The Ancestral Pen

  Dear readers, I hope you’ve got a good book in hand and something warm to drink  because I’ve got some exciting news this week. The Fading Light Is Available for Preorder! The Fading Light  is now available for preorder on Amazon, and it officially releases on  May 25th. I’ll be sharing more about the book in the weeks leading up to launch; behind-the-scenes research, the history that inspired it, the characters I fell a little in love with while writing it. You’ll be the first to know everything. If you’ve been with me for a while, preordering means the world. It genuinely helps get the book into more hands. And if you know someone who loves a sweeping historical story, well… it would make a pretty great gift. Preorder The Fading Light on Amazon: Button This Week’s Reader Question Over the past year, I’ve shared so much about myself from my writing life, my obsessions, and the history that keeps me up at night. Now I’d like to turn the tables. I want to get to kno...

  July 4th Parade As I've mentioned before, I'm a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. I have many patriot ancestors, two of whom are on my Woolsey line. Daniel Woolsey was the great-grandfather of Richard Woolsey from my book "His Greatest Regret," and Daniel's father Henry—both served together side by side in the American Revolution. You'll learn a bit more about this in the next book about Richard's son, William. Families are messy. Richard was the broken link in this family line. He descended from two amazing men who were patriots, then Richard somehow avoided the Civil War, even though he was of the optimal age to serve, likely in the Union since he lived in Indiana. He left behind a son he never knew. However, when you go back beyond Richard, you have men who were patriots, well-established family men, and so on. Someday I will write about Daniel and Henry Woolsey as well, but I'm still in the process of gathering information about...

  April 18, 2025 Today marks exactly 250 years since an American silversmith mounted his horse and galloped through the Massachusetts countryside on a mission that would change the course of history. On this night in 1775, Paul Revere embarked on his famous "midnight ride," carrying urgent news that British troops were on the move. Two lanterns hung in Boston's Old North Church tower, signaling the approach of British forces by sea, and setting in motion events that would spark the American Revolution. The Man Behind the Legend Before he became an American icon, Paul Revere was a skilled craftsman and businessman. Born in Boston's North End on January 1, 1735, Revere learned silversmithing from his father, a French Huguenot immigrant who had anglicized his name from Apollos Rivoire. After his father's death in 1754, Revere took over the family silver shop, producing everything from elegant tea sets to shoe buckles. But Revere was more than just a silversmith....