Margaret Brownley
I met Margaret Brownley in October, 2011 when we appeared at a retailer’s meeting called Reboot West. We were promoting our other collaborated book, A Log Cabin Christmas Collection (which re-releases on September 1, along with A Pioneer Christmas Collection). She’s a cheerful, hard-working writer who loves to meet her readers and is busy finishing up another novel as I type.
A lover of the western and things related to that time period (Margaret writes monthly for the Petticoats and Pistols website), she wrote “A Pony Express Christmas,” a rollicking tale of a woman who while searching for her long-lost express-riding brother, happens upon outlaws torturing a man. She enlists him in her quest.
“I was surprised to discover how little information is available on the Pony Express,” Margaret said. “It was only in service for 18 months and some station keepers didn’t bother to keep records. As a result little is known about many of the riders. We don’t even know where all the stations were located.”
The express ended when the trans-continental railroad went through and the mail could travel by rails rather than on the back of a horse.
Margaret has a great appreciation for the 1800s and the changes that came. “The westward migration freed women in ways never before imagined. Women abandoned Victorian traditions, rigid manners and confining clothes and that’s not all they did; they brought churches, schools and newspapers to frontier towns, and helped build communities. The gun might have won the west, but it was the women who tamed it.”
It was women who tamed the west. Click to Tweet
“The Pony Express Christmas” takes place in Nebraska, which Margaret notes now looks nothing like it did then. When she formulated her story idea, the first thing that sprang to mind was why not have them celebrate Christmas with a mule in an abandoned Pony Express Station?
“I wanted their Christmas celebration to be simple and rustic given the times and conditions. If they saw my family Christmas extravaganzas, they would have thought we belonged to the royal family!”
Michelle and Margaret at Reboot West, 2011
Margaret shares determination and stubbornness with her characters, along with an abiding faith. “My story involves the Chimney Rock in Nebraska and the spiritual theme is God is my rock. Family love and loyalty are also themes found in the story.”
She believes she would have made a great pioneer, “providing I had a modern bathroom . . . and a good mattress.” Click to Tweet
The author of more than 20 books, including nonfiction, Margaret has written countless articles and church newsletters. And like all her fellow A Log Cabin Christmas Collection writers, she’s proud to be a New York Times best-selling author!
For more information, visit her webpage or follow Margaret on Twitter.
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