Shelley Shepard Gray is a NYT and USA Today bestselling author. She’s published over a hundred novels and has over a million books in print. She currently lives in northern Ohio and writes full time.
Shelley lives just an hour from Holmes County, where many of her Amish-themed novels are set. She currently writes contemporary romance and Amish fiction for a variety of publishers. When not spending time with her family or writing, she can usually be found walking her two dachshunds on one of the many trails in the Cleveland area.
Q: How did you get the idea for the story?
Shelley: I am a fan of the movie Witness with Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. I wanted to do a twist on this, having an Amish heroine witness a murder—but instead of the detective going into Amish country, I wanted her to go into the English world. This was the inspiration. I hope readers saw that everyone had everything to gain and everything to lose.
Q: Why was Stephanie willing to go into the English world, being Amish?
Shelley: She witnesses a crime and is convinced she’s in danger. She doesn’t want to go to the police. She has specific reasons why she doesn’t trust and is afraid of the police. She feels that there’s no one to protect her, so her only option is to run.
Q: What about her Amish family life?
Shelley: She felt she wasn’t losing much by going into the English world. She had to weigh what she was giving up, what she could gain, and the risks involved. She’s really a Cinderella character—her parents are dead, and she had to move in with relatives who didn’t treat her well. She had a choice to make: to change, or keep doing the same thing. The Amish community is very close where I live. They deal with some of the same things as those in the English world.
Q: How would you describe Stephanie?
Shelley: Naïve, scared, untrusting, had hard knocks, sheltered, shy, observant, innocent, calm, and stressed. She is stronger than she thought. She’s a little bit scrappy.
Q: What is the role of her aunt and uncle?
Shelley: It shows how Stephanie puts others above her own wants and needs. With them, she’s become withdrawn and quiet. She’s treated like a foster child in a very bad foster home. She didn’t see any way out. There are those in the Amish community who must give all their earnings to their elders, which makes it so they have no choices.
Q: Why the foster homes?
Shelley: Gangs went after foster children and gave them a sense of belonging. They are damaged and vulnerable. This is my perception of where I wanted the story to go. My character in the story, Timothy, represents this, and we follow his journey.
Q: How would you describe Timothy?
Shelley: Damaged, vulnerable, and bitter. I wanted his story to echo Stephanie’s. I wanted the reader to feel for him as he fumbles through the story. My intention was that he wasn’t all good or all bad. He had some good points. He had as many dreams as Stephanie but had tried to achieve them in a bad way. They both had situations they wanted to escape from.
Q: How would you describe Hardy?
Shelley: Former military, honest, kind, gruff, direct, and a protector.
Q: How would you describe Carter, the other hero in the story?
Shelley: Easygoing, friendly, has common sense, charming, kind, shrewd, and powerful. He doesn’t have a separate point of view or voice. There are four points of view: Stephanie, Hardy, Bev, and Timothy.
Q: How would you describe Bev, who initially rescued Stephanie?
Shelley: Caring, patient, and doesn’t see all her qualities. She was a mother-type figure for Stephanie. She gave her a sounding board. She represented someone Stephanie could interact with and bond with.
Q: How would you describe the Carter and Bev relationship?
Shelley: Carter sees Bev as amazing. They make each other feel off-kilter and refuse to admit how they feel. I wanted this relationship to be in the background.
Q: How would you describe the Stephanie and Hardy relationship?
Shelley: They have so many conflicts, including their age, lifestyles, and religion. Her vulnerability and his protectiveness meshed. Because of her, he was able to let down his guard. He makes her feel secure about the outside world. She brings out some gentler character traits in him.
Q: What’s coming next?
Shelley: There are two books coming out in October. C is for Courting will finish up the trilogy where the children must decide if they will remain English or become Amish. The other is Christmas Promises, a contemporary romance. It’s the second book in the series, set in Ohio.
Early next year is the first book in a new series, The Amish Widow’s Club. There’s a forty-year-old Amish heroine, recently widowed. She becomes part of a secret club.
Unshaken by Shelley Shepard Gray is a romantic suspense story. She is one of the special authors that can write all different types of genres. But her romantic suspense stories have an Amish twist that are riveting. She has many layers to the characters that include interesting backstories where the characters have dreams, fears, and hope.
The story has the plot of the 1985 Harrison Ford movie “Witness” turned 180-degrees. Stephanie Miller, an Amish woman, went into town to pick up some items. Unfortunately, she sees a teenage boy shoot a man and then shoot at her, grazing her arm. Now the sole witness to a murder, Stephanie is targeted by the gunman. Bev, a social worker, sees what happened and decides immediately to help her knowing that there were gangs and drugs involved. She suggests emphatically that Stephanie’s life is in danger, and she must disappear. Bev sends Stephanie to her brother who lives and works on a ranch with a gate guard and ranch hands to protect her. Bev’s brother Hardy works for the wealthy ranch owner Carter and both men served in the military together. He dresses her in English clothing and decides to hide her at Carter’s sprawling ranch. But the killer is desperate, and the gang is desperate, and they will not stop until Stephanie is dead.
Stephanie at first feels out of place in the English world. But having lost her parents at 16, Stephanie is sent to live with her aunt and uncle, helping them with their household and children. Although grateful for a place to live, Stephanie feels out of place because she knows that her aunt and uncle only want her as a housekeeper and treat her accordingly. Even with the danger she is much more relaxed on the ranch and starts to imagine a life outside the Amish community.
Readers should want more stories by Gray that delve into romantic suspense. This one has not one but two relationships going on concurrently: Bev and Carter, Stephanie and Hardy. The plot has plenty of action with the drama increasing in intensity.
