By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
They found her, she was alive, face up in Galveston’s harbor. How did she get there? Who is she? It’s her?! The girl who had gone missing three months earlier. Her car was found abandoned on the shoreline of East Beach.
Just as she was being rescued and transported to the local hospital, her family was holding a memorial service. Busting through the doors of the church, the chief of police delivers the blessed news: she is alive! But how and what happened in the early morning hours of Ash Wednesday? Where has she been for the past three months?
Reading through the pages of The Night She Went Missing, Emily’s story unfolds. The psychological drama written by Kristen Bird is available for those who dare to allow their minds to be drawn into the fictional drama of the newest family in Galveston.
Though they were a new family on the island, Emily’s fictional grandmother is part of the island’s founding families. Her family name and legacy was a haunting experience for Emily as she navigated her senior year in high school on an island far away from the wooded community of her childhood home in Oregon.
Taking place in Galveston and on Bolivar Peninsula, the novel is dotted with many of the familiar landmarks. The Ferry which transports people and vehicles from Galveston to Bolivar Peninsula is a major element in the mystery. The lighthouse on Bolivar looms in the details of Emily’s disappearance. There is mention of the salty humid air along with references to local traditions such as Mardi Gras and the Strand holds some of the action.
Bird spent two years as a young teacher at O’Connell High School. The novel is set in Galveston but her inspiration for the book comes from a real-life story which happened in New York City.
“My students and I read about a woman who was missing and when they found her she couldn’t remember who she was. It started me thinking about what happens when someone can’t remember,” said Bird.
Bird’s character, Emily, is diagnosed with dissociative amnesia. The novel takes readers on a journey into Emily’s mind after she has been found.
Zigzagging from teenagers and their lives into the souls of their mothers, The Night She Went Missing provides the reader with suspense and apprehension. Just as a hurricane can be unpredictable in its destructive powers, so too are the characters and the events in the novel.
While living in Galveston, Bird explored all that the island had to offer. She enjoyed friendships with young medical students, sipped coffee at MOD, explored the beaches and held onto the details of her island life in case she might want to set a book on the island.
“Galveston is like no other place I have ever lived. It’s artistic, it’s a medical hub, there’s an acceptance of differences, it’s a place where people who want to stay to themselves can, and it’s a small town feeling even though the island is bustling with tourists,” said Bird.
Bird has a master’s degree in Literature from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. She comes from a Navy family and was born in Virginia Beach, VA. Her life’s journey took her from one coast to the other with a little time in Alabama. At the age of 14, her family settled in the outskirts of Houston.
Creating books has been an activity of Bird’s since she was in third grade. “There was a team contest for a picture book and the team I was on won. Our book was printed. Ever since then I have been making little books,” said Bird.
“Kristen had dreamed of having her own novel published and I am so proud of her,” said her husband Tim. “Her inspiration and perspiration are what made it possible,” he added.
Twin siblings are double dosed in her first novel and Bird explains why, “My grandmother is a twin, my sister has twins and I have twins,” said Bird, who has three daughters (ages 11, 8 & 8). In between being a mom and high school English teacher, she found the time to write her novel.
“I write my new material in the summer when I’m not teaching and then I do the revision and editing during the school year,” explained Bird.
She describes her writing style as “pantser,” which means she flies by the seat of her pants as she writes. “I don’t write from an outline, I really have to write my way into the story,” said Bird.
Currently she lives in Sugar Land and teaches at Kincaid High School. She plans to continue teaching and writing. “I love high school students!” exclaimed Bird, whose life’s goal is to write about 30 novels.
Bird is under contract with Harper Collins to deliver a second novel. She has finished writing the second and it is in the revision stages. She is just now hammering out her third novel which will be set in a fictional Texas town.
