birdienl | Favourite authors: Maureen Lang

Maureen Lang is the author of 9 Christian historical novels. She loved to write from when she was a child and wrote her first full-length 'novel' when she was 10! Her novels won multiple awards, including the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart and the American Christian Fiction Writers Award. She lives in the Midwest USA with her husband and two sons.

Sometimes it seems as if only very few periods are popular with historical fiction writers, mainly Victorian times and WWII. No offence there, because I love reading stories about both periods, but sometimes you want something different, right? This is one of the reasons why Maureen Lang has been on my list of favourite authors since I read her first novel: Pieces of Silver, which takes place during the First World War. My love for her books was reaffirmed by her recent trilogy (Look to the East, Whisper on the Wind and Springtime of the Spirit) on the same period. In these novels, Lang does not take us to the trenches, but lets us take a look behind the scenes of the war, so to say. Look to the East tells the story of a small French village behind the German lines, while Whisper on the Wind takes us to occupied Brussels. We get to know characters who not only have to deal with tough situations relating to the war, but also with the struggles of everyday life, including family, romance and growing up. The characters are flawed but sympathetic and easy to relate to.

In the two connected novels Oak Leaves and On Sparrow Hill, Maureen Lang attempts something risky; linking a story in the current time with a historical one. I've seen this done my multiple writers, but hardly ever as good as in these two novels, often there is an over-emphasis on one of the two stories or unrealistic links between present and past. The stories of Oak Leaves and its sequel deal with disabled children, in particular children with the heritable Fragile X syndrome. Maureen Lang herself has a son with this syndrome and its very clear these two novels are written straight from her heart. The characters are very well rounded and their struggles feel realistic.

My favourite novel by Maureen Lang is On Sparrow Hill. It tells the 19th century story of Berrie Hamilton, who defies the expectations of her family when she decides to open a school for the mentally challenged. Her belief that these children have the ability to learn and advance has been fired up by her cousin with Fragile X syndrome. Her story is mirrored in the present by the story of Rebecca Seabrooke, manager of Berrie's families mansion, who tries very hard to forget her childhood crush on the current owner of the mansion while fighting to keep the estate running while money is tight.

If you're looking to learn about some undiscovered pieces of history in the company of heroines who will quickly feel like friends, I can heartily recommend a Maureen Lang novel.