Currently, I am working on some edits to a historical novel, OF WIND AND DUST, that I’ve just sold the North American rights for, at auction, to Whitney Frick at Dial Press, in what Publishers Weekly named its Deal of the Week.

In a sweep from the 1840s to the 1880s and from China to an emerging Seattle, we meet three women, all wives of the same man. One is born married, betrothed from birth to the heir of the Chun House. One is born a slave, sleeping where she can among the Chuns’ rice sacks. The third, a Native American woman, is born free on the Puget Sound, but has to watch the Salish world collapse around her until the ultimate betrayal forces her to China and into the Chun home. All three must discover whether, in a world that denies them power, they have what it takes to claim love, autonomy, and some personal happiness.

Meanwhile, please welcome my 21st children’s book, EAT YOUR PEAS, JULIUS! It’s time for little Julius, who will grow up to become the most powerful person in ancient Rome, to put on his toga, attend the dinner banquet, and eat his oysters, boiled camel’s feet, baked dormouse, and peas! It’s tough finishing everything on your plate—for kids and future caesars alike.

To find out more about why and how I came to write this book, check out this Q&A with Deborah Kalb! To discover some other children’s history books that influenced me—or that I just love—check out this article on Shepherd.