Today I am kicking off the Blog Tour for the novella by author Elsa Wincker, The Whisperer. Eve is sharing with us the inspiration behind this story:
Inspiration for The Whisperer
by Elsa Winckler
by Elsa Winckler
I have always been fascinated with the idea that people are able to ‘talk’ to animals. I have to admit, I prefer animals to most humans and I had a dog, a cat and a budgie when growing up.☺ I couldn’t wait to get animals when we got married, but hubby is not a lover of cats, so the compromise was to get a dog. We’ve always lived in town so unfortunately horses were never part of my life. But I love watching them, reading about them, in fact, I think there is a horse whisperer trapped inside me! :)
Somewhere during 2010 I came across an article about an animal communicator in a local magazine. I read every word as she explains how she talks to dogs, horses and even whales. I was hooked. Of course a story started brewing but I knew nothing about communicating with animals or horses and had to get help. So I Googled.
I found wonderful articles on the internet about ways of training horses and was especially impressed with the Parelli Program. It was on their website I read about ‘horsenality’ – a way you can identify your horse’s innate characteristics and introduce specific strategies to bring out the best in the horse. It makes a huge difference if you know whether your horse is confident or fearful, extroverted or introverted, or motivated by food rather than play. Knowing what makes the horse tick can help you understand him – in other words, it’s very much like understanding humans :)
Trying to find an animal communicator who was willing to communicate with a human, was a bit of a challenge. I tried to get in touch with the person I read about in the article, but I never heard from her. After many attempts, Google and I finally found Kathleen Berard though, an animal communicator from Texas.
She was so gracious and helped me tremendously. The heroine in The Whisperer, Cilla Stevens has been able to talk to animals since she can remember. She is a teacher and when one of the kids at school sees how she calms down a stray dog he tells his father about the incident. His dad is a manager on Cameron Rall’s farm and they have just bought a stallion, Bravo. But Bravo is unmanageable, at least according to his owner and of course this is when Cilla is called in to help.
I had to decide why Bravo was behaving badly and this was where Kathleen Berard was such a great help. She sent me email after email with information, answered all my stupid questions and patiently described the whole process to me.
Another version of this story was published in Afrikaans in 2011 and at the time I sent Kathleen a copy of the book. I promised her that if I ever get a publisher for the story in English, she would be the first one to get a copy. So now I can’t wait for release day so that I can finally send her one.
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About the book:
Title: The Whisperer
Author: Elsa Winckler
Published: March 10th 2017 by HarperImpulse
Blurb: Loving him could destroy her…
High school teacher Cilla Stevens has always been different, especially in how she connects with animals. When she calms a stray dog during an incident at school, she’s asked to help a nearby farm with a difficult horse.
Cameron Rahl has had a very different relationship with animals since his mother died in a horse riding accident. But now he's inherited his family’s farm, he's determined to never let anyone affect him that way again.
Until he meets Cilla. He tries to stay away from the gorgeous horse whisperer with the potential to tame him, but something keeps pulling him close. And as much as Cilla tells herself she can keep it casual, she knows they're too connected to be 'just a fling.'
Will Cilla's heart win out? Or will it take history repeating itself for Cameron to realise just how much he needs her?
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