Jennifer Deibel is the author of A Dance in Donegal (winner of the Kipp Award for Historical Romance), The Lady of Galway Manor, The Maid of Ballymacool (winner of the 2024 Selah Award for Historical Romance), and The Irish Matchmaker. With firsthand immersive experience abroad, Jennifer writes stories that help redefine home through the lens of culture, history, and family. After nearly a decade of living in Ireland and Austria, she now lives in Arizona with her husband and their three children.

In this interview, Jennifer talks with us regarding her latest book, Heart of the Glen.

FF: Please provide a brief summary of your latest novel, Heart of the Glen.
Alone in the world and haunted by tragedy, Saoirse Fagan finds a new start at a sheep farm in the wild hills of Dunlewey, Ireland. But master tweed weaver Owen McCready isn’t used to accepting help from outsiders—even one as strangely magnetic as this young woman.

FF: What inspired you to write a story set in rural Ireland, focusing on the tweed-weaving trade?
Ireland is very near and dear to my heart. After living there for six years and having my son born there, not to mention being of Irish heritage, it brings me such joy to tell stories that highlight this amazing country, culture, and people.

The tweed-weaving trade has always fascinated me. I’d spend loads of time slowly perusing the shelves of Murphy’s of Donegal, admiring the intricate designs and color combinations. But it wasn’t until I learned about the government scheme that provided looms to rural families that the story idea sparked. The cottage weaving tweed industry really was the backbone for much of the rural economy in Donegal. I watched a PBS special about three brothers who wove tweed in the 1960s, and that’s when the first spark of an idea came to me. The weaving craft in and of itself deserves a whole story alone, and it was so much fun to weave together the history, craft, and lore into a captivating love story.

FF: Your protagonists, Saoirse Fagan and Owen McCready, both come from tragic backgrounds. How do their past experiences shape their interactions and growth throughout the story?
Like with most of us, the experiences Saoirse and Owen live through shape who they are when you find them on the pages of this book—for better or worse.

There’s an old Irish proverb that says, “The same water that hardens the egg softens the potato,” and we see that played out perfectly in these two characters. Saoirse carries the weight of blame and guilt after tragedy takes the lives of her entire family. While she doesn’t harden her heart, it shakes her faith, and creates a deep-seated doubt about who she is and what her purpose is in this world.

Owen McCready has also seen his fair share of hardship and tragedy, which he uses to further immerse himself in the isolating trades of sheep farming and tweed weaving. He tries desperately to keep his soft heart hidden away. But Saoirse has other plans as the two can’t seem to help but draw closer to one another, and in turn begin to heal the wounds they’ve both carried for far too long.

FF: The concept of found family seems to be a theme in your book. How does this play out between Saoirse and the McCreadys?
Saoirse is quite literally all alone in the world after losing her entire family in a tragic event. When she arrives to take her new job and learns the lord has died, she’s absolutely destitute. If not for the kindness of Aileen McCready, Saoirse likely would’ve succumbed to the elements, or ended up in a workhouse somewhere. Not only does Aileen rescue Saoirse that night, but she welcomes her into her home.

Owen and Aileen McCready are alone in their own right but still have the benefit of a community that feels like family. When they allow Saoirse to stay, they introduce her to the rest of the community.

Saoirse struggles to reconcile the guilt she’s carrying with the kindness these new friends are offering her. She has to decide if she’s going to let them in and be her new family or if she’s going to push them away out of fear.

FF: Owen is hesitant to accept help, even when he needs it. What challenges did you face in developing his character arc?
Owen is probably my grumpiest hero to date, and it’s honestly what I love most about him. But, at times, it was difficult to balance his grumpiness and write him in a way that would endear him to readers, rather than making him come off looking like a jerk.

I constantly had to come back to his (literal and figurative) wound, and when I wanted to shake some sense into him so he’d just let Saoirse help him already, I had to put myself in his shoes and think of how much he needed to ensure he protected what he had left. To entrust that to someone else would be difficult and terrifying to just about anyone.

FF: How does Saoirse’s determination to learn weaving reflect her character’s overall journey in the story?
It’s truly what ends up saving her life, really. Had she not insisted on helping the McCreadys in that way, there would be no need to for her to remain at their farm. Her offer was born out of her desperation to assuage the guilt she carries and in an attempt to repay the generosity Owen and Aileen had shown her. But had she not done that, she would’ve had to leave and would’ve been completely destitute. Not to mention the lurch the McCreadys would have been in. That single act is what allowed everything else in the story to take place.

FF: The attack on Owen by bandits adds an element of danger to the plot. Can you elaborate on how this event impacts the overall narrative?
There are a couple of attacks on Owen and his farm throughout the story, and the final one makes it impossible for Owen to work himself out of the hole in which he finds himself.

It is that setback that sets the stage for Owen to learn how to trust others, brings him to the crisis of faith that leads him to ultimately seek God more fervently than he ever has, and cracks the door of his heart open to the possibility of a love he’d never planned on.

FF: How do you balance the romantic elements of the story with the more practical concerns of survival and livelihood that your characters face?
I love to look back at the stories that history uncovers. Life in Ireland has historically been extremely challenging and dangerous. And yet romance flourished. I also draw on my own experiences of falling in love. When you first know you love someone, you feel like you can survive anything. There’s so much truth to the adage “love conquers all.” And while our hero and heroine are a little bit older than most folks when they begin to fall in love, there is still that hidden element of “we can live on love and prayers” that fuels their attraction.

Love also provides a much-needed element of hope in the darkest of times, and we cannot underestimate the power and strength that comes with being truly loved by another human being. So I try to keep all that in mind and let the characters and story guide when the romance takes center stage and when the conflict gets the limelight.

FF: Can you tell us more about Aileen McCready’s character and her role in bringing Saoirse into her family’s orbit?
Aileen is one of my favorite characters ever. She’s lived through the same hardships and losses as her brother, given up the hope of love and family in order to help keep the family farm up and running, but has never lost her sense of humor and wonder for life.

It is her kindness in the first pages of the story that not only saves Saoirse’s life but ultimately could end up being her own salvation. She struggles with whether or not to bring Saoirse home with her—after all, they barely have enough food to feed themselves. But compassion wins over logic, and that is who Aileen is to a T—a compassionate soul wrapped in a sarcastic body.

FF: The Irish setting is rich with history and culture. How do you incorporate these elements into your storytelling?
When each reader finishes my book, I want them to feel like they’ve just gotten back from a holiday to Ireland. I try to incorporate all five senses to pull from what it’s really like to walk the shores of the Emerald Isle.

I try to use just enough of the Irish brogue and language to lend authenticity without overpowering or being annoying. I also love to bring in, or at least allude to, historically significant events that occurred around the time the story is taking place, even if it’s not part of the story itself.

I will forever be grateful for the six years I was blessed to live in Ireland, as that has afforded me the chance to fully immerse myself in her culture, language, and people, and it helps me bring those experiences to life on the pages of my books.

FF: What do you hope readers will take away from this story of resilience, craft, and unexpected connections?
My prayer is that readers are left feeling encouraged and uplifted in their own faith journey. The characters in this story really wrestle with trusting God when the world around them seems to be falling apart—something I know I’ve struggled with in my own life.

I hope they will be empowered to seek out a deeper faith, even if they’ve never really given God a second thought. And while this book will take them on a roller coaster ride of emotions, ultimately, I want them left feeling hopeful and uplifted, and open to new connections of their own.

FF: You said, “I aim for my stories to redefine home through the lens of culture, history, and family.” Can you expound on what you mean by this statement?
Having lived overseas for almost a decade, I’ve come to realize I never really feel totally at home. When I was in Ireland and Austria, I was longing for America. When I came back to America, I could think of little else than Ireland and Austria.

It made me really reevaluate what I view as “home,” and I finally landed on this: home is wherever God has placed you in this time. And while we have our blood-relation family, our community is also an extension of our family. A broader worldview is one of the greatest gifts our time overseas gave me, and it helped me see that humankind is all connected. And if my stories can help others view their neighbor with a kinder eye and a more compassionate heart, I’ve done my job.

Heart of the Glen
Jennifer Deibel
Revell
Genres: Historical Romance
Release Date: January 21, 2025

ISBN-10: ‎0800744861
ISBN-13: ‎978-0800744861

Book Summary:
Can the lonely thread of her life be woven into a new and finer pattern?

When Saoirse Fagan arrives at Drumboe Castle to start her new job as housemaid, she is dismayed to learn that the lord of the house passed away a week prior. Already running from the tragedy that claimed the lives of her family members, Saoirse wanders the road through the darkening glen with nowhere to go until Aileen McCready offers her a lift and a place to stay for the night.

Aileen’s brother, sheep farmer and weaver Owen McCready, is known for his intricate and impeccably woven tweed. But when he’s injured, his entire livelihood is endangered. A new—and distracting—mouth to feed adds fuel to the fire, and Owen struggles to keep his family afloat. Though Saoirse is eager to help, even offering to learn the weaving craft, Owen is hesitant to accept aid from this strange young woman, no matter how inexplicably magnetic he finds her.

But Saoirse is not one to give up easily. She’s determined to convince the McCreadys that they need her—perhaps as much as she needs them.

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About The Author

Jennifer Deibel is a middle school teacher whose work has appeared on (in)courage, on The Better Mom, in Missions Mosaic magazine, and others. With firsthand immersive experience abroad, Jennifer writes stories that help redefine home through the lens of culture, history, and family. After nearly a decade of living in Ireland and Austria, she now lives in Arizona with her husband and their three children.