Learning to Fly By Heather Webber @booksbyheather

 Lucy Burdette: I'm so excited for today's guest. I've known Heather for a long time as a fellow denizen in the cozy mystery universe--and as you'll see, she survived the merger and downsizing of Penguin Random House with flying colors. I was delighted when I heard that she'd sold her first women's fiction (to Hank's editor, yay!) Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe will be published on July 16 and I cannot wait to get my copy. Welcome Heather!

Heather Webber: At the end of 2014, my husband and I finally joined the twenty-first century by signing up for Pandora, the music streaming service. We quickly added our favorite songs and music from the Beatles was included on our playlist. But as much as I enjoy the Beatles, for some reason I’d never heard “Blackbird” until Pandora suggested it.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

-The Beatles

I became obsessed with the song, listening to it again and again. I was haunted by the above lyrics. The writer in me took notice, and a story idea sparked for a women’s fiction/magical realism novel.

Broken people with emotional wounds. Learning to metaphorically fly.

Almost every character—and even the fictional town of Wicklow, Alabama—is broken in some way in Midnight at the Blackbird Café.

But how to heal everyone?

That’s where the blackbirds come in. If blackbirds could sing messages in the dead of night, what would they choose to tell us? What do we most want to hear? Blackbird research led me quickly to the Song of Sixpence with its “four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie,” and then a tidbit in Celtic folklore revealed that blackbirds were considered guardians and messengers of the "Other world.” With that, the heart of this book took form. What if blackbirds with their songs could pass messages from dearly departed loved ones through, of all things, pie, to bring comfort and love to those left behind?

The only problem with my story idea was that I didn’t have the time to write it. In 2014/2015 I was writing two to three books a year for Penguin-Random House (as Heather Blake). Finding additional time to write a 90-100k word book seemed impossible.

Then toward the end of 2015, PRH abruptly downsized their cozy line. I decided that if I was going to make a change, career-wise, this was the time to do it. Suddenly, the impossible seemed possible.

So I took a chance…and learned to fly.

Questions for Heather?

Midnight at the Blackbird Café is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm.

Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.

It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about.

As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.

Read an excerpt of Midnight at the Blackbird Café

"Webber infuses her charming Southern small-town tale with lighthearted magic and gentle humor, and the cast of supporting characters adds to the quirky fun. Readers of Sarah Addison Allen and Joshilyn Jackson will enjoy spending time at the Blackbird Café" – Booklist

Heather Webber, aka Heather Blake, is the author of more than twenty-five novels. She loves to read, drink too much coffee and tea, birdwatch, crochet, and bake. She currently lives near Cincinnati, Ohio, and is hard at work on her next book.