Louise Ulmer

Bio: Some people begin a novel with a character. With me it's a place. I think people react differently, depending on where they are and the atmosphere of the moment. When I'm in some historic place, I can all but see the ghosts of those who have lived there. The same thing happened when writing Shaker Winter. I fell in love with a place and the people came from the Shaker village. Serenade came to me after studying famous American homes. I couldn't write another Gone With the Wind, but I wanted to bring to life that great house with not only a past but a lively present too. I didn't plan this novel, I just let it happen, a fun way to write. My sister, A-Kay, added her vision. We grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where as a teenager I used to think nothing had ever happened. I was grown before I discovered the town has a history every bit as colorful as the burning of Atlanta. Fayetteville had been burned by both Yankees and Confederates during "The War." I guess the period seeped into our bones or was inherited. My mother and brother have read every novel in print on the American Civil War. Part of the season I wrote Serenade was to give her another fun book to read about our favorite bygone age. We love any book with a ghost in it. Give me a place, and I'll find the ghosts of the past in it.