Christian fiction author Suzanne Woods Fisher is an award-winning, bestselling author of more than two dozen novels, including novels in the Amish Beginnings Series, The Bishop’s Family Series, and The Inn at Eagle Hill Series, as well as nonfiction books about the Amish. She lives in California. Her latest book, The Moonlight School, was inspired by the true events of the Moonlight Schools. Suzanne brings to life the story that shocked the nation into taking adult literacy seriously. You’ll finish the last page of this enthralling story with deep gratitude for the gift of reading.
FF: Can you please provide a brief description of your new book, The Moonlight School?
Haunted by her sister’s mysterious disappearance, Lucy Wilson arrives in Rowan County, Kentucky, in the spring of 1911 to work for Cora Wilson Stewart, superintendent of education. When Cora sends Lucy into the hills to act as scribe for the mountain people, she is repelled by the primitive conditions and intellectual poverty she encounters. Few adults can read and write. Born in those hills, Cora knows the plague of illiteracy. So does Brother Wyatt, a singing schoolmaster who travels through the hills. Involving Lucy and Wyatt, Cora hatches a plan to open the schoolhouses to adults on moonlit nights. The best way to combat poverty, she believes, is to eliminate illiteracy. But will the people come?
As Lucy emerges from a life in the shadows, she finds purpose; or maybe purpose finds her. With purpose comes answers to her questions, and something else she hadn’t expected: love.
FF: Your novel is based upon a true account that occurred during the early 1900s. Please provide more information on the Moonlight School.
Cora Wilson Stewart was the first female superintendent for Rowan County, Kentucky, and came up with an idea: to open the rural schoolhouses on moonlit nights to adults who were illiterate or semi-illiterate. On that first moonlit night, September 5, 1911, Stewart hoped for 150 people to come to the schools. Over 1,200 men and women arrived, eager to learn to read and write. Within two years, adult illiteracy was wiped out in Rowan County. Stewart declared September 5 as the greatest moonlit night the world has ever known.
FF: Although the Moonlight School had an amazing effect on the residents of Rowan County, Kentucky, it also impacted a movement across the nation. Can you explain how this school’s influence changed the entire country?
The result of Stewart’s efforts was the creation of the Moonlight Schools, a grassroots movement dedicating to eliminating adult illiteracy. The movement caught on quickly. Within a few years, several states adopted similar literacy programs. They were inexpensive and promised immediate results.
FF: Cora Wilson Stewart, superintendent of education for Kentucky, felt that the best way to eradicate poverty was to eliminate illiteracy. Do you feel this statement is accurate?
Cora Wilson Stewart was well aware that many rural Kentuckians could neither read nor write, but in her role as superintendent of education, she discovered that few participated in public life. They took no part in local politics, and their ability to transact the business of everyday life suffered as well. She became convinced that radical change began with education.
FF: Why did you decide to write about the topic of literacy?
There’s a moment in my book, a conversation Cora is having with Lucy, that best answers this: “It takes an effort of the imagination to put oneself in the place of the illiterate. To picture what life is like for one who must get all his information by ear. If a man cannot read or write or vote, he cannot speak. He is mute. He is forgotten. You might think it’s a pity they cannot read, but the real tragedy is they cannot speak. . . . That, Lucy, is the real tragedy of the twentieth century.”
FF: What type of research was required to accurately portray the details of the Moonlight School?
First, I studied the time period of eastern Kentucky, Rowan County, life in Appalachia, and then I focused on Cora Wilson Stewart—her life and legacy. I read her biographies and interviewed academics at the University of Morehead where her work began.
FF: When Lucy Wilson, one of the female protagonists in The Moonlight School, first arrived in Rowan County, Kentucky, she was struggling to find purpose. How did her experience in these mountains help her to emerge from a life in the shadows?
Fear, even repulsion, were Lucy’s first reactions to seeing the effects of poverty up close and personal. She hadn’t come to Morehead with a sense of calling, but little by little, a calling found her. I’m confident Lucy would say that the best thing she did was to not give up on Rowan County, or on her cousin Cora. By the final page, I can imagine her lifting her hands to say, “Look at all I would have missed!”
FF: Is adult illiteracy still a problem in the United States?
Surprisingly so. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), 21 percent of adults in the United States (about 43 million) are illiterate or semi-illiterate. Adult illiteracy impacts children in profound ways, from lack of employment to not having children’s books in the home. Patterns set in early. It’s called generational literacy.
And then there’s the prison population. The Literacy Project Foundation found that three out of five prisoners can’t read. These statistics are grim, but they also provide hope. One recent study found that providing education to prisoners reduced recidivism by 7 percent. Literacy can be powerful.
FF: The Moonlight School released during National Literacy Week. How can this book continue to encourage literacy?
Literacy has made great strides over the two centuries. In 1820, only 12 percent of the global population could read, while in 2020, only 12 percent can’t read. But there is still much that can be done to eliminate illiteracy. Cora Wilson Stewart and her Moonlight Schools crusade showed us that it’s possible.
FF: Do you have any additional comments you wish to share with readers?
Pew Research Center found in 2019 that 27 percent of US adults said they had either not read or completed a single book in the previous year. Please read, and keep on reading, and encourage others to read! It makes a difference.
Visit Suzanne’s author page HERE:
https://familyfiction.com/authors/suzanne-woods-fisher
Book Summary:
Haunted by her sister’s mysterious disappearance, Lucy Wilson arrives in Rowan County, Kentucky, in the spring of 1911 to work for Cora Wilson Stewart, superintendent of education. When Cora sends Lucy into the hills to act as scribe for the mountain people, she is repelled by the primitive conditions and intellectual poverty she encounters. Few adults can read and write.
Born in those hills, Cora knows the plague of illiteracy. So does Brother Wyatt, a singing schoolmaster who travels through the hills. Involving Lucy and Wyatt, Cora hatches a plan to open the schoolhouses to adults on moonlit nights. The best way to combat poverty, she believes, is to eliminate illiteracy. But will the people come?
As Lucy emerges from a life in the shadows, she finds purpose; or maybe purpose finds her. With purpose comes answers to her questions, and something else she hadn’t expected: love.
Moonlight School
Suzanne Woods Fisher
(Revell)
Genres: Romance, Amish
Release date: February 2, 2021
ISBN-10 : 0800735013
ISBN-13 : 978-0800735012
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