Featured Interview With Maggie Plummer
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Detroit, Michigan hearing about Montana almost every day. Both of my parents were from western Montana, but my dad decided to follow his career to Detroit. In 1984, after a lot of wandering around the United States working odd jobs but then finally finishing college, I moved to northwest Montana. I’ve been living here ever since. I love it, even though the winters are too long and too gray. I have one wonderful dog, a super-sweet black lab I rescued from our local animal shelter. Her name is Peaches because she is a peach of a doggie!
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always loved to read, and have been fascinated with language in general. I began keeping a journal when I was a teenager. As a young adult, I dabbled in create writing — taking classes, joining writers’ groups, and attending workshops through the years. When I finally got a college degree, it was in journalism. The only reason I chose to major in journalism was because it is a marketable degree.
I always dreamt of being a novelist, but had to make a living. While needing to work full time, I have never had enough energy leftover to write. I don’t know how people do that!
After writing for newspapers and magazines for 25 or so years, I decided to semi-retire and write novels. Part of my inspiration to do this was stumbling across some amazing history I’d never heard of: 1650s Irish slavery. When I researched the topic, I realized that very little had been written about it. I thought, ah ha! This is my chance to write a unique historical novel!
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite genre is character-driven women’s fiction, although plenty of male authors are among my favorites. Pat Conroy, Wally Lamb. I adore reading Barbara Kingsolver, Toni Morrison, Anne Tyler, Anna Quindlen.
Who inspires me in my writing? I would say Harper Lee. What wonderful storytelling she did when she wrote TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
DARING PASSAGE: BOOK TWO OF THE SPIRITED AWAY SAGA is the much-awaited sequel to my award-winning first novel, SPIRITED AWAY – A NOVEL OF THE STOLEN IRISH.
The first book paints an intimate, compelling portrait of 1650s Irish slavery in the Caribbean.
DARING PASSAGE tells the rest of Irish slave Freddy O’Brennan’s tale.
It’s still 1656, and Freddy is on the run. Determined to protect her young children and keep her family together, she is tested more than ever as she navigates a choking gauntlet of greed, corruption, duplicity, and bloody violence.
Romantic sparks fly, then smolder, and ultimately threaten to explode.
DARING PASSAGE is a 70,000-word historical romance novel that captures a rare glimpse of life in the New World colonies of the seventeenth century.
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