Myramcilvain
Welcome to My Website
Allow me to share the Texas tales I love to tell.
If you are wondering what kind of fiction I write, it’s in the vein of Paulette Jiles’ News of the World and Sarah Bird’s Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen––stories with strong characters whose lives are set in a particular period of history. In my case, it’s 19th Century Texas.

ANNOUNCEMENT
My twelfth book, The Knotted Ring, is available. You will find it and all my books listed above.

Award Winning
Stein House
: After three long months at sea, Helga Heinrich and her four children sail into the thriving Indianola seaport on the Texas coast in 1853 to begin their new life. They are determined to overcome the memory and haunting legacy of Max, her husband and their papa, who drowned in a drunken leap from the dock as their ship pulled away from the German port.
- 2014 First Place, General Fiction Texas Association of Authors
- 2015 Winner Adult Fiction, North Texas Book Festival, Denton
- 2015 Finalist, Historical Fiction, International Book Awards
- Best Books Read in 2015, Gals-Very Smart Gals:

shelves
The Doctor's Wife
A prequel to Stein House, A German Family Saga
Young teacher Amelia Anton leaves Germany in 1845 on an immigrant ship bound for Texas. After the death at sea of the child she is hired to tutor, her employer abandons her. Amelia quickly accepts the marriage proposal of the much-respected physician, Joseph Stein, only to discover that he is not the husband she expected.

shelves
Waters Plantation
A New Beginning For An Award Winning Book.
reviews
“Readers will be drawn in by McIlvain’s characters, who are richly developed with powerful voices. The tension crafted between Susannah’s past and present is palpable throughout, and McIlvain skillfully depicts her warring emotions.”
Knotted Ring
BookLifeview
“…immersive historical prequel portrays the birth of a Texas town through the eyes of a young immigrant….McIlvain has a historian’s eye for detail, a good ear for dialogue, and a fascination with the political machinations that affect the tiny town’s growth, including unflinching engagement with the inhuman institution of slavery.”
The Doctor's Wife
Kirkus Review
“In this historical novel, McIlvain talls a tale of love lost and found during the colonization of Texas in the 1820s….An often engrossing and well-handled story of the 19th century.”