Narelle here. I’m delighted to welcome Cindy Morgan to our blog today. Cindy’s debut novel, The Year of Jubilee, will be releasing on April 18, 2023.
Fast Nine
Let’s start by asking Cindy to answer some quick-fire questions.
Long black or flat white?
Flat White
Kiwis or koalas?
Koalas!
Mangoes or kiwifruit?
Mangoes
Cricket or rugby?
Hmmm… Rugby
Hobbits or Mad Max?
Hobbits for sure
Books or TV?
Books
Sun or snow?
SUN
Desert or sea?
Sea
Plotter or pantser?
First novel, punster; second novel, plotter
I’m excited to hear there’s a second novel…read the first one and loved it!
Getting to Know Cindy Morgan
Where are you from?
Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
What’s something interesting or unusual about you that not everyone knows?
I am a Kentucky Colonel.
That sounds cool!
What is your town or city most famous (or infamous) for?
My town is most famous for being a music town, specifically country music. It is also the home of the Goo Goo Cluster.
Do you have a pet that keeps you company when you write?
Yes. Snowy is a solid white Ragdoll cat who loves to snuggle while I write.
Snowy sounds adorable. 🙂
What do you like to eat or drink when you’re writing?
I either drink a cup of Red Rose black tea with steamed milk and sugar or a decaf espresso with steamed oat milk.
What did you learn while writing your last book that surprised you?
I think what most surprised me is how important it is for the characters in your novel to be complex. The small details really matter. It seems that it is those small character details that bring the characters to life.
Have you ever met a person in real life who is a doppelgänger (lookalike) for a character in your book/s?
YES! There is a songwriter here in Nashville that looks exactly like Cooter in The Year of Jubilee.
How fun!
If you were not an author, what would you like to be?
I have been a songwriter my entire adult life. Besides that, I wouldn’t mind being a gardener. I LOVE Monty Don. He is so charming.
Do you have a day job that helps (or hinders) your writing?
I am a singer-songwriter and write about four or five songs a week. I also perform and do shows and also produce records for other artists. It is a lot to juggle, but I love writing novels and getting lost in another world that only I can see.
What’s your favourite hobby (not including writing or reading)?
I love to garden. Also to go hiking in the woods. Listening to the sounds of the forest just returns me to myself. I grew up in the wilderness and I miss that. My other favorite thing is building a campfire and cooking food over it. So good!
What types of books do you like reading?
Historical fiction, crime dramas, books about psychology and the effects of trauma. I also love podcasts like This American Life, Sword and Scale, American Swindlers. So many choices…
About Your Writing
What’s your favourite part of the writing process?
I love character building and world building. I’m fascinated with the process of building characters, then falling in love with them. I also enjoy crafting the language and chipping away at the prose till it sings.
How does your faith impact your writing?
My faith is the most important thing in my life and I hope that it naturally seeps into the writing, but hopefully, not in a way that feels forced or unnatural.
What’s your biggest writing challenge?
Doing enough research to make sure the “world” feels real. I like to travel and make sure I can feel everything about the area where the book is taking place. I’m excited about an upcoming research trip I’m taking. I love jumping in my car and exploring a new place or a new occupation to try and bring it to life in a book.
Who or what are your main writing influences?
Harper Lee is one of my major influences as a writer. I also love Wendell Berry and John Grisham.
How do you choose names for characters in books?
I love choosing the names! I keep a list of names in a file. I am always listening for unusual names to use in books. The name is so important for a character. It’s also interesting how certain types of names were popular in certain decades. I like to research that since I do mostly historical fiction.
Which book that you’ve written would you like to see made into a movie?
The Year of Jubilee. It’s my only novel but I definitely see it as a movie.
It would make a great movie!
About The Year of Jubilee
Describe The Year of Jubilee in one or two sentences.
The Year of Jubilee is a coming-of-age book about a fourteen-year-old girl wrestling with a volatile dynamic between her and her mother in the midst of a family trauma, while struggling with her changing views during the turmoil of the civil rights movements, in a small coal-mining town in eastern Kentucky.
Who is the target audience for The Year of Jubilee?
I think the audience for The Year of Jubilee is historical fiction, book club fiction, Southern fiction.
Comparable titles are The Secret Life of Bees, The Help, Where the Crawdads Sing, Under the Magnolias.
What inspired you to write The Year of Jubilee?
My inspiration for The Year of Jubilee was my very first memory as a child. My brother Samuel was dying, and he wanted to see me and his pet rooster, Rojo, but we weren’t allowed in intensive care. I was three and a half and my dad lifted me onto his shoulders so I could hold up Rojo to the window of Samuel’s hospital room.
I had tears in my eyes when I read one of the scenes in your story with Rojo…heartbreaking and beautiful.
What did you research before writing The Year of Jubilee?
I made trips to different civil rights museums and interviewed a lot of people who grew up during that era. I watched about 20 different documentaries on the 1960s and read several books about that time period. For the town of Jubilee, a lot of the inspiration came from childhood memories of taking road trips to visit my relatives who lived in eastern Kentucky.
Where did you travel to research The Year of Jubilee?
I traveled to eastern Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.
What inspired you to choose the setting for The Year of Jubilee?
I enjoy it when a town’s name and the town itself become a character in the book. I remember loving the Mitford series by Jan Karon. For the title, my mother is a Messianic Jew. The idea of combining the historical idea of the Year of Jubilee with the events happening in the book seemed like a good fit.
Which characters are based on real life historical figures?
There are several characters based on real life. Jerry and Ann Evans were good friends of my parents. I kept their first names the same. There is a real life Dr. Clarke who saved the life of my young niece when she was nine years old. I was so saddened to hear of his passing just a couple of months ago.
Miss Adams was inspired by my seventh-grade literature teacher, Theresa Butler, whom I plan to send a copy of the book to.
I also gave the protagonist’s family’s the last name of Mockingbird as an homage to my favorite novel, To Kill A Mockingbird.
Which Biblical themes did you explore in The Year of Jubilee?
Forgiveness.
If a reader wanted to learn more about a specific problem or issue, how could The Year of Jubilee help them?
I think the slow work of learning to be empathetic to those who are difficult to love is a topic I try to explore.
What would you like readers to take away from reading The Year of Jubilee?
To try and put ourselves in other people’s shoes. The more we understand each other, the more likely we are to show compassion.
Will you have more books coming soon?
Yes! I have another book coming out in 2024.
Please tell us about your upcoming book release in 2024.
The next book following the release of The Year of Jubilee is set in the early 1950s, as the country is recovering from the Great Depression. It has a murder mystery in it, and that might be all I can say…
Book Description:
The Year of Jubilee is a lyrical coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of the turbulent South in the early 1960s.
The Mockingbird family has always lived peacefully in Jubilee, Kentucky, despite the divisions that mark their small town. Until the tense summer of 1963, when their youngest child, Isaac, falls gravely ill. Middle sister Grace, nearly fourteen, is determined to do whatever it takes to save her little brother. With her father and mother away at the hospital, Grace is left under the loving but inexperienced eye of her aunt June, with little to do but wait and worry. Inspired by a young teacher’s mission for change, she begins to flirt with danger—and with a gifted boy named Golden, who just might be the key to saving Isaac’s life. Then the unthinkable happens, and the world as she knows it shifts in ways she never could have imagined. Grace must decide what she believes amid the swirling, conflicting voices of those she loves the most.
From gifted songwriter Cindy Morgan comes this lyrical, tender tale of a girl standing at the threshold of adulthood, learning the depths of the human heart and the bonds of family that bend, break, and bind together over and over again.
Singer/songwriter Cindy L. Morgan is a two-time Grammy nominee, a thirteen-time Dove winner, and a recipient of the prestigious Songwriter of the Year trophy. An East Tennessee native, her evocative melodies and lyrics have mined the depths of life and love both in her own recording and through songwriting for noteworthy artists around the globe, including Vince Gill, India.Arie, Rascal Flatts, Amy Grant, Sandra McCracken, and Glen Campbell. Cindy is the author of two works of adult nonfiction—the memoir How Could I Ask for More: Stories of Blessings, Battles & Beauty (Worthy Inspire, 2015) and Barefoot on Barbed Wire: A Journey Out of Fear into Freedom (Harvest House Publishers, 2001)—and of the children’s picture book Dance Me, Daddy (ZonderKidz, 2009). The Year of Jubilee is her debut novel. Cindy is a cocreator of the charitable Hymns for Hunger Tour, which has raised awareness and resources for hunger relief organizations across the globe. Cindy has two daughters and splits time living between a small town near Nashville and Holly Springs, North Carolina with her husband Jonathan. For more information visit cindymorganmusic.
Connect with Cindy at her Website | Instagram | Facebook
Thank you, Cindy, for visiting with us and providing a glimpse into your life and your writing. I loved reading The Year of Jubilee and I’m looking forward to reading your next book. I’ve posted my book recommendation for The Year of Jubilee on my blog.
Thank you for sharing with us, the book sounds amazing and I’ve added it to my “to purchase” list. Blessings, Keona xx
Hi Keona, I hope you enjoy reading Cindy’s book as much as I did. Thanks for commenting. 😊
Thank you!
Hi Susan, You’re very welcome. Thanks for commenting. 😊
I had to google Goo Goo Cluster I wasn’t expecting a candy bar. Not sure what I was expecting.
The book sounds interesting and I have been singing “These are the days of Elijah” (the courses has the year of Jubilee in it)
Hi Jenny, I Googled it as well, lol, and I know the song, too. I hope you’ll have a chance to read Cindy’s book. Thanks for commenting. 😊