My Story Inspiration for A Bride for Brynmor

 
By Jacqui Nelson

What inspires a story? Languages, my sad inability to speak more than one, my joy of imagining my characters can do so much more than I can, and my discovery of the Cree syllabic. 

Below is the Story Inspiration page (a page I've included in the back of all of my books) for A Bride for Brynmor—the first book in my Songbird Junction series about three Welsh brothers and three Irish-Cree Métis sisters (who use the Cree syllabic to secretly coordinate their escape from their cruel and controlling troupe manager)...

A BRIDE FOR BRYNMOR 

Story Inspiration page ~ from the back of the book

I have great difficulties speaking different languages, but I’ve discovered I love the story challenges/complications of including them in my books. I also love the opportunity to link language to a character’s past. 

- For my Quebec-born heroine (Birdie Bell aka Bernadette Bellamy), I added French in The Calling Birds. 


- For my American-born heroine (Robyn Llewellyn whose ancestors came from Monmouth, Wales), I added Welsh in Robyn: A Christmas Bride.


- For my Canadian-born Irish-Cree Métis heroines (Lark, Oriole, and Wren who came from the Qu’Appelle Valley in present-day Saskatchewan), I added Cree syllabics in A Bride for Brynmor.


The Métis are specific cultural communities who trace their descent from First Nations (Native American) women and European (first French, then later Scottish, English, and Irish) men who came together with the fur trade in Canada and the United States. 

Their unions were often called marriage à la façon du pays which meant “according to the custom of the country.” Written with a lowercase m, métis is the French word for “mixed.”

The Qu’Appelle Valley got its name from a Cree legend about a spirit that traveled up and down the river. The Cree told the fur traders they often heard a voice calling, “Kâ-têpwêt?” When the Cree responded to the call, it would echo back. 

In French, “Kâ-têpwêt?” means “Qui appelle?” And in English, that’s “Who is calling?” Which is the perfect echo/call back to my story The Calling Birds. 


Cree syllabics are a script used to write the Cree language. They were first recorded in the 1800s and include nine glyph shapes. Today in Canada, it’s estimated that over 70,000 Algonquian-speaking people use the script.

To read more about Cree syllabics and how they inspired my story, visit my website at www.JacquiNelson.com/the-cree-syllabic.

A BRIDE FOR BRYNMOR

Songbird Junction Series, Book 1

Denver, Colorado
 – January 1878

Can a sister who’s lived only for others find freedom with one man?

Family has always come first—for both of them. He’s never forgiven himself for letting her go. She’s never forgiven herself for almost getting him killed.

When Lark and her songbird sisters are separated fleeing their cruel and controlling troupe manager, only Brynmor Llewellyn can help Lark save her sisters and escape to the far west. But Lark wants more. And so does Brynmor. When they’re stranded in a spot as difficult to guard as it is to leave—a rustic cabin at a train junction between Denver and the mountain town of Noelle, Colorado—they find themselves fighting not only for survival but for redemption, forgiveness, and a second chance for their love.

Will the frontier train stop of Songbird Junction be Lark and Brynmor’s salvation? Or their downfall when her manager—a con artist who calls himself her uncle but cherishes only his own fame and fortune—demands a debt no one can pay?

Click here to read an excerpt on my website.

THE SONGBIRD JUNCTION SERIES 

A Bride for Brynmor, book 1

A Bride for Heddwyn, book 2

A Bride for Griffin, book 3 (coming soon)

Welcome to Songbird Junction, where Welsh meets West in Colorado 1878. The journey to find a forever home and more starts here… 



Brynmor, Heddwyn, and Griffin Llewellyn are three Welsh brothers bound by blood and a passion for hauling freight—in Denver, where hard work pays. 

Lark, Oriole, and Wren are three Irish-Cree Métis sisters-of-the-heart bound by choice and a talent for singing—in any place that pays. 



Click here to see a summary of all of my books on one page.

Hope you enjoyed my writing inspiration and that your Friday and October are...full of fabulous autumn color and fun 🌈❤️

~ * ~

Download my FREE STORY Rescuing Raven

Join me on 

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Pinterest, my Website,
my Cowboy Kisses page 

Follow me on 

Amazon, BookBub, Goodreads 

Read my Wild Women of the West blog posts 

The Romanichal in A BRIDE FOR HEDDWYN by Jacqui Nelson

My newest book, A Bride for Heddwyn (Songbird Junction, book 2), is finally here! 

And today is the last day to snag this story along with 3 more of mine—A Bride for Brynmor (Songbird Junction, book 1), Robyn: A Christmas Bride, and The Calling Birds—for just $0.99 each. Or you can read them for free with Kindle Unlimited. 

Heddwyn Llewellyn and Oriole's story was fun to write for many reasons. One was the Rominchal and a wagon they sold to Oriole in exchange for her help cleansing a spiritual link to one of their dead. They are (or at least their headman is) also hoping to secure a union with Oriole (who is a talented musician). 

Two "jumping the broom" marriages happen, but they aren't the ones the Romanichal were suspecting. But wait—who are the Romanichal? 

Romanichal History in Britain and America

• The Roma or Romani people were often called Gypsies or Gipsies, which can be a derogatory word with connotations of illegality and irregularity.
• The word Romanichal is derived from Romani chal.
• Chal is the Anglo-Romani word for fellow.
• Under anti-Romani laws, many of the Romanichal were harassed or killed or transported to Newfoundland, the West Indies, and European countries—who eventually forced the Romanichal's transport to other places like the United States. 
• Those deported often did not survive as an ethnic group because their social fabric was destroyed after their separation from their families, their long sea passages, and their resettlements. 
• Some estimate that there are now more people of Romanichal descent in America than in Britain. 

Romanichal Marriages

• Marrying a non-Roma was usually taboo but some Romanichal defied this dictate. 
• Jumping the broom is a phrase and custom relating to a wedding ceremony (often associated with the Romanichal especially in Wales) where the couple jumps over a broom. It was popularized during the introduction of civil marriage in Britain with the Marriage Act 1836.

Romanichal Wagons

• A vardo or living wagon is a traditional horse-drawn wagon used by Romanichal Travelers as their home. They include a small cast-iron cooking stove and were often intricately carved and brightly painted. Today these carvings and paintings are seen as a cultural highpoint of artistic design and a masterpiece of woodcrafters art. 

Romanichal Superstitions 

• Some Romanichal believe in ghosts.  
• To cleanse the link between the living and the dead, property belonging to the deceased (including their wagon homes) might need to be destroyed by burning in a ritual cleansing. 

All of the above led to a lot of complications for Oriole and Heddwyn. But wait—who are Heddwyn and Oriole? 

A Bride for Heddwyn's Book Blurb

Secrets are everywhere…

From the moment she met her sisters in a Qu’Appelle Valley orphanage, Oriole has rewritten her past to protect her present. Now Lark is married, Wren is lost, and Oriole is on a mission to find Wren before their cruel and controlling troupe manager does. In order to succeed, she must cling to her lies and evade the only man she ever let come close, the fast-talking Llewellyn brother who deserted her without a word. 

Second chances are few…

From the moment he first heard Oriole sing with her sisters in a Cheyenne saloon, notoriously scatterbrained Heddwyn Llewellyn’s desire to change gained focus. Until tragedy struck. To protect his brothers and sister, Heddwyn turned his back on love and the only woman who’d ever riveted his attention—all while refusing to talk to him. Now, after two years apart, Oriole’s finally back in his life and so is a shot at redemption.

The Songbird Sisters’ quest for freedom may have reunited Oriole and Heddwyn, but it’s also tearing them apart. Her sadistic troupe manager is more than happy to maim and murder to get his money-making musicians back. Can two hearts always on the run finally stand still long enough to save each other and their love too?

A Bride for Heddwyn's Opening Excerpt

If you haven't read the opening of A Bride for Heddwyn, visit my WEBSITE or head to AMAZON to check out both this book and book 1 in my Songbird Junction series—where Welsh meets West in 1878.  

~ * ~

Read my Cowboy Kisses Wild Women blog posts 

Join me on… 

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Pinterest, my Website,
my Cowboy Kisses page 

Follow me on… 

Amazon, Bookbub, Goodreads

Don't forget to download my FREE story Rescuing Raven (Raven & Charlie's story in Deadwood 1876)