Look and Listen

Biography

"Native By Proxy" to Arizona, my grandmother was a curandera: a Mexican-Native healer who used plants and sacred rites to help treat illness and disease. Drawn to languages and ancient cultures, I speak Welsh and Spanish in addition to my native English. I have an insatiable sense of curiosity; historical research is a vital component of my writing and nothing thrills me more than to find obscure happenings in the newspapers to use in my books. I do love to travel, and a trip to Wales and England has been a highlight of my life - so far. But stories of the past are also a gateway into another world where no passport is needed to explore. I love taking people on such journeys and opening their eyes to the history all around them.

Inspiration

I went on a school field trip with my son's class to the copper mines in Bisbee, Arizona. Learning that those first underground mines were dug entirely by hand by Welsh and Cornish miners lured to the hostile desert with promises that were not kept sparked my imagination. What did they think of this country so vastly different from their own? Was everyone else as ignorant of these people as I was? I have learned so much from meeting with historians and other writers and immigrants that I decided to share these stories of courage and fortitude, warts and all.