Michael Landon Jr. is famous in part because of his name. When you have a well-known father like his — think "Little House on the Prairie" — it's often hard to emerge from the shadows.

But Landon has done just that — first, with his own work in film, most notably the "Love Comes Softly" series, and now with his foray into novels.

Not that Landon ever dreamed of being a writer. As a child he hated to read. But when Landon was handed a book written by E.B. White, it forever changed the way he looked at the written word.

"Reading was arm-twisting, but then I was given 'Stuart Little,' and it changed my whole outlook on reading," Landon, a former Salt Lake resident, said in a phone interview from his home in Austin, Texas.

From that point on, books came to mean something special at different times in Landon's life. That didn't mean he wanted to become a writer, however. Landon says he was more forced into doing it rather than out of a great desire.

"I began writing because I couldn't get a directing break, and writers get a directing break," he said. "I've come to love the process now, but originally it was out of necessity."

The first script Landon sold was an after-school special called "The Secret." From there he's had considerable success, particularly when adapting books such as Janette Oke's "Love Comes Softly" series and "The Velveteen Rabbit," by Margery Williams, into movies.

It's that process that motivated Landon to enter the world of novels. "I was optioning and trying to adapt novels and thought maybe it would be helpful for me to actually control the actual properties themselves," he said. "I love telling stories, so crossing into a different platform or a different genre was something I wanted to attempt."

On that note, Landon's new novel, "The Silent Gift," is now available in bookstores. Co-written by Landon's longtime screenwriting partner Cindy Kelley, "The Silent Gift" is the story of Mary, a young mother, and her deaf-mute son, Jack. It follows their struggles to survive during the harsh and often unforgiving Great Depression.

The idea for "Silent Gift" came to Landon a little more than two years ago, when his family moved to Austin. While the Landons were visiting a church someone explained that the pastor had a son who was 8 years old and had never spoken a single word.

"That's the thing that got me started, my wheels turning," Landon said. " I thought 'Wow, what would that be like to have a son who's never spoken a single word?' "