When I began developing characters and ideas for my historical western romance Wings series, the titles intuitively came to me—The Wren, The Dove, The Sparrow, The Blackbird, and The Bluebird. How I would tie the birds into the storylines was a great unknown as I began each tale, but one thing emerged rather quickly—an underlying psychological theme of the journey of the feminine psyche.
In The Wren (Book
One), the heroine Molly has been abducted by Comanche when she is nine years
old. At nineteen, she finally finds the means to return home to Texas, to
search for the life she’d lost so abruptly. We must all leave the safety of “home”
at some point in our lives to grow, whether physically or metaphorically, and
the lesson is always that home isn’t a place outside of us but an internal
sanctuary that we must nurture within ourselves. Molly’s journey comes full
circle when she makes a home with the hero, Matt.
In The Dove (Book
Two), Claire lives in a saloon run by her mama. Claire isn't a soiled dove, but
she still grapples with themes of “prostitution,” although not necessarily of
the sexual kind. She doesn’t feel worthy to be a doctor and mutes her own
ambitions. This story addresses the desire of the psyche to be healed and whole,
but doing so through outside, external means is only effective up to a point.
This leads to the next book.
In The Sparrow (Book Three), Emma undergoes a shamanic journey of initiation
while in the Grand Canyon. During this process, she is helped by her power
animal, Sparrow. Life causes wounds—we all have them—and while mending these
are often sought through medicine, at some point an internal journey will be
required. It’s the only way to truly heal the soul. While today we might seek
the counsel of a trained psychologist, many indigenous people used the medicine
man or shaman. The techniques of both are strikingly similar.
In The Blackbird (Book Four), Tess is a storyteller, A Keeper of the Old Ways;
this is, and always has been, connected with imparting wisdom and magic to
listeners through the telling of tales. She meets a hero who nurtures and
protects this side of her, as any true life-partner should. Stories have the
power to heal. It is yet the next step in mending the heart and the soul.
In The Bluebird
(Book Five), the heroine Molly Rose (niece to the Molly in the first book)
yearns to travel and see the world. She connects with a man who can help her
achieve these goals. The final step in the psychological journey—once healing
has been undertaken and a new, better version of oneself is achieved—is to take
all that’s been learned and go forth in the world. Life is an adventure and is
meant to be experienced as such.
