Talkshow Thursday: Welcome Back, Donna Wichelman

Talkshow Thursday: 

Welcome Back, Donna Wichelman

I’m pleased to welcome Donna Wichelman back to my blog. I love her stories, and you will do.

When did you know you wanted to be an author? I’ve loved telling stories since elementary school, when I wrote poetry, short stories, and articles for the school newspaper. But in high school, a unique opportunity allowed me to attend the United World College of the Atlantic—an international high school in Wales. While most of the students lived in dormitories on the “hill,” I lived in a two-room, ten-girl dorm inside St. Donat’s Castle outside Llantwit Major on the Bristol Channel. Though the castle has none of Hogwarts’ magic, it does have a legendary ghost, Lady Anne, who roams the halls.

As you can imagine, the setting at Atlantic College provided plenty of fodder for the imagination, and focusing on English Literature allowed me to develop a taste for the classics. I particularly liked Jane Austen and Charles Dickens for the themes that touched the human spirit. Living in Wales also let me travel throughout Europe, and I became fascinated by its history and culture.

Why do you write in your particular genre? So, with all the travel I’ve done and my love of books, I eventually realized historical romance best fit who I am as a writer. Even my contemporary romantic suspense novels unfolded because I became fascinated with the dramatic history of the Waldensians, a persecuted sect of Protestants throughout the Middle Ages, and their story of faith and valor touched me.

Can you share a real-life event that inspired your writing? One of my greatest adventures occurred

while I was researching Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and visiting the Brontë parsonage in Haworth, England during my days at Atlantic College. While walking the moors on a drizzly day, I happened upon an old man with a cap and cane whose ancestors knew the Brontës. He delighted me with his stories and captivated my imagination with his words. Tales like these from people I meet all over the world have sparked the stories that come to life on the page.

Is your book part of a series: Did you set out to write a series? Why did you decide to write a series? Rhythms of the Heart is Book 2 in the Singing Silver Mine Series. It follows Book 1, A Song of Deliverance, my Angel Book Award-winning historical romance. I set out to write a series in which three different women—two from Ireland and one from Ohio—escape tragic circumstances by immigrating to the mining town of Georgetown, Colorado. Each must find the faith and courage to build a new life and discover how God’s love abounds even in the most difficult circumstances.

How did Rhythms of the Heart change from the first draft? Initially, I wrote Rhythms of the Heart as a 33,000-word reader magnet for the series. I titled it To Mend a Broken Heart and intended it to be a giveaway. But one of my mentors, historical romance author Amanda Cabot, suggested the book was compelling enough to be a full-length novel. Her encouragement inspired me to reimagine the book and the characters and turn it into the second book in the Singing Silver Mine Series, renamed Rhythms of the Heart.

If you were to write a spin-off book about one of your secondary characters, which one would you choose and why? At a recent writers’ conference, a friend approached me after finishing Rhythms of the Heart and suggested a spin-off about one of my secondary characters. Dakota appeared first in A Song of Deliverance as a misunderstood Native American boy of thirteen who lost his family in an Indian war in the Territory of Colorado. One of the main characters, Laurel Thomas, and her husband, Reverend Clinton Thomas, take Dakota under their wings in Georgetown.

In Rhythms of the Heart, four years later, Dakota has grown into a pleasant and intelligent young man intent on going to medical school. But when the Thomases daughter, a well-to-do grieving widow, Cassie Munro, enters the scene as the protagonist, sparks fly between her and her adopted brother. Both will have to swallow their pride for their relationship to turn around. Dakota is witty and charming, and it's easy to imagine a storyline where he has just graduated from medical school at Cassie’s alma mater in Cleveland, Ohio, and returns to Georgetown, to practice medicine where his family lives.

What is your next project? Fans of the Singing Silver Mine Series should know I have a third novel planned for the series: Waiting in the Silence. However, I took a break in 2026 to write my current work-in-progress, a World War II slip-time novel, Power of the Thorn.

I’ve always wanted to write a historical romance set during WWII, since my father served on a troop transport ship from 1942 – 1946. So, when my husband and I went on a river cruise in Bordeaux, France, in 2023, I fell in love with Libourne, a town where we docked at the confluence of the Dordogne and Isle rivers.

Libourne is steeped in the rich history of the Holy Thorn of Christ’s crown of thorns, gifted by Charlemagne in the ninth century A.D. to the ancient town of Libourne, France, as a token of appreciation to the community’s citizens. Libourne also fell within 20 kilometers of the borders of German-occupied France with all of its dramatic history. These two historical components fascinated me and quickly led me to conceive the novel:

Steeped in the rich history of the Holy Thorn gifted by Charlemagne in the eighth century AD to the ancient town of Libourne, France, the Power of the Thorn tells a story of love and loss, a story of tragedy and victory, a story that transcends the boundaries of time and weaves a thread of faith and hope into two women’s lives.

One wages a war against Adolf Hitler’s reign of evil in the 1940s, joining the Resistance to save Jewish families from extermination, including the man she loves. The other battles for her life in the twenty-first century, when she discovers she has a fatal kidney disease, and the answer to finding the right match lies with an unlikely person in Libourne, France. Both women will find their way to each other and discover the power of the thorn to rescue and save the lost.

Book Blurb:

Will Cassie ever find happiness again after a deadly train disaster ripped away her family forever?

Life as Cassie Munro knew it ended the day her husband and children were ripped away in a deadly train disaster. Haunted by the ghosts of the past in Ohio, she takes a teaching position in Colorado, where her parents now live pastoring a church. One thing she knows—she will never risk her heart again.

Born of privilege and educated at the Philadelphia School of Medicine, Dr. Daniel Criley never expected to lose the woman he loves to sepsis. Disillusioned with a hospital that won't integrate antiseptic procedures and blamed by the family for her death, Daniel cuts ties and moves to Colorado, where he can practice medicine as he sees fit.

When Cassie and Daniel meet, their attraction is undeniably intense. Will they risk following their hearts? Or will the fear of loss stand in the way of their happiness? Only God knows how to mend their broken hearts.

Series link: https://link.amazon/B02UXyIVl  

Social Media Links

https://donnawichelman.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DonnaWichelmanAuthor/
https://www.instagram.com/donna.wichelman
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/donna-wichelman

Photo credits:

Author and book cover image: Courtesy of Donna Wichelman

Bronte Parsonage: By DeFacto - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43448375

Libourne, France: By Marcel Roblin - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=168829452