Madison Brightwell, Author
Weaverville author Madison Brightwell felt that the world needed some hope when she began writing her latest novel. “I decided to use my imagination to dream up a world that was, in my opinion, much more appealing than the one we live in today, a sort of Utopian vision,” she says. “Ironically, shortly after I wrote the novel, we visited the Native American village in Cherokee and discovered that a lot of their traditions are similar to the ones I created in my ‘perfect’ society.”
For this book, the first in a trilogy, she had young readers ages 16 to 25 in mind. The story follows 16-year-old Charli who lives in pandemic-ravaged America in 2020, specifically the NC mountains, when she stumbles upon a parallel world.
The British-born Brightwell is a licensed MFT with a doctorate in psychology and loves a good murder mystery. Her previous novels included psychological crime thrillers. “However, to me this novel is far more important as it’s more than just an entertainment story, and I’m hoping to inspire people to think about the themes presented as well as to enjoy the story and the characters,” she says.
The World Beyond the Redbud Tree, April 2023, fiction, paperback $19.95, hardback $28.95, ebook $5.99, by Madison Brightwell, and published by Koehler Books, Virginia Beach, VA. Upcoming events include a reading, free to the public, at the Weaverville Community Center on Friday, August 11, at 7 p.m. Learn more at YourWorldBeyond.com.
