Join us on a story that revolves around the creation of the Redwoods National Park. Welcome Karen to the Index!
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Questions about Karen’s Story
Did you include a real historical character or incident in your story?
My 1920s heroine, Marion Baker, was loosely inspired by a real redwood activist named Laura Perrott Mahan. Mahan not only tirelessly raised money to protect redwoods, but once she rallied a group of like-minded women to stand between a logging operation and a grove of trees they’d been fighting to protect. The loggers were forced to halt, providing enough time for Mahan’s husband—a local attorney—to file an injunction and alert the media. Once I read about that altercation, I knew I needed a similar scene in the story, and I wanted Marion to be equally impetuous and brave!
Why did you choose the geographical location in which your book is set?
I’ve featured four different national parks in my novels, and I’ve hoped from the beginning that I’d be able to write about the redwoods one day. When I was a little girl, I was fascinated with a book called Big Tree by Mary & Conrad Buff, written from the perspective of a redwood tree. This story captured my heart, particularly how a tree that sprouted before my ancestors arrived in North America could now be threatened by people in my own time. When I visited Redwood National Park, I was instantly transported back to the pages of that book. The trees are so massive and long-lived that looking up at them put my own day-to-day worries into perspective. The God that created these remarkable trees and nourished them all these years is the same God who looks after us.
Why did you choose the year in which your book is set?
I felt it was important to feature two time periods that were critical in the formation of Redwood National Park. The first was the 1920s, when conservationists were raising money for the protection of redwood forests and purchasing large tracts of virgin forest to protect it from the ax. The second time period I feature was the 1970s, just a few years after the national park was established.
Were there any historical facts that you discovered in your research that made you change something in your story?
I was excited to feature the work of the Save the Redwoods League, an organization I have long respected. Unfortunately, while doing research for the book, I stumbled over the fact that many of the original founders were avid eugenicists. One of them even penned a book that inspired Hitler. Ugh. Any time we dig into history, we’re going to unearth the bad along with the good. We live in a fallen world, and fiction should never gloss over the fact that we’re all sinful beings—even our historical heroes. Eugenics didn’t become a major storyline in the novel, but I felt it was important to shine a light on this disturbing part of our own history.
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Questions about Karen’s Reading
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What Christian Historical Novel taught you something about the craft of writing because it was so well done? Tell us a bit about what it taught you. I recently finished an incredible audiobook called Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate. I was drawn to it because one of the main characters works for the Park Service. The history fascinated me, but as a writer, there were multiple times when I was in awe of Wingate’s technique. Her detailed descriptions of some of the more basic aspects of park ranger life made this character feel authentic. As writers, we’re often told to “write what we know,” but that sometimes means we’re too close to the subject material to understand what might surprise or intrigue readers. It was a good reminder to me that to immerse a reader fully into the story, its often the smallest details that truly make the narrative come to life.
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What was the last Christian Historical Novel that made you cry? That’s an easy one. I don’t often cry while reading, so Susie Finkbeiner’s All-American really caught me off guard. I was so invested in those characters that I couldn’t help but shed tears right alongside them! I’m guessing I wasn’t the only one. It was such an outstanding book.
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What was the last Christian Historical Novel whose characters stayed in your head days after you finished reading it? That would have to be Sarah Sundin’s Embers in the London Sky. Sarah is one of my all-time favorite authors, and her characters feel so real that I find myself whispering prayers for them when the action gets tense. I have to remind myself that they’re fictional and don’t need my intercessions. I’m guessing God understands and probably has a good chuckle over it.
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