An Interview with Teri M. Brown

Give readers a quick idea of what the book is about.

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap follows three generations of healers in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina in the late 19th century. Maggie is known as a granny woman, someone who heals using roots, herbs, and a little bit of mountain magic. Her daughter, Carrie Ann, doesn’t believe in her mother’s way of healing, so she becomes a nurse and tries to bring modern medicine to her community. Josie Mae, the youngest of the three, sees the value in both ways – and also sees that neither is foolproof. But what happens when nothing appears to save those you love? Follow these three women as they heal others – and ultimately heal themselves.

How did you come up with the idea to do a story on healers?

It all started with a wart! My primary care doctor wouldn’t remove a wart on my thumb, stating I would need a specialist. When I was complaining to my brother about healthcare and the wart, he said, “Why didn’t you have someone talk it off?” I’m the gullible one in my family, so I figured he was just telling me a tall tale. However, after our conversation ended, I looked it up and found that there were people who could talk to a wart and make it disappear or blow in someone’s mouth to rid them of thrush or murmur to a breech baby to get them to flip – and a whole lot more. As I fell deeper into the rabbit hole, I landed squarely in the Appalachian Mountains and Maggie the Granny Woman was born.

Talk to us more about your research.

I’m what I call a #researchjunkie. I LOVE to research, which is why I love to write historical fiction. My greatest satisfaction is learning a fact that will be pivotal in my story. I did quite a bit of research on herbal remedies, though I am, by no means, qualified to suggest any of the combinations to cure anyone’s ills. What fascinated me most was that the part of the plant a healer used, how that part was preserved, and even when that part was picked can alter the properties. I used that fact several times in my story.

In your book, you have Maggie gift a notebook to her granddaughter. Why did you choose this as a gift?

In the mountains in the 1890s, people didn’t have a lot of options for gift-giving. Maggie had access to one country store and good made from a Cherokee village she visited yearly. Many gifts were handmade, such as knitted scarves and hats or whittled toys. I love giving and receiving gifts with personal meaning. For instance, this past Christmas, my mother gave me a 100-year-old spelling book that has been on the desk in our family living room for as long as I can remember as well as my great grandfather’s reading glasses. I value this gift far more than something she could have purchased on Amazon. I wanted Maggie to give her granddaughter something with that kind of value, and what better than a notebook that held her medical observations?

Who might need this book right now and how might it look at our own lives with a new perspective?

Anyone who loves a historical fiction with great character development will enjoy this book. In terms of who needs it, there are two in particular. The first is someone struggling with mother/daughter stress. The book can help us see our current struggles in a new light and help us see that love can prevail despite significant differences of opinions. The second is someone struggling with health issues and not finding the answers. Although the book is not meant to be a medical text, it can get readers to think about alternatives. For instance, if you can’t or won’t take a particular medicine due to the side effects, what can you do? Is there a supplement? A healing technique like acupuncture? A way to gain clarity and perspective like meditation? The hope is that we see that there isn’t always one answer.