Dear Reader,
If you’re like me, you enjoy learning why an author chose a particular setting for her book or a specific profession for her characters. You probably already know that the Hill Country is one of my favorite parts of the country, so my using it as a setting for another book shouldn’t have surprised you. Austin’s profession might have. Did you wonder why I decided to make him a plastic surgeon?
When I started plotting the series, I knew that Catherine’s experiences with the local doctor made her fear the entire medical profession. From her point of view, Austin was absolutely the wrong person for her, but as the author, I knew he was exactly the man she needed. Austin had to be a doctor to help Catherine overcome her fears. Why a plastic surgeon? That sounds too modern, doesn’t it?
Writers’ inspiration can come from almost anywhere. When a close friend told me she was considering cosmetic surgery, I was curious and started researching the subject. Since I’d always thought of plastic surgery as a twentieth-century branch of medicine, I was surprised to learn that it had its origins far earlier than that and that the ancient Egyptians—a culture that valued beauty as much as modern society does—had developed rudimentary techniques. Just as importantly, they performed what we would call dermabrasion to reduce scarring.
That was one of those “aha!” moments for me, because it meant that Austin could have been a plastic surgeon in the nineteenth century and that he could have known how to repair the damage smallpox had wrought on Grace’s face. Once I knew that, the rest of the book fell into place.
If you’re wondering, as some of my early readers did, whether a doctor in the nineteenth century would have used the term “plastic surgeon,” the answer is yes. While we think of plastic substances as being modern inventions—and they are—there’s no plastic involved in plastic surgery. The adjective “plastic” was used for almost three hundred years before plastic (a noun) was invented in the early twentieth century.
If you enjoy learning the origin of words as much as I do, you probably already know that the English word “plastic” comes from the Greek “plastikos,” meaning to mold or shape, which is, of course, what reconstructive plastic surgery does.
As for “plastic surgery,” although the procedures have been practiced for thousands of years, it wasn’t until the early nineteenth century that the word “plastic” was used to describe them. A German surgeon, Karl Ferdinand von Gräfe, is credited with the first published use of “plastic” in this context when he released his 1818 book Rhinoplastik, in which he described his work reconstructing noses. Once he used the term, others followed his lead, so by the time Austin became a physician, the term “plastic surgery” was one a trained surgeon would have known.
I know that’s a long answer to the question, but since I’m always annoyed by anachronisms in historical fiction, I wanted to assure you that “plastic surgery” was indeed a nineteenth-century term.
I hope you enjoyed Catherine and Austin’s story and that you’re looking forward to returning to Cimarron Creek next year when A Tender Hope is released. The town’s in for a lot of changes. Between the arrival of a new midwife, a new teacher, a lovely Frenchwoman, and a Texas Ranger with a mission, not to mention an abandoned infant, it’s definitely not business-as-usual in that part of the Hill Country.
A year is a long time to wait, so I’ve included a sneak peek at the story. Just turn the page, and you’ll find the first chapter.
While you’re waiting for A Tender Hope to be released, I invite you to read my earlier books. If this is your first Cimarron Creek book, you might enjoy A Stolen Heart, Lydia and Travis’s story. And, if you’d like to learn a bit more about Thea, the heroine of A Tender Hope, pick up a copy of Paper Roses.
I also encourage you to visit my website, www.amandacabot.com. You’ll find information about all of my books there as well as a sign-up form for my newsletter. I promise not to fill your inbox with newsletters, because I only issue one when I have important news to share, but it’s a way for us to keep in touch. I’ve also included links to my Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as my email address. It’s one of my greatest pleasures as an author to receive notes from my readers, so don’t be shy.
Blessings,
Amanda