Story Behind the Story

Becoming the Talbot Sisters

Becoming the Talbot Sisters is a story dear to my heart. It’s about women choosing to be “every day brave.” What is “every day brave” you may ask? In essence, it means standing courageously in the face of life’s inevitable challenges, believing that on the other side of fear lies something better, something greater. It means facing hard things with grit, determination and a steadfast hope…every single day. 

The main themes of this story – women finding their courage as they face infertility and miscarriage as well as sexual exploitation and sex trafficking – are very personal for me. I suffered a miscarriage with my first child. After that experience I realized that the complicated and often painful journey that many women face as they pursue motherhood is something we don’t often talk about publicly. I wanted to bring these deeply personal topics into the light by telling the story of Waverly, a celebrity chef who keeps suffering miscarriages, and her estranged twin sister Charlie who offers to carry a baby for her. Through their story, I explore adoption, surrogacy, infertility and pregnancy loss and ultimately what it means to be a mother.

I worked for seven years with a faith-based organization in Europe, focusing partly on women who had experienced trauma and exploitation. For almost a decade I wanted to write a book about the sex trafficking of women, but I wanted to tell the story from a women-centric point of view, not sensationalizing the victims but highlighting the strength and resilience of women after they endure trauma. I’m very passionate about this subject, so much so that I have committed to donate 10% of my proceeds of Becoming the Talbot Sisters to organizations that help stop the trafficking and exploitation of women in Europe. I love knowing that every copy of Waverly and Charlie’s story helps vulnerable and exploited women in a practical way.

On a lighter note, the book features a lot of delicious food (as all of my novels do) and some lovely international locations I explored during my years in Europe. I set much of the story in beautiful Budapest, Hungary where I lived for five years. Parts also take place in Sarajevo and several other fascinating locations around central Europe. They’re all places I enjoyed and wanted to share with readers. 

My hope is that Charlie and Waverly’s story encourages us to face life’s challenges with courage, resilience and hope. Life throws us for a loop sometimes. Often it can feel incredibly daunting, sometimes even crushing. My hope is that this story inspires each of us to stand up and face these hard things with strength and courage, determined to be truly “every day brave.”

~ Rachel