THE WRITER’S EYE

THE WRITER’S EYE with Susan Beckham Zurenda & guest author Dianna Rostad

This month, USA Today best-selling author Dianna Rostad discusses inspiration in unexpected places. She and I connected several years ago as debut authors with the same literary agent: me with Bells for Eli and Dianna with You Belong Here Now. 

You Belong Here Now is a novel about family and belonging in which three brave young people from New York City board the orphan train headed west. Set in 1925, the story begins as Charles, Patrick, and Opal, after not being adopted, escape the train out of fear of being sent back to the misery of their former lives. Charles, the oldest, initiates a daring plan that takes them to Big Sky country. I hope you’ll read the moving story of these kids’ lives on the Stewart farm in Montana. But first, I want you to know about Dianna’s inspiration for the novel: 

I’m happy to relay where I got the story concept for You Belong Here Now, especially since it took so long to get it into the hands of readers! The germ came back in 2007. Yes, you read that right. I came across an online news article about the orphan train and was astounded to learn these trains ran for seventy-six years, give or take. I’d never heard of this adoption phenomena. Was I not listening in class? All you teachers out there are probably nodding your heads. I googled orphan train and found all these precious street kids bravely making their way to the heartland and beyond with nothing more than a new haircut and a cardboard suitcase. Pictures of them standing on train platforms and hanging out of train windows reminded me of a group of kids I worked with as a young woman. 

In the late 1990s after the Rodney King riots in South Central Los Angeles, I worked with youthful offenders. Incarcerated in the Ventura School, I accepted these young people into my JTPA program. I ran them through soft skills courses to prepare them for employment. When they paroled, I visited them in their homes or group homes in Los Angeles and met with their parole agents or parents with the goal of helping them to find a job. 

My South Central kids were much like those who rode the trains. They had missing parents, ran around in gangs and got into trouble trying to survive. I understood these kids and wanted to tell their story, but I was still in the 19th century obsessing over Lord Byron, my favorite bad boy from Regency London. I picked up my orphan train manuscript from time to time, and worked on the storyline and characters, but always put it back in the proverbial drawer. I had become that little wild horse from the opening of my book, stuck on the fence because I didn’t know where to set the story, until something rather prophetic happened. 

I was living in Texas when my father drove all the way from the state of Washington for Christmas in 2010. God only knows what possessed a 70 year old man to undertake a journey like that, but I believe my grandfather, Montana Bill, sent him from above. My father brought pictures with stories on the back from his family’s ranch in Montana. They were from the 1920s with kids running around in overalls, wearing big boots, and sitting on worn porches. These pictures opened up a whole big world where I could finally see my story playing out. I turned to my dad and said, “This is where I’m going to set You Belong Here Now.” Many of the characters in this book, the way they talk, songs and legends, are all from my family. Charles is based on my son who was 19 at the time. Tender inside but a fierce protector of his siblings. 

Nara began as her namesake, my maternal grandmother, but over time morphed into my brave, strong-willed, eldest daughter who was a natural leader. She was my “rule book,” and in You Belong Here Now, Nara is a rule follower. Charles, however, believes the only rule is “don’t get caught,” and the two collide until each bends, and they come to understand that neither fists and brawn, nor rules and laws mete out justice in our world; only love can do that. 

There is a big piece of my heart and soul in this book, remnants of people I’ve cherished, feelings I’ve endured that will burst a heart. I hope readers out there enjoy it as much as I loved writing it.

Dianna Rostad is a USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author. Her debut novel You Belong Here Now is a 2022 WILLA Literary Award Finalist for Historical Fiction and was shortlisted for Reading the West’s Debut Fiction Award 2022. A favorite task of her creative endeavors is the discovery and research of people and places where her novels are set. She has traveled extensively to pursue the last artifacts of our shared history and breathe life, truth, and hope into her novels. Dianna was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and spends time volunteering for various causes. She loves reading, playing with Bennee her dog, and growing flowers in her garden. Dianna writes big-hearted novels for wide audiences everywhere.