Book to Screen Dreams by Eileen Charbonneau

 

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What author doesn't dream of their work being interpreted by a great group of creative people and turned into a wonderful film or series? I sure do. When I see Tony Hillerman's Navajo policemen going about their duties and life strife as interpreted by the talented crew at Dark Winds, I wonder what they would do with my 1940s-set Navajo Code Talker Chronicles series.

I remember being thrilled by how John Jakes' North and South was turned into a miniseries featuring a young Patrick Swayze as an unforgettable Orry. Would I love for a great crew to tackle my Brides of the American Civil War series? You bet!

Why? Each interpretation is a love song to the original material. And it brings in new readers looking to delve further into the story. What bliss!

I love going to the movies and watching them on streaming devises. My favorites have always been historical dramas, where I learn some history (painlessly!) while engaged in compelling characters and plotlines. 

This year's Actors (formally SAG Award) went to the brilliant cast of American Historical Horror Movie Sinners.

What are your own nominations for Acting in American Historical movies...any era, any year?

Here are a few of my favorites to get you started. From this year: Ethan Hawke as lyricist Larry Hart in Blue Moon.

I'll add the various brilliant and brave women who have taken on Jo March in Little Women...

Laura Linney as Abigail Adams in the series John Adams..

And Tom Hanks in News of the World, which helped me get through the Covid years....

Who are some of your favorites?

Maple Sugar Moon

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Here in Vermont, we are into Sogalikas, the Sugar Maker Moon, fourth in the lunar year. The Abenaki people say that they learned of a delicious treat from the red squirrel nation. Squirrels nip off the end bud of a maple twig and drink the sap flow from the tip at this time of year. The Abenaki were quick to imitate Brother Squirrel!

Now we boil down the sap in sugar houses all over Vermont. It’s a festive time of visiting and telling stories around the fires.

March is also the month to celebrate all things Irish— literature, song, dance and history, myth and legend. What rich heritage we can draw on from both the first peoples and the many immigrants, rich with their own stories, who came to our shores!

Book Babies

 

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In the season that celebrate the birth of an extraordinary baby, it's fun to think about how babies are portrayed in our books. They are scene stealers, for sure, so must be used wisely!  

In literature as in life, how people react to babies is a real illumination of their character. The baby born to my heroine Ursula at the end of Book 2 of my American Civil War Brides series, Mercies of the Fallen, is featured prominently in Book 3, Ursula's Inheritance. I was delighted to draw on the effervescent spirit of my little grandson to fashion little Henry Ryan Buckley, born into the hands of his soldier father and uncle the middle of the infamous New York City Draft riots and massacres of the summer of 1863.

Baby D... always ready to inspire!

The joy of his mother's heart, Henry is also being cared by these two men when they're on army leave as Ursula's Inheritance begins. The novel's antagonists, out to steal his mother's inheritance, now have a new foe, as Ursula has an heir of her own. And they will stop at nothing. 

So Henry's got a squad of protectors besides his nearest and dearest. His father Captain Rowan sends for one of the three women who raised him after he was orphaned in Canada. Little Henry will soon be spouting French as well as English thanks to his devoted Tante Marie Agathe. And the whole family of Ursula's beloved cook and companion Miriam, who have escaped to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Weeksville after the riots, welcome Baby Henry into their thriving community. There's a mysterious teenaged orphan Penina (hiding behind her fan on the cover) who he takes a shine to, too. Was ever a little fellow so lucky?

I enjoyed featuring a baby to brighten my wartime story. Babies can be a wonderful presence in a novel, besides revealing the characters of all around them, and serving as symbols of our hope for a better future, when placed in any time period!

I hope readers will enjoy the antics of Baby Henry in Ursula's Inheritance.