It is with the greatest of pleasure that I welcome author, Kinley Bryan, onto The Whispering Bookworm.
1864: As Sherman’s army marches toward Atlanta, a cotton mill commandeered by the Confederacy lies in its path. Inside the mill, Clara Douglas weaves cloth and watches over her sister Kitty, waiting for the day her fiancé returns from the West.
When Sherman’s troops destroy the mill, Clara’s plans to start a new life in Nebraska are threatened. Branded as traitors by the Federals, Clara, Kitty, and countless others are exiled to a desolate refugee prison hundreds of miles from home.
Cut off from all they've ever known, Clara clings to hope while grappling with doubts about her fiancé’s ambitions and the unsettling truths surrounding his absence. As the days pass, the sisters find themselves thrust onto the foreign streets of Cincinnati, a city teeming with uncertainty and hostility. She must summon reserves of courage, ingenuity, and strength she didn’t know she had if they are to survive in an unfamiliar, unwelcoming land.
Inspired by true events of the Civil War, The Lost Women of Mill Street is a vividly drawn novel about the bonds of sisterhood, the strength of women, and the repercussions of war on individual lives.
Book Title: The Lost Women of Mill Street
Author: Kinley Bryan
Publication Date: May 7, 2024
Publisher: Blue Mug Press
Page Count: 300
Genre: Historical Fiction
Join me in a cosy chat with author, Kinley Bryan.
What inspired you to start writing?
While I’ve loved to write for as long as I can remember, I was well into adulthood before I thought seriously about writing a novel. After graduating with a degree in English, I did make a living through my writing, however, by working in corporate communications.
During those years of writing and editing for corporate publications, I had a vision of my future self, sitting at a computer (with a cup of coffee and a lovely view, of course), writing a novel. When I left that job following a move across the country for my husband’s work, I knew that if I didn’t start pursuing that dream then, I never would.
What was the hardest part about writing this book?
The ending! My first novel was set during a defined period of time (a massive four-day storm on the Great Lakes), so I knew from the outset how and when that story would end. The Lost Women of Mill Street is also based on true events, but those events don’t carry my characters through the entire story.
With this novel, I had more possibilities as to how much time the story would cover and what my characters might experience in that time. I sketched out and even drafted numerous possible endings. It was worth it, because the story’s conclusion now seems to me like the only way it could have ended.
Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?
I identify with Clara, the older sister. She is cautious yet tenacious, a pragmatic dreamer. Just as it took me time to admit to myself that I wanted to write novels, Clara, too, has dreams that she keeps hidden, even from herself.
If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?
As I was writing the novel, I envisioned Saoirse Ronan as Clara. Clara takes care of her younger sister, Kitty, and will do anything for her. She’s fiercely loyal and protective, while also vulnerable and sometimes anxious. Kitty, the younger sister, would be played by Elle Fanning. Kitty is bold and fun-loving and somewhat impetuous—a great foil for her sister.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
The setting for the story is the American Civil War, and the book provides a glimpse at how profoundly the war affected even those who were far from the battlefield. But I also wanted to tell a story of a young woman whose life has always been determined by others, and what happens when suddenly it’s up to her to decide what she will do next. The textile mill provided a perfect setting, for the mill owners controlled nearly all aspects of their workers’ lives: from where they lived to how they were paid (in scrip) to where they could spend their wages. When my main character, Clara, is set loose from that environment, with no one to defer to and a younger sister to care for, she must figure out how to rely on herself and what it is—beyond mere survival—that she truly wants.
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Kinley Bryan's debut novel, Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury, inspired by the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 and her own family history, won the 2022 Publishers Weekly Selfies Award for adult fiction. An Ohio native, she lives in South Carolina with her husband and three children. The Lost Women of Mill Street is her second novel.
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