When not curled up with a good book, Marie Bostwick can usually be found in her office, trying to write one. A New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of eighteen uplifting works of historical and contemporary fiction, Marie’s books are beloved by readers across the globe. Drawing on her lifelong love of quilting and her unshakable belief in the power of sisterhood, Marie’s popular Cobbled Court Quilt series has been embraced by quilters and non-sewers alike. Marie’s most recent novel, Hope on the Inside, was published in March 2019. Marie was recently featured in the January 2020 issue of Welcome Home on What Makes Women Fierce. She generously answered a few questions about becoming a writer and what’s next for her!

1. Why did you become a writer?

I don’t think a writer is something I became so much as something I am. From the second I could hold a pencil and spell words, I was scribbling stories. I’ve gotten better at it over the years, practice definitely makes progress, but that innate need to illuminate, celebrate, and explain the world through the written word as there from the first.  Given all that, I have to assume that this was what God created me to do and be.

2. What inspired your current book?

The seed of the idea for my latest novel, Hope on the Inside, the story of a woman who teaches crafting and quilting inside a women’s prison, was planted about eight years ago. While at the Houston International Quilt Festival, I saw a special exhibit of mini quilts stitched by inmates.  Though most of the inmates had little to no prior experience in sewing, the quilts were evocative, intriguing, and emotionally honest. In short, they were art.  I couldn’t stop thinking about them. But, as I explained in the magazine, it took years before I found the right way to tell the story.

3. What’s next for you?

So glad you asked! I’m just a few weeks away from turning in the manuscript for The Restoration of Celia Fairchild. Celia is a popular syndicated advice columnist who, like so many of us, sometimes has more insight into the problems of others than her own. Just as a door to fulfilling her lifelong yearning to have a family opens, a career crisis that robs her of her livelihood and even her name threatens to slam it shut.  In a desperate bid to adopt, Celia returns to Charleston, South Carolina and the home of her deceased hoarder aunt, Calpurnia.  Celia sorts through the relics of her family’s history, repairing and restoring the house, as well as her identity and fractured dreams. 

The Restoration of Celia Fairchlld is set to be released in March, 2021. This will be my first novel with my new publisher, William Morrow, and I am very, very excited about it!

Check out this exclusive interview I had with Marie!