Interview with k.m. huber

Although I’ve read a lot of historical novels in my life—more than ever since I took on the gig as host of New Books in Historical Fiction back in 2012—most of the books I’ve encountered have been set in Europe, Asia, or North America. So when k.m. huber’s publicist contacted me about a novel set in sixth-century Peru, the setting alone intrigued me. I enjoyed the novel, so I was even happier when k.m. huber agreed to a written author interview. Read on to find out more.

How did you come to write Call of the Owl Woman?

The first time I visited Peru to meet my husband’s family, I fell in love with the country, its awesome landscapes, its history, and its many cultures. When we later moved to Peru, it not only became my second home, but I also began to see the whole world through new eyes. As a kid, I had always been a fan of mythology and folk tales from around the world. I also loved historical fiction because I could experience other times and places through the lives of interesting characters. So, it made sense to use fiction as a way to bring Peru to life for others unfamiliar with its magic.

When my daughter was a teenager, I was writing a lot of poetry and short stories and a novel set in a retirement home. She asked me to make my next project a YA novel about Peru that she and her friends would enjoy reading. The book began to take shape during a mother-daughter road trip where we interspersed singing at the top of our lungs with outlining the theme ideas and potential characters.

Having decided, how did you go about re-creating the world of sixth-century Peru, specifically the life of the Nasca and their neighbors?

Since there was no written language in Peru before the Spanish Conquest, I had to rely a lot on archaeological and anthropological investigations and evidence to rebuild a plausible setting and understand the flora and fauna. I spent time exploring the region to get a feel for the landscapes of the valleys, the surrounding desert, the hills, the plateaus, and the seascapes of the coast. The remains of pottery, textiles, and well-preserved mummies revealed a lot about daily life, and the agricultural cycles.

There is a lot of mythology and sacred story in this novel, including shamanic medicine. Does any of that survive into the modern era, and if not, how did you research it?

Some elements of the past were recorded by the Spanish during their “extirpation of idolatries” campaign. However, even though they tried to wipe out and erase beliefs and traditions that weren’t acceptable to the church, they could not eradicate every trace. Some of it went underground, some of it is layered beneath church traditions. For instance, in the main cathedral in Cuzco, there is a huge stone, semi-hidden behind a door, that people still place their hands on to “release heavy energy,” asking the earth to take it in and heal them of their burdens. It is said that the stone was originally in the temple that was torn down by the Spaniards before building the church. It’s a classic example of syncretism. The “newly converted” managed to keep that sacred stone available for cleansing in a traditional way.

For greater understanding of the ancient earth-honoring traditions, I spent time with indigenous groups that have rituals and ceremonial ways of expressing deep connection to the earth. Visiting remote areas less influenced by modern technology offered me glimpses of what might have been.

Introduce us, please, to Patya, your main character. What is her background, and what does she want at this point in her life?

Patya comes from a long lineage of healers and medicine women, but is not drawn to follow them as much as she is drawn to the practices of dance, music, and painting. She is self-conscious that her grandmother did not allow her head to be bound like other Nasca children, so her skull is not elongated. She gets teased for being a round-head, and the hunters from the highlands who assault her use her differences to justify their cruelty.

Patya starts out as shy misfit who doubts she’ll ever be loved, but transforms into a tenacious young woman who tries to do what’s right for her community, finds the strength to challenge injustice, and discovers her capacity for romance.

Patya’s grandmother, Paya Kuyllay, dies at the very beginning of the novel. She has been an important influence on Patya’s life up to this point. What should we know about her?

I’m actually planning a future book about Kuyllay’s back story. She was a young girl when her mother died, but had already learned much of the healing arts. Her difficult father traded her to a caravan, which gave her the chance to travel much of South America and continue learning about medicine plants and healing practices from the many other cultures contemporary to the Nasca. Kuyllay returns years later to give birth to Patya’s mother, Keyka, but her husband mysteriously disappears during a trip to the highlands. In her life outside Nasca, Kuyllay had become part of a secret sisterhood that she envisioned Patya one day joining, but left only a few clues to guide her.

And what of the rest of Patya’s family, especially her mother and youngest brother, Tachico?

Patya adores her little brother. They have a lot of fun together, but he doesn’t shy away from trouble, so they also get into some frightening situations. Patya will do anything for Tachico.

Her mother, Keyka, is a renowned healer who keeps hoping Patya will carry on the tradition. Her father is the valley’s highly respected Water Guardian, and her oldest brother Otocco is his sometimes charming but bossy and self-absorbed assistant. The second oldest, Ecco, makes pottery and lets Patya paint some of the ceramics. He also marries her best friend, Faruka.

There are several villains in the story, but the most obvious one is the priest Achiq. Tell us about him and his goals.

Achiq has become intoxicated with power, maneuvers to control access to the dwindling water supply, and manipulates others with promises and threats. He has usurped the priests with integrity and interprets the “will of the gods” as it best suits him and feeds his hunger for power.

Orcas have an important symbolic role in the novel, as do sharks and monkeys. Tell us what the orca means to Patya.

Although encounters with orcas may be rare, the experience of personal connection with the giant sea-beings is a mystical experience for Patya as it has been for others of her family. They are powerful and intelligent creatures, yet very sociable, playful and exuberant. For Patya, they epitomize a sense of joy, confidence, generosity, and fearlessness.

Are you already working on another book?

I’m finishing up a sequel that will come out in August 2026, and have also been doing research for what I’m approaching as a “speculative biography” about a soul-searching San Francisco artist who appears as a footnote in many works related to Gertrude Stein and the modernists. Her serendipitous intersections with famous artists and thinkers of early 1900’s Paris catapult her into lifetime of psychological exploration that includes early Freudians, Carl Jung, Gurdjieff’s commune in Fontainebleau, and even the 1960’s psychedelics scene in San Francisco.

Thank you so much for answering my questions!

k.m. huber is a traveler and explorer fascinated by the human experience and the swing of nature’s pendulum between bounty and austerity, power and fragility. Call of the Owl Woman is her debut novel. Find out more about her and her books at https://www.kmhuber.com.

Photograph of k.m. huber reproduced with permission.