determined to make sure the estate can
keep its tenants…much to the dismay of his father, who resists Tom’s even the
idea of change.
Tom’s heroine is Neave Devereux, a wise woman
suspected of witchcraft. She’s spent most of her life scorned by the village
folk. Alone in her cottage, she yearns for acceptance, friendship…and love.
As storm clouds gather over the village of Ballycashel,
Tom and Neave must come together to fight superstitions and old enemies.
Q: Sounds great! What
inspired this story?
A: Wishes of the
Heart is my “Cinderella-with-an-Irish-twist” story. Tom O’Brien is a
wonderful prince charming, swooping in to rescue Neave from the angry village
folk on several occasions. And while Neave gets to go to Tom’s sister’s
coming-of-age ball, she flees before it’s over, leaving behind not a glass
slipper, but a Galway shawl.
Q: Wow! What a wonderful twist. Why did
you choose your setting and why was it perfect for your book?
A: The story is
set in the west of Ireland, a place full of mist and magic, legend and
superstition. And of course, like all of nineteenth-Century Ireland, it was
rife with political intrigue. It was only natural that my village folk would
fear a woman they called cailleach (witch).
And there’s no place more eerie and mysterious than Ireland, where ghosts may
linger in the misty woods. In fact, there is a ghost in this story, who shows
himself only to Neave. It had to happen in Ireland!
Q: I love the supernatural element. Did you
choose the title of your book and if so how did you do it?
A: I chose the title of the book, and it was a natural
for me. I don’t remember how many times I watched Disney’s Cinderella with my
daughter as she was growing up, and the song A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes
stuck with me. Maybe because, like most writers, I’m a bit of a dreamer myself.
When I decided to write this “Cinderella-with-an-Irish-twist” story, the song
came back to me, and I just twisted it around a bit.
Q: Please
tell us about your favorite character in the book.
A: Well, they’re all my favorites in their own unique
ways, but I think I love Neave best. Her deep desire to be accepted by the
village folk always tugged at my heart. Yet she’s strong, too, and determined
not to allow the village folk to destroy her. She holds her head up against
their cruel taunts.
Q: Which
element of this story was the hardest for you?
A: I think it had to be Neave’s isolation, her
desperate longing for friends. I was painfully shy as a child, and a rather
solitary one. I spent most of my time at the library, and I had a very hard
time making friends. So I could very easily identify with Neave’s loneliness. Fun Fact About Me: I was 30 years old
when I came down with chicken pox (caught it from my niece). Up till then I
hadn’t realized I’d never had the chicken pox before, and when I did get it, my
husband, with his twisted sense of humor, said I must have been at the library
when all the other kids got it. He was probably right!
Q: LOL But that must have been tough getting chicken pox at that age. What inspires
you? What motivates you?
A: Ireland inspires me, always Ireland, everything
Ireland! Her music, her myths and legends, and of course, her history. And her
people. The friendliest people anywhere, a people who have suffered and
survived, if not in their own homeland, then all across the globe. The
breathtaking landscape, the mists that flow soft against the soft ground, the
sea that crashes against her majestic cliffs. There are so many stories to be
told, and I want to tell all of them. That’s my motivation!
Q: That is very inspiring. Please
tell us about your other books.
Q: What’s
next for you?
A: I have a
few projects I’m currently working on. The Carousel is Kieran Donnelly’s story
and Book 6 of the Wild Geese Series. I’m also writing three novellas for a
single-author anthology of Christmas stories..
🌟🌟🌟
Wishes of the Heart is available at:
Thank you again for being our guest today, Cynthia! Everyone, please visit Cynthia online:
