You’d know Iris Underwood, an Addison Township resident, is a writer within two minutes of walking into her house. Her study, or as she likes to call it, “the writing room,” has two chairs – a big comfy one for reading and another stationed in front of a computer where she sits to write.
Across the room from those two chairs sits a bookcase full of what Underwood considers the essentials, either books that mean something to her or books she likes to pick up often. She says she owns many books, but not all of them can fit in her study. And, like any proper book lover, she has jars of herbal tea at the ready.
Yet, reading and writing haven’t always been part of her life.
Having lived with dyslexia her whole life, Underwood didn’t read often as a child, though she says she always enjoyed it. When she grew up, got married and had children, she decided she would be best fit staying at home and taking care of her family. But when her children started to grow up and leave the house, she knew she needed something new to find purpose in.
“One day I was talking with my girlfriends, I had a few friends who were very supportive and much more educated than me, who suggested that I think seriously about encouraging people to write,” Underwood said. “So, I took that seriously and started reading about how to write, how to write your memoirs and how to keep a personal journal.”
Soon enough, Underwood started teaching workshops on journaling and memoir-writing as well as writing a column called “Encouraging Words” at the Oxford Leader. Writing became ingrained in her life and in a writing class at Oakland Community College in 1994, “The Mantle” came to her mind.
“In my first writing class ever at OCC, the syllabus said we had to do write a short story in fiction,” Underwood said. “And that’s when Prince Rahabem came to me, and this small tribe called the Mahari… I still have my typed manuscript, I got serious about it.”
That inspiration led to Underwood writing “The Mantle,” her first literary fiction book. Twenty years after she first started writing it, that book is a reality, and Underwood hopes it inspires and encourages others the way writing it has inspired and encouraged her.
“The Mantle” follows Prince Rahabem as he attempts to take the throne he is heir to, Mahari, from an evil branch of the royal bloodline. Along the way, the novel explores themes of family, community, self-discovery and friendship.
Part of the inspiration for the novel comes from Underwood’s personal experiences and childhood spent in Kentucky’s Appalachian Mountains. “The story is a reflection of the kinfolk who loved me, the mountains who sheltered me and that stories that never lose their power,” she said.
Since she has found such solace in writing and learned from the characters whose stories she’s penned, Underwood hopes readers of “The Mantle” learn something from the characters and their journey.
“The main theme is that we forgive,” she said. “If we don’t forgive injustices, we’re never going to be able to live in peace… And let’s never forget our home and to appreciate our home. (“The Mantle” also explores why) we can never forget the written word.”
Hardcover copies of “The Mantle” can be purchased from Underwood for $33 sent to PO Box 61 Lakeville, Mich. 48366 or from Seattle Book Company

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