:) And into it came some of the themes that visit me most often when it comes to telling stories: father/son issues identity (the loss of, discovery of, redefining of) the challenges of walking a middle ground between two cultures.
How could such a situation result in anything but chaos-and a setting that begged for a story to be woven through it? WHAT? How have I never heard of this before? My second reaction was. My first reaction upon reading these sparse facts was. For a little over four years the people of the Tennessee Valley region lived under the jurisdiction of two governments vying for the same territory, the allegiance of the same settlers. This first post-Revolutionary War attempt at independent statehood spanned a relatively short (1784-1789) but tumultuous period marked by courthouse raids, fisticuffs, siege, and battle. Had they succeeded (and they nearly did) Franklin would have been the fourteenth state admitted into the Union, instead of Vermont. While researching material for an earlier novel set in 18th century North Carolina, I came across mention of the “Lost” State of Franklin-an attempt of the citizens of western North Carolina to break away and form a separate state. Inspiration for The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn came straight out of the pages of history. I decided to post that answer for you here. I'm often asked in interviews what inspired me to write The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn. Falling in love was never part of the plan.
Gaining the freedom she longs for will mean running yet again, to the most unlikely refuge imaginable-the Cherokees, a people balanced on the knife edge of war.īut the biggest complication may prove to be Tamsen’s growing bond with her knight in greasy buckskins, Jesse Bird. With her pursuers ever nearing, the region in turmoil, neighbors grown suspicious of her presence, Tamsen’s safety is soon put in greater jeopardy.
Chaos reigns, thwarting Tamsen and Jesse’s hastily cobbled plan to keep her safe. Across the mountains the State of Franklin has been declared, yet many settlers remain loyal to North Carolina. Trouble awaits in the form of a divided frontier community. Trouble pursues, as the two men intent on seeing her recovered prove relentless in their hunt. Western North Carolina, 1787 ~ To escape a threatening stepfather and an unwanted marriage, Tamsen Littlejohn enlists the aid of Jesse Bird, a frontiersman she barely knows, to spirit her away from Morganton, North Carolina, west beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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