My Story: Finding Power Within

Dear Reader,

Every writer, it's said, has a single story to tell — and tells it over and over again.

A'isha bint Abi Bakr, the most famous and influential woman in Islam, inspired me to write about her life in my novels "The Jewel of Medina" and "The Sword of Medina."

Now that I'm at work on a third novel — also historical fiction — I'm asking myself: What is my story?

Married at nine to the Prophet Muhammad when he was fifty-two, A'isha's tale begins as that of a girl with no powers of...