What inspired The Lights of Kirrie?

I still wake up every morning disappointed that I’m not actually Scottish, even though I’m married to a Scottish American, we posted banns and held our wedding in Dalkeith, my hen night was spent barhopping in Edinburgh, and I read Daina Gabaldon’s Outlander on my honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands—decades before it was a world phenomenon. I have spent more time in the Strathmore Valley than any place other than my native California and London, the city my children call home. Scotland captures my imagination like nowhere else on the planet. Its battle-scarred history strewn throughout its rugged and majestic scenery makes it at once formidable and achingly desirable. And the people! My husband’s family and our neighbors there are among the warmest, most welcoming, generous, hilariously funny bunch of practical jokers and historical archivists I’ve ever met. So, when I was ready to write my second book, I knew exactly where I wanted it set. And yet, I was living back in California and had recently discovered Napa Valley, another extraordinarily beautiful part of the world, with its own rich, albeit much shorter, history of tumult and allure. How to choose?

Next came the question of the plot. I love historical fiction and sweeping family sagas. My mother-in-law tells the story of a German pilot who crash-landed during World War II in a field near her family home—a farming cottage in Strathmore that she and her siblings later bought, and where my family often stayed, particularly at Easter. That seemed like a pretty inspiring way to start a book! Around the time I was noodling on a possible Luftwaffe plane crash in our own backyard, I learned that the historic Kinpurnie Castle, located a few miles up the road from the cottage, had recently been up for sale to the public. Somehow, all of that along with the phrase, “the lights of Kirrie,” which is my mother-in-law’s favorite view from the postage stamp-sized window in her kitchen, got whooshed up together in my head, and the framework for this dual timeline novel was born. Most of the characters are entirely made up, as are the plot, subplots, and colorful anecdotes. But some are absolutely inspired by real life—and I have been known to reveal the whereabouts of an Easter egg or two, so maybe I’ll share those at a later date.