Surprise! There’s two of them!
Frances Hunter is the writing team of sisters Mary Clare and Liz Clare. Their debut historical novel, To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis & Clark (Blind Rabbit Press, 2006) scored a “highly recommended” rating from Library Journal, won the Writers’ League of Texas Violet Crown Award and the Independent Publisher “IPPY” Book Award silver medal, and was a finalist for Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year.
For their second novel, The Fairest Portion of the Globe, the authors traveled extensively and conducted in-depth historical research to piece together the complex intrigues of the early American frontier. Weaving this compelling history together with the friendship of young Lewis and Clark was the novelists’ real passion. “Anyone can look at a map and follow the westward trail blazed by Lewis and Clark,” they note. “But these men would freeze for each other, go hungry for each other, die for each other. How do you get to that intensity of honor, courage, and loyalty? That’s another kind of trail they left for us to follow.”
Mary and Liz live in Austin, Texas with their bunny Junebug and their old beagle Belle. Mary works as a senior systems analyst for the University of Texas, and Liz works as a digital projects specialist at the Texas State Library and Archives. In their spare time they enjoy traveling, Longhorn sports, Celtic music, and watching vintage TV shows (their current passions are Sharpe and Mannix).
Their next book will be Bloody Island, a historical novel about Robert E. Lee.
