Setting a time: an interview with Tracy Garrett

Debut author Tracy Garrett may have recently moved away from our beloved Texas, but her novels are still here.

So, I asked:

"Why do you set your novels in Texas--and most importantly--why 1847?"

"Texas is an amazing state. There is so much history, so many different landscapes--from swamps to high plains desert--that a writer’s imagination is free to go almost anywhere. Touched by Love is set in 1847 south Texas, on what is now the King Ranch, a ranch of 825,000 acres. That makes it larger than the state of Rhode Island. When we visited the area a few years ago, I fell in love with the land – everything from salt marshes along the Gulf of Mexico to open grazing land dotted with cactus and wildflowers. The area I chose for the setting of Touched by Love, the White Horse Desert, has only one natural water source. The area was influenced greatly by the Spanish, who settled there when the King of Spain issued land grants to some of his subjects. Then the Americans and Mexicans got into the act. Political conflict, a beautiful but challenging environment, history to draw on--what more can a writer ask for?

"I chose 1847 for the setting of Touched by Love because, although American settlement was well underway, the Spanish still held most of the land grants for this part of Texas. The Alamo was recent history, Texas was a brand new state with an established government, but the land was still wild and untamed, unpredictable."

Thank you, Tracy. Touch of Texas, is available now from Zebra Historical Romance. Her second novel, Touched by Love, will be released in November, 2008.