Author Chat with Jennifer Uhlarik about Sand Creek Serenade

Jennifer Uhlarik, welcome to Stitches Thru Time! Jennifer is a multi-published author who has just released her first full-length novel, Sand Creek Serenade, with Smitten Historical Romance.

What inspired you to write a historical romance with the backdrop of the Sand Creek Massacre, an admittedly dark blot in U.S. history?

I’d like to joke here and say it was my own stupidity, but the truth is I stumbled into this story without knowing fully what I was getting into at first. I’d been asked to put together a novella idea for a collection themed with “women working in men’s jobs.” So I immediately came up with the idea for a female doctor in the 1800s. Then, I started looking for a circumstance that would allow her to really dive into her medical practice—something big. Late one night, I read a very cursory paragraph or so about the Sand Creek Massacre and jotted it down into my brainstorming notes. Immediately, I found my hero—a Cheyenne brave—and went to bed. Overnight, my mind was alive with ideas. But later, as I dug further into the research on the massacre, I began to realize just how horrific it was—and how wrong my initial perceptions were about the events. No story about a massacre is “light” reading—but the circumstances of this event are so very tragic and unbelievable. The more I read, the more my heart broke. I debated scrapping the project because—how on earth could I convey the gravity of this tragedy in a 20,000-word novella?—but instead, I opted to expand this from novella to full-length novel. That would allow me the opportunity to write a more thorough depiction of the historical events and the characters’ feelings about them. And I hope that, in that process, I not only shed some light on the history of the Cheyenne and Arapaho people but maybe inject a touch of hope into that piece of American history as well as whatever tragic circumstances readers of this story may be facing in their own lives. There is hope, no matter what we’re facing, and that’s what I wanted to convey.

Hope is eternal, is it not? Tell us why readers will love your hero.

Oh, goodness. Five Kills is…where to start? He’s charmed me, and I’m the author! LOL Five Kills is a half-Cheyenne/half-white man who stands caught with one foot in each world. He was raised for his first 10 years with his parents in a white settlement, then left there and lived with the Cheyenne for the next 15 years. He has fond memories of his life with his white father, but he’s also embraced his life among the Cheyenne. From each culture, he’s learned honesty, morals, strength of will. He’s kind, caring, and protective, with a gentlemanly streak that I hope is going to set readers’ hearts a-flutter. Not to mention he’s tall, lean, and handsome—with a quick wit and a charming smile.

What's not to like there? Now tell us why readers will sympathize with your heroine.

Sadie is an interesting young woman. Raised by her widower father, who was a doctor, she latched onto the stories of how the medical practice brought he and Sadie’s mother (a nurse—and the daughter of the doctor under which Sadie’s father apprenticed) together. Since she’d lost her mother before she ever had a chance to know her, medicine is a way to be close to both her parents. And her father was forward-thinking enough to allow her to pursue her passion, in spite of the culture telling them such things were wrong for a young lady. Sadie has enough strength of character to buck the tides and follow her heart, no matter what anyone might say. Sometimes that trait gets her into trouble, but it’s also what helped her become a woman doctor and embrace the life she must pursue.

That sounds like a pair anyone would enjoy reading about. The U.S. and Native American conflicts—past and present—are a very touchy subject for many. How difficult was it to balance the true history with today’s views of our history?
I know there’s a big push by some in our country today to rewrite or whitewash the history books and try to make the historical record exonerate some groups of all guilt while heaping all the blame on others. The truth is—history lies between these two poles. No one is all good. No one is all bad. Maybe I should have been more concerned about this delicate balance while I wrote the story, but I didn’t really worry about it. My plan all along was to stick to the facts—the historical record of what transpired—and not to fudge those lines any more than I had to in order to make the story work. To my great surprise, I was able to craft a fictional story around the history without really changing anything major. In any of the minor spots where I did have to adjust the timeline or historical facts to fit, I made sure to mention those adjustments in my author’s note with my reasons for the change. I’m sure there are going to be those who read Sand Creek Serenade and think I’ve committed an unspeakable act because I didn’t depict one group as wholly evil and the other wholly good. That was never my intention because it is not the truth. There’s only ever been one Man to walk the earth who was wholly good with no spot or blemish—Jesus Christ. The rest of us fall far short of that mark, and so I did my utmost to convey the facts of this history while telling a compelling fictional story with a happily-ever-after romance. I can only ask—and hope—that readers will set aside their preconceived notions, read the story without any bias one way or the other, and let the story and research speak for itself.

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list numerous times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

  

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