Q: Josie and John tell Brave Enemies. How did you decide to write from a woman's and a preacher's viewpoints?

A: After writing The Truest Pleasure and Gap Creek from the point of view of women characters, and reading that women fought in the American Revolution disguised as men, I decided my main character was a woman. I found the character of John Trethman in the process of writing Josie's story. I knew Methodist missionaries were active on the Carolina frontier then, and after he and Josie fell in love I decided to let him tell part of the story.

Q: What drew you to the Carolina frontier and the Battle of Cowpens as the setting?

A: I have always been drawn to the Revolution. My dad told me the story of the Battle of Cowpens when I was a boy. Later I visited the battlefield and read biographies of Gen. Daniel Morgan. I decided to write a novel about the battle when I read in Tarleton's memoirs that he chose to fight after marching his men most of the night through swamps and thickets because he had been informed that a company of the 'Green River rifles' were on their way to join Morgan, and he wanted to defeat the Americans before the mountain sharpshooters arrived. I grew up on Green River in Henderson County. Tarleton didn't know that the Green River marksmen were already there in the front line, hiding behind trees and lying in the grass, waiting for him.

Q: What went through your mind as you were writing Trethman's thoughts on war and peace?

A: As I let John tell his story, I saw that in those brutal times he would be a voice for peace, humility, compassion, forgiveness. He saw that warfare reveals the moral failure of our race, and through his eyes I saw it too, in his time and in ours. As I wrote the John Trethman sections I felt he was teaching me some important lessons about curbing anger, about seeing our own failures. I saw the great danger in letting fear rule our lives, in letting fear erode reason, compassion, the long view. Fear destroys what is best in people, and tyrants need to keep people afraid.

Q: The militia seemed to survive on grits! How do you feel about eating grits?

A: I was raised on grits, and I do love grits, especially in cold weather and in combination with gravy or sausage or eggs. Shrimp and grits are one of my favorite dinners.

Interview Date: Spring 2003