The Story Behind Zachary’s Cry—My Conversation with Hidden Voices

Where do stories come from—and why do certain stories remain with a writer until they eventually demand to be told?

I was recently invited by Hidden Voices to share the story behind Zachary’s Cry and reflect on the questions that first inspired the novel.

Long before I began writing books, I became aware of a deeply troubling real-life case involving a newborn child, a frightened and confused young mother, and a young doctor confronted by circumstances he neither expected nor fully understood. The story remained with me for many years. When I eventually began writing fiction, I found myself returning to the difficult human and moral questions it had raised.

Although Zachary’s Cry was inspired by that case, it is a work of fiction. The events portrayed in the novel are substantially different from what occurred in real life, but the emotional and moral questions at its heart remained the same.

At the centre of the story is a child who has no voice and whose future will be determined entirely by the decisions of adults.

The Hidden Voices feature explores the novel’s themes of human frailty, responsibility, rural medicine, justice, forgiveness, and redemption. It also considers the extraordinary contribution made by Zachary’s foster parents, Anne and Ian Prince-Smith, whose quiet devotion provides the moral heart of the story.

Hidden Voices describes Zachary’s Cry as “a deeply human story of responsibility, fragility, and quiet courage, where the smallest acts of care carry the greatest weight.”

Read the full Hidden Voices conversation here.

Zachary’s Cry is available in Kindle and paperback editions from Amazon and other online booksellers.