Author Interview: Donna Wichelman

Sometimes, as an editor, I get to edit a whole series. And sometimes, I don't. I was blessed to edit Donna Wichelman's first book in her Singing Silver Mine series last year, but she didn't fit my schedule this year. Even though I haven't read her newest book yet, I know it's going to be just as beautiful as her first. If you love historical romance set in Colorado, you definitely need to get to know my friend Donna. Read on!

What is it about historical romances that made you want to write them?
 
I’ve loved telling stories since my early days in elementary school, when I wrote poetry, short stories, and articles for the school newspaper. Also, because I lived in Ohio, my parents took road trips every summer to visit family in Washington State. We would take various routes across the United States and Canada, and I learned the value of understanding history and geography. That set the stage for the rest of my life.
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. Since living in Wales also enabled me to travel throughout Europe, I became fascinated by its history and culture.
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.

I know you have woven a lot of history from the area into your stories. Is there any of your own personal history woven in? Can you tell us about it?
 
Amy, this is an excellent question. As I mentioned above, I was born and raised near Cleveland, Ohio, and received my undergraduate degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. In Rhythms of the Heart, my protagonist, Cassie Munro, was born and raised in Hudson, Ohio, a forty-five-minute drive southeast of Cleveland, and she received her degrees in music and literature from Western Reserve College.
 
In real life, Hudson was the original home of Western Reserve College, which was established in 1826, and it became known as the “Yale of the West” for its academic rigor. The college also had a reputation for its excellent programs in music and medicine, which the school has retained to this day.
 
Had Cassie remained in Ohio, instead of moving to Georgetown, Colorado in 1877, she would have witnessed Western Reserve College’s move from Hudson to Cleveland in 1882 and the change of name to Western Reserve University. It wasn’t until 1967 that Western Reserve College merged with the Case Institute of Technology, forming Case Western Reserve University.
 
Incidentally, I now also live in Colorado and enjoy visiting Georgetown for its colorful history.
 
Which of your characters is most like you and how?
 
In some ways, I’m much like Cassie with a similar temperament. She loves music and literature and has a heart for people. However, she also loves gardening, which I’ve discovered is not my forte, as I seem to kill every houseplant I’ve ever owned. I’ll leave her in charge of my houseplants next time I go on vacation. 😊
 
What is something really fascinating you have discovered in your research?
 
In the story, Cassie’s love interest is an Easterner named Daniel, who received his medical degree from the Philadelphia School of Medicine. Once I had settled on Daniel’s career as a doctor, I had to decide on why he chose to leave his family to live in Colorado. That’s when the idea of a scandal came about, in which people blamed him for the death of his fiancée, but for which he was in fact innocent.
 
The research led me to a fascinating discovery about how antiseptics came about. Until after the Civil War, doctors had little knowledge about using antiseptics. They operated under the miasma theory, which dates back to Hippocrates during the third to fourth centuries BC. This theory assumed diseases were caused and spread by bad air or noxious vapors released by rotting vegetation, sewage, and the like.
 
It wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that a British doctor, Lord Joseph Lister, conducting experiments based on Louis Pasteur’s advancements in germ theory, discovered that a compound of carbolic acid would revolutionize surgical procedures. Lister found that by using a carbolic acid compound to sterilize surgical instruments and by rubbing it into patients’ wounds before surgery, he could significantly reduce his patients’ mortality rates.
 
Unfortunately, though Lister’s antiseptic methods worked, conservative doctors and hospitals continued to ignore the evidence for decades, their minds still set on miasma. Only as late as the 1920s did doctors finally and universally accept and apply antiseptics before surgical procedures.
 
What are you working on next? Can you give us a sneak peek?
 
Fans of the Singing Silver Mine Series will want to know that I have a third novel in the series, titled Waiting in the Silence, planned for the future. However, my current work-in-progress is a World War II Slip-time novel, Power of the Thorn.
 
I’ve always wanted to write a historical romance set during WWII, especially because my father was on a naval troop transport ship from 1942 – 1946. I also kept letters between my mother and her then-fiancé that show they had a bit of a steamy romance. So it was fortuitous that while my husband and I were on a river cruise in Bordeaux, France, we docked in Libourne. There, we learned the fascinating history of this ancient town, once known as Condatis, which later became Libourne in the 13th century.
 
The part of Libourne’s history that caught my attention starts at the beginning of the 9th century, when Charlemagne conquered the region. As a token of his appreciation to the town’s citizens, who aided his conquest, he offered them a gift—a thorn said to have come from Christ’s crown of thorns.
 
The presence of the Holy Thorn at Condatis throughout the centuries became known and emulated among the kings of France and England. As such, it became a symbol of unity and power for Christians and non-Christians alike. Miracles of various kinds, as well as the prosperity of the region, have been attributed to the Holy Thorn’s existence.
 
But then in the twentieth century, Hitler made his tyrannical march across Europe, occupying much of the region, including Bordeaux and the city of Libourne. This is where the story of Power of the Thorn begins.
 
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, suffering an ugly divorce due to her pastor husband’s infidelity, when he discovered she had a fatal kidney disease, and couldn’t face the future. Both women will find their way to each other and discover the power of the thorn to rescue and save the lost.
 
Last but not least, can you tell us one interesting fact about yourself that very few people already know?
 
When I was in my twenties, trying to impress my then-boyfriend of my adventurous spirit, I agreed to parachute out of an airplane despite having severe acrophobia. Obviously, I made it back to earth alive, and a year later, we were married. He assured me it had nothing to do with our adventure, and neither of us ever parachuted again. 

---

Rhythms of the Heart

Can she 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 torn away in a deadly train disaster. Haunted by her ghosts of the past in Ohio, she takes a teaching position in Georgetown, Colorado, where her parents pastor 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 loved to sepsis. Disillusioned with a hospital that won’t integrate antiseptic procedures and blamed by the family for her death, Daniel moves to Georgetown, where he can practice medicine his way. But just when all seems idyllic, the demons of his past appear to destroy the life he’s built.
When Cassie and Daniel meet, their attraction is undeniably intense. Will they risk following their hearts and step into a future together? Or will the fear of loss stand in the way of their happiness? Only God knows how to mend their broken hearts.

---

---

Donna is a 2025 Angel Book Award-winning author for her Historical Romance, A Song of Deliverance, Book One in her Singing Silver Mine Series. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two novels in her contemporary romantic suspense Waldensian Series. Donna and her husband of forty-one years live in Colorado and love spending time with their grandchildren. They bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.
 
Social Media:
 
FB: www.facebook.com/DonnaWichelmanAuthor
Instagram: www.instagram.com/donna.wichelman
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/donna_wichelman
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/donna-wichelman-46149941