• Southwest Georgia author Jacquelyn Cook writes about Macon's Hay House in a new novel.

Casey Dixon

AMERICUS – Selling more than 500,000 copies of books that you have spent decades working on is no small feat.

But the number of books that Jacquelyn Cook ("Magnolia," "The River" series) has sold is secondary to the life she leads on her farm in Sumter County.

For the grandmother of four, family comes before everything else.

It's her determination to keep her family close that inspires her work. In her new novel, "Sunrise," Cook focuses on family devotion. It becomes clear that the way she feels about her own family has worked its way into her writing.

"My family is very close," she says. "It comes first."

For "Sunrise," Cook spent years poring over historical records, making numerous trips to Macon, and talking to descendants of the characters. The fictionalized account of real-life Macon heiress, Anne Tracy, and her husband, railroad baron William Butler Johnston, is studded with gems of historical accuracy. Cook prides herself on making her works as accurate and true to life as possible.

"I have always found it very important to keep things historically accurate," she says. "The UGA library is collecting all of my works in their rare book room. I have preserved the details of life that you don't find in history books."

The starting point for "Sunrise" was a journal and letters given to Cook by George Felton, the great-grandson of the Johnstons, and his wife. The journal was filled with Anne's memoirs of the couple's three-year honeymoon to Europe. The letters from Anne's family were filled with encouragement and faith during the hard times.

"The letters and that journal were the starting points for the book," Cook says. "George and Ann Felton had read my earlier books, and were familiar with my work. They knew that they could trust me with these documents."

The story takes place over 40 years and delves into the lives of Anne and Williams as they marry ad travel, and eventually find true love inside each other's hearts. Upon their return from Europe, Williams constructs one of the South's true antebellum palaces, the Italiante palazzo, now known as the Hay House.

Their lives are littered with illness and loss, which is only increased at the onset of the Civil War in 18861. Anne's brother Edward Door Tracy Jr., a brigadier general in the Confederate army, and Sidney Lanier, arguably Georgia's greatest literary figure, are supporting characters in the book.

"Sidney Lanier is such a marvelous and inspirational character," Cook says. "In the book, when he was courting Mary Day, who was a refugee at Wesleyan, I was able to use memories from when I was a student in the same building. My husband courted me under the watchful eye of the house mother."

"Sunrise," as well as Cook's other books, are unapologetically Southern, something that Cook think sets her works apart from others.

"I do them deliberately Southern," she says. "I try to write timeless books with lasting values. I want to preserve the details of Southern life."

To Cook, "Sunrise," marks the beginning of a new chapter in her writing. Her previous works focused on romance, but this book is a bit of something new.

Deborah Smith, Cook's publisher and New York Times best selling author, thinks that "Sunrise" will hit a high note with readers. "Fans of Eugenia Price have found a new author to love."

Critics are already weighing in on the novel.

"In 'Sunrise,' Jacquelyn Cook brilliantly combines history with fiction. The makes for an enchanting love story that will grab readers' attention and win their hearts," says Jackie K. Cooper, Georgia Public Broadcasting host and author of "The Bookbinder."

And with sales already exceeding her publisher's expectations, Cook is looking forward to her next serious novel, "The Greenwood Legacy," set in Southwest Georgia.

"It is set in the plantation area from Albany to Tallahassee. Again, an entirely true story, it focuses on Thomas P. Jones, an early settler of Thomasville," she says.

Through it all, Cook's life and works remain intertwined by her view on her family.

"You've got to have family and God to help you get through all things," she adds. "You just can't face life alone.