Hello! My name’s Heidi Chiavaroli and I write split time fiction. My ideas are always inspired from actual history that I love to carry into fiction, taking both present-day and historical characters on a connected journey. I live in Massachusetts with my husband and two sons. You can learn more about me and all my books here on my website and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

My newest release, The Tea Chest, is about a woman intent on becoming America’s first woman Navy SEAL. But before she begins the biggest feat of her life, she returns to Boston to put the abuse and neglect of her childhood behind her. When an unexpected encounter with the man she once loved leads her to the discovery of a tea chest and the document hidden within, they unearth the 247-year-old story of a young colonial woman—one caught in the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party and kept from the man she loves by means of a vicious blackmail.

So what inspired me to connect an aspiring woman Navy SEAL and a tea-partying colonial woman? Read on to find out!

Navy SEALs and Tea Parties—Writing Dual Timeline Fiction

In July 2017, it was announced that for the first time, a woman would enter the training pipeline to become a Navy SEAL. A couple weeks later, it was reported that she had dropped out. I couldn’t help imagining what this unidentifiable woman had gone through and what had propelled her to enter such rigorous training. I decided to explore her story in fiction.

Only it wouldn’t be just her story. Because I write dual timeline stories. And I love to tie the heart struggles of the characters in my novels together, showing that no matter the technological advancements we achieve, some things—like the plight of the human heart—are timeless.

What better way to explore the journey of my contemporary character, a physically strong woman who longs to make a difference, than showing her alongside a historical woman who plays a major part in one of the most important events that led to the American Revolution?

That’s when fictional Emma Malcolm was born. She is the daughter of a real historical person, customs official John Malcolm, who was brutally tarred and feathered by a group of Patriots. I imagined what it’d be like if he had a daughter—one who sympathized with the Sons of Liberty…one who sympathized with the very political side her father was intent on squelching. What if his daughter befriended those plotting to dump the tea? What if she aided them? What if she were even in love with one of them?

The Tea Chest came alive for me as I explored these two women. Women who long to fight for freedom, but also women who struggle to know their own worth. I hope you take the journey with them, and I hope you are challenged and changed by their adventures.