Writer’s Desk with Laura Frantz

Writer’s Desk with Laura Frantz

Laura Frantz is a two-time Christy Award winner and the ECPA bestselling author of 16 novels and one novella, including The Seamstress of Acadie, The Rose and the Thistle, The Frontiersman’s Daughter, Courting Morrow Little, The Lacemaker,and A Heart Adrift. She is the proud mom of an American soldier and a career firefighter. Though she will always call Kentucky home, Laura lives with her husband in Washington State.

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More about The Indigo Heiress

Virigina plantation life is all she has ever known.
But could the life she was meant to live be waiting on a distant shore?

In 1774, Juliet Catesby lives with her father and sister at Royal Vale, the James River plantation founded by her Virginia family over a century before. Indigo cultivation is her foremost concern, though its export tethers her family to the powerful Buchanan clan of Glasgow, Scotland.

When the heir of the Buchanan firm arrives on their shores, Juliet discovers that her father has arranged for one of his daughters to marry the Scot as a means of canceling the family’s crippling debt. Confident it will be her younger, lovelier sister, Juliet is appalled when Leith Buchanan selects her instead.

Despite her initial refusal, Juliet realizes that fleeing Virginia is her only choice after finding herself in the midst of a scandal. The ship just leaving the harbor for Glasgow is her only hope. But she will soon realize that being part of the complex and calculating Buchanan clan is not the sanctuary she imagined–and the man who saved her from ruin is the very one she must now save in return.

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ARCF: Laura, we are so excited to be featuring you and The Indigo Heiress this week! Can you tell us a little about the inspiration behind The Indigo Heiress?

LF: When on a trip to Glasgow, Scotland I became fascinated with the now controversial tobacco lords—wealthy Scottish merchants—and their ties to the American colonies, primarily Virginia in the 18th-century. Lots of story fodder there! I thought it would be fun to write about the great-great granddaughters of my hero and heroine in Tidewater Bride by fast-forwarding a century.

ARCF: What is an indigo heiress, and how did you decide to write about this topic?

LF: Indigo was a highly prized commodity and color then and now. Our heroine, Juliet Catesby, lives on a Virginia plantation along the James River and her dowry is tied to her family’s indigo cultivation’s success. Since her favorite color is blue she tends to wear only blue garments. There were many shades of blue in the 18th-century. One of my favorites is “celestial blue.”

ARCF: What was your favorite piece of research you discovered while working on The Indigo Heiress?

LF: How extravagantly wealthy these Glaswegian tobacco lords were, among the wealthiest men in all of Europe. Appallingly wealthy, actually, much of their success derived through the inhumane slave trade. That’s the research’s downside but the upside was the amazing contrast between Old World Scotland with New World America. The differences were vast and endlessly fascinating, even amusing at times.

ARCF: Any research that didn’t make its way into the novel?

LF: I always offload about 90% of research lest fiction turn into nonfiction. I wish I could have included more about indigo cultivation as it’s an interesting, very old, highly odiferous process.

ARCF: The Indigo Heiress has a little bit of everything — history, romance, and suspense. How did you seamlessly weave these three genres together in your writing?

LF: I guess I don’t think much about it as I’m writing. Suspense turns pages and moves the story forward and there’s plenty of that in history. The older I get the more history trumps romance for me but I try to keep all three elements intertwined and entertaining.

ARCF: What do you hope readers will take away after reading The Indigo Heiress?

LF: That sometimes we have to let go of what we know to embrace God’s best for us. His timing and His ways are mysterious and perfect. Moving beyond our comfort zone and trusting where He’s leading is key.

ARCF: You’ve written many books — which has been your favorite time period / historical event to write in / about?

LF: My favorite is usually the subject or novel I’m currently writing, in this case a Revolutionary War novel set to release in 2026 which marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a pivotal moment in American history that signified the colonies’ formal break from British rule and the establishment of the United States as an independent nation. This milestone is referred to as the semiquincentennial which I can barely pronounce let alone spell I have immense respect for our founding fathers and mothers.

ARCF: I know this is like asking who your favorite child is, but in all your characters you’ve created, do you have a favorite?

LF:  I like my heroes better than my heroines so I’d have to say the very conflicted Colonel Cassius McLinn from The Colonel’s Lady which released in 2011, one of my early Kentucky-based books. This was my third novel but the first time I told a story from the hero’s perspective. But I love all my heroes for different reasons.

ARCF: We had a reader write in with the following question – where do you do your historical research?

LF: Usually on site. I always find the best resources and information from visiting historical sites at the settings in my novels. Though hundreds of years have passed since the 18th-century, the time period I love best, there’s nothing quite like walking on the very ground our ancestors walked. Thankfully, Colonial Williamsburg and those Scottish cities and castles in my novels are the perfect places for research. Great question, thank you!

ARCF: What is coming up next for you?

LF: I have several full-length historical romance novels contracted, plus a Christmas novella for Revell/Baker Publishing Group. I’m also publishing my second indie novella next summer. Life is full and I’m thankful.

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