Rose Senehi

Sometimes you hear about things that you
can't get out of your head. Two such items
lingered in my thoughts as I was mulling over
writing my fifth book: The Wind in the Woods. I was
amazed to find out that an owner of a summer youth camp
in the Hendersonville/Brevard area of North Carolina turned
down millions of dollars from a developer, and instead, put
his camp into a conservation easement so it would remain
pristine forest forever.

At the same time, I was following the unfolding story of the
disappearance of Irene and John Bryant, a couple in their
eighties, who went for a hike in North Carolina's Pisgah
National Forest in October of 2007 and wound up as murder
victims. Then two months later, Gary M. Hilton confessed to
killing 24-year-old Meredith Emerson who went hiking with
her dog in the Northern Georgia mountains on New Year's
Day 2008 and never returned.

Writing The Wind in the Woods was the most challenging book I have attempted. I had to balance,
on one hand, Tiger Morrison, the main character and owner of a 3000-acre summer camp...who
epitomizes the extraordinary folks who dedicate their lives to saving kids from nature-deficit disorder
and infuse them with love and respect for our earth while making sure they're having a heck of a lot of
fun...and on the other hand, weaving in the story of a sixty-one-year-old sociopath who had spent a
lifetime hurting people.

The Wind in the Woods is the second in my Blue Ridge series, and I have worked hard to imbue the
story with the magic of the Green River Valley that, for the past one hundred years, has sheltered
the highest concentration of youth camps in the United States and contains over 10,000 acres of
undisturbed mountain vistas. The book is loosely based on Sandy Schenck's wonderful camp: The
Green River Preserve located south of Flat Rock.

I will be traveling all over the Southeast on a book signing tour and hope to see and chat with you at
one of them about my latest journey through the historic and beautiful South.