Book review: The Fortune Hunter, by Daisy Goodwin

Goodwin’s second novel is a luxurious indulgence for romantically inclined readers. In 1875, Charlotte Baird, an intellectually minded heiress, becomes an unexpected third wheel when the man she hopes to marry, Captain Bay Middleton, is pressed into service for Empress Elizabeth of Austria’s visit to England.

A reputed ladies’ man, Bay genuinely likes Charlotte for herself and encourages her unfashionable interest in photography. However, as Bay guides the willful, lonely, and deeply private empress on her fox-hunting pursuits on the grounds of vast country estates, they bond over their talent and passion for horsemanship and develop an intense mutual attraction.

Mingling historical fact with imaginative fiction, Goodwin writes with effortless grace, and her dialogue’s subtle wit is delightful. Each of her three protagonists commands attention and sympathy, which heightens the story’s poignancy. Charlotte’s levelheaded personality remains unaffected by her wealth or her relatives’ dependence on it, and Bay is movingly torn between duty and his sense of self-worth. Finally, despite her outlandish regimen for maintaining her complexion and ankle-length chestnut tresses, Elizabeth is never less than beguiling.

The Fortune Hunter was published yesterday in hardcover by St. Martin's Press ($26.99, 480pp).  For more information, see the author's website or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.  This review first appeared in Booklist's May 15th issue. 

Some additional thoughts and comments:

- Readers may notice that some name spellings have been anglicized, such as that of Empress Elisabeth (with an "s"), popularly known as "Sisi," and her son, Rudolf.
- The author's note at the end indicates many of the instances where the story deviates from history; the timeline has been condensed, for instance, to maximize its dramatic potential.
- Bay Middleton is, yes, a distant relation of the Duchess of Cambridge.

An interview with Lisa Jensen, author of the historical/fantasy novel Alias Hook

I'd like to welcome Lisa Jensen back to Reading the Past for a conversation about her new release, Alias Hook. This beautifully imagined tale inverts the story of Peter Pan by depicting the eternally young Peter as the pompous child ruler of Neverland and his nemesis, Captain Hook, as an intelligent Georgian-era pirate captain who's weary of battling Peter and his tribe of Lost Boys for centuries on end.  When an Englishwoman named Stella Parrish dreams her way into Neverland, to the astonishment of everyone there, it serves as the impetus for Hook to re-evaluate his circumstances, try to escape from the curse laid upon him, and, perhaps, fall in love.

Both action-filled and thought-provoking, and alternating between historically grounded and magical settings, the genre-bending Alias Hook is a delightful mix of contrasts.  Since I'd never been a big admirer of the traditional  story – Peter Pan seemed too selfish to be likeable – I found myself preferring Lisa's version.  Hook's journey to freedom and self-understanding is also deeply romantic, and, unlike the original, it's definitely for grown-ups!

Do you remember your first encounter with the story of Peter Pan as a child, and what you thought about it?

I probably saw the old Mary Martin version of the stage play on TV before I was old enough to go see the Disney movie in a theater, but I don't actually remember. But I DO know that I always loved Captain Hook—he was funny and silly and sneaky, and the story perked up whenever he was around!

How did you choose the timeframes, the early 1700s for the beginning of the Captain’s story, and 1950 for Stella’s?

J. M. Barrie, who wrote Peter Pan (as well as Peter and Wendy, the novelization of his famous play) tells us that Hook sailed with Blackbeard, so that roots him in a very specific historical era. Blackbeard was killed in 1718, and roughly the 1690s—1720s are considered the "Golden Age of Piracy," so there was a lot of historical material available. (Although in my book, James Hook laughs at the idea that he would ever actually sail with Blackbeard, who was a lunatic!)

For Stella's timeframe, I wanted her to have been though something cataclysmic, like a world war, to make her long for what she imagines will be a world of perfect childhood innocence in the Neverland. I wanted her modern enough to be completely different from any woman Hook has ever known before. (She wears trousers, drinks and swears.) But I didn't want her to be too modern, didn't want to burden her with technology like cell phones and instant access to information. She comes from an era where life can still be slow and mysterious and private.

In Alias Hook, Peter Pan is a dangerously spoiled and power-hungry little brat, but there’s a little more to him than that. How did you develop his character?

Barrie tells us who's who in the Neverland, but not why or how, so I had to make up the "rules" that govern the place on my own. As soon as James Hook took up residence in my head and started telling me his side of the story, I knew that Pan would have to be the antagonist. Not the villain, he's just heartless and cruel, in the manner of children who don't understand the consequences of what they do. But it can't all be non-stop fun, not even for Pan, the eternal child. He's the necessary figurehead in the Neverland, which provides a safe place for the world's children to dream, but he's paid a price for his position. He's suffered losses over time that he doesn't quite remember, but there's a darkness in his psyche that makes him extra aggressive toward his enemies, the grown-ups—especially Hook.

How has your longtime experience as a professional film critic influenced your approach to writing fiction?

It may be that I envision things in more cinematic terms, like the placement of figures in a scene, or the composition of elements in the landscape. Readers have told me the book is very visual, that they "see" it in their mind's eye, so that's probably the influence of the movies! Also, analyzing hundreds of movies in the reviewing process has hopefully taught me how to structure a successful narrative.

George R. R. Martin has said: “I have always regarded historical fiction and fantasy as sisters under the skin, two genres separated at birth.” Do you agree? Did you find similarities in the world-building process you used to create both your historical England and the imaginative Neverland?

Oh, boy, I have something in common with George R. R. Martin! I feel like fantasy and historical fiction have a lot in common. In both cases, the writer is taking readers some place where they have never been—and where they can never possibly go. Some place where the customs, clothing, and "rules" are completely alien. And it's the author's job to make this alien landscape come to life for readers, either by drenching it in the minutiae of vivid historical detail, or else making it all up! In one way, making up fantasy worlds might be easier, but in both cases, the story and characters must be firmly rooted in recognizable human emotion. That's what creates drama.

Back in the guest post you wrote for my site two years ago, you’d written that “pirate stories have always been my favorite guilty pleasure.” This is your second novel to feature pirates and their daring adventures at sea. Where did your interest in pirates and pirate stories come from?

All those hours watching old Errol Flynn movies on TV with my mom in my formative years! From a writer's perspective, I think pirates are a metaphor for freedom, the freedom of the open sea, far away from the social order on land, with its rules and regulations and strict moral code. Then, of course, there's the wardrobe—who doesn't want to wear those boots!

Many of the settings within Neverland are beautifully enchanting. The scene of the fairy dell during their revels, with its shimmering palace, is probably my favorite. If you were offered the chance to visit one of the regions of your Neverland (assuming you were guaranteed safety!), which one would it be?

I'm kind of partial to the cavernous grotto beneath the Mermaid Lagoon, with its phosphorescent, gemstone-colored rock formations. In photos of deepwater fish and plant life that exists far away from the sun, the colors are extraordinary! But the shimmering white palace of the Fairy Queen is pretty amazing too, with its hall of giant silver mirrors reflecting not necessarily what's real, but the inner fears of anyone looking in. But I'd need a trail of breadcrumbs, or something, to find my way out again!

I just reread your short story “Proserpina’s Curse,” from the sadly defunct Paradox Magazine, which recounts Hook’s backstory and the very beginning of his adventures. It works very well as a standalone story, but how much of the novel had been written at the time it was published?

I think I had completed an early draft by the time that story was published in Paradox, but, of course, it was nothing like what is now the finished novel of Alias Hook. I'm the kind of writer who has to slog through many, many drafts before I finally figure out what my story is about! But I have to say, getting such a positive response from Chris Cevasco at Paradox was a real turning point for me. It encouraged me to tear back into the manuscript and get serious about a full-length novel.

Since you’re a known movie enthusiast, I have to ask – who would be your ideal casting choices for a film of Alias Hook?

Well, I didn't have anybody in mind while I was writing the book; I always saw James Hook as his own person. But if I had to pick a movie star to play him, how about Hugh Jackman? He's certainly got the musicality for it, because, in my book, James Hook is very musical. That's why losing his hand is so traumatic. I like Rachel Weisz for my heroine, Stella. She's serious, spirited and mature, but she also has a goofy side (if you ever saw her in The Brothers Bloom). As for Pan...well, considering how long it takes to get a movie made, that actor probably hasn't been born yet!

~

Alias Hook was published in hardcover in July by Thomas Dunne, an imprint of St. Martin's Press ($24.99/C$28.99, 368pp).  The UK publisher is Snowbooks (pb, £7.99).

Book review: Angels Make Their Hope Here, by Breena Clarke

Although Breena Clarke has previously written two highly regarded historical novels – including an Oprah pick, River, Cross My Heart – her latest was my first experience with her work. Based on the author's research into legends of the Ramapo Mountains of northeastern New Jersey, Angels Make Their Hope Here hones in on a secluded pocket of civilization called Russell's Knob, an imagined setting whose racially mixed residents – blacks, whites, Indians, and their "jumble children" descendants – live in harmony and fiercely defend one another against outsiders.

The perspective shifts among a medium-sized cast of characters, much like a camera might pan across a scene. Although the effect could be jumpy and awkward in a less skilled writer's hands, the transitions feel remarkably seamless here.

In 1849, Dossie is a young dark-skinned girl who was sent north from Maryland along the Underground Railroad by caring relatives. Unfortunately, she had fallen into the hands of an unscrupulous ring of people who worked her like a slave. That is, until a man named Duncan Smoot, who was to be her next conductor along the line, burns her captors' house down and secrets her away to Russell's Knob in the mountain highlands. One poignant image of her first night in her new home sees Dossie stretched out “in a comfortable curl on the well-worn floor,” refusing to acknowledge the possibility that she has a bed of her own.

Over the next decade or so, as she adjusts to her new circumstances, she cares for Duncan's chickens and keeps his house tidy while becoming part of his extended family: his sister Hattie, her German-born husband, their son, his handsome cousin, and the local spirit woman. Taught to read and write, Dossie grows into young adulthood hoping Duncan, whom she idolizes, will come to see her as a woman worthy of his attention.

In this era of racial strife and intolerance, however, whites and white-only locales pose a grave danger to the safety of Russell’s Knob. As the plot moves forward and occasionally back in time, Clarke reveals several jaw-dropping back stories for Smoot family members. And when the realities of being a black woman in a white-centered world hit Dossie in a very personal way, she's forced out of Russell's Knob and into New York's notorious Five Points district to save herself and her loved ones.

Rather than drawing readers carefully into her story at the beginning, Clarke drops them headlong into her characters’ thoughts and actions. I found it hard to situate myself at first, entranced by the rich setting and folksy dialect but unsure of exactly what was happening and what everyone's role was. Everything coalesced several chapters in, though, and I came to appreciate her nuanced characters. Each of them has faults, sometimes major ones, but also many redeeming qualities.

Dossie is an impressionable and sensual young woman who doesn't understand her power initially, or the effect her beauty has on other people. Her circumstances force her into emotional maturity by the end, and as a coming-of-age tale, the novel is effective and satisfying. More than that, though, Angels Make Their Hope Here is an empowering story about community, self-realization, and freedom of choice, something every person deserves.

The novel was published by Little, Brown on July 8th in hardcover ($26.00/C$29.00, 275pp).  Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

Book review and giveaway: Kamila Shamsie's A God in Every Stone

Themes of imperialism, gender restrictions, and loyalty to country and self reverberate through Shamsie’s atmospheric novel, set amid international conflicts of the early twentieth century but with strong echoes of the distant past.

At its center are two people setting aside their old lives and beginning anew. Vivian Rose Spencer—a young Londoner equally entranced by archaeology and her older mentor, Tahsin Bey—returns to England from a Turkish dig after war breaks out in 1914. Hoping to find Tahsin again, she follows a clue in his last letter and travels to British-ruled Peshawar. In a separate tale, Qayyum Gul, a Pashtun soldier injured fighting for Britain, heads home.

Their paths intersect briefly but reunite in 1930, when violence erupts on Peshawar’s streets and they search desperately for a gifted young man important to them both. Interwoven throughout is a story of empire and betrayal from ancient Persia. Emphasizing ideas and setting over plot, the narrative has an epic sensibility and many moments of expressive brilliance, especially when describing the underlying presence of history.

This review first appeared in Booklist's July issue.  A God in Every Stone is published by Atavist Books in August in trade pb ($20) and e-book ($9.99).  The UK publisher is Bloomsbury.  If you're curious to learn more about the novel and the history behind its many settings, you can explore its dedicated website, which I think is gorgeous.

In addition, thanks to the book's publicist, I have a giveaway open for US readers.  If you'd like to win a copy of this new literary novel that follows the growth and fall of empires and takes a unique slant on the events of WWI, please fill out the following form.  Deadline Friday, August 1st.  I'll announce the winner here on this page shortly afterward.

8/2/14:  The giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to Linda B! A copy of the novel is on its way to you.

Book review: Evergreen, by Rebecca Rasmussen

Rasmussen has been steadily crafting a unique brand of midwestern literature that combines offbeat characters and timeless rhythms reminiscent of folk tales with touching story lines about the pain and hard-won joys of real life. As with her debut, The Bird Sisters (2011), in her new book, she shows her strong affection for the picturesque rural settings of yesteryear.

In 1938, Eveline Sturm joins her German-born husband, Emil, in the northern Minnesota backwoods. Their isolated cabin is beyond rustic, and her only reading material is Emil’s taxidermy manuals, yet she decides to remain alone with their baby son, Hux, when Emil returns to Germany to care for his father. Years later, Eveline’s daughter, Naamah, the product of a traumatic rape, grows up amid cruelty in a Catholic orphanage.

After reuniting with his half sister as an adult, Hux tries to help the beautiful, damaged Naamah recapture her lost childhood. In this character-driven saga of friendship and the thorny bonds of family, Rasmussen writes with wisdom and compassion about the people and places that shape us, for better and worse.

Evergreen was published on July 15th by Knopf in hardcover ($25.95, 352pp).  This review first appeared in Booklist's May 1st issue. If you haven't already read The Bird Sisters, I recommend it as well; both it and Evergreen are great choices for book clubs.

Theresa Tomlinson's The Tribute Bride, an exciting novel about a 7th-century royal woman

Acha of Deira, who lived during the early 7th century in what is now the north-east of England, received only scant mention in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, her status shown only in relation to the men around her. So has been the case with many women throughout time. Through historical fiction, writers can reanimate their stories, imagining their perspectives and giving readers a good sense of what their lives may have been like.

Theresa Tomlinson’s new The Tribute Bride is the only novel I know of that focuses on Acha, and it’s an excellent one. It stays within the recorded facts about political events and relationships while telling a drama-filled story of exile, ambition, retribution, and the lasting power of family and friendship.

After floods devastate the lands of Deira, ruining its people’s hopes for successful crops, Acha’s father King Aelle gives her to his overlord, King Athelfrid of nearby Bernicia, in place of the grain he would normally send as tribute. Called “The Trickster” even by his own men, Athelfrid is a handsome and dynamic ruler who accepts her as his secondary wife – and who expects her to produce the sons his queen has been unable to. Queen Bebba, a beautiful Pictish-born princess, is less than thrilled by her presence though has no choice but to accept Acha as a sister-wife.

Although Acha has little control over her living arrangements, her marriage, or much else, she acts in accordance with her difficult role as a peace-weaver bride. Although she’s distrusted by many at first, her natural instincts toward compassion and generosity are her saving grace. Acha may be a woman in a male-dominated country, but her position grants her critical importance, and she develops friendships in places where only enmity might have existed otherwise. The novel shows how women of her time must form their own networks – to use a modern term – to help them survive and even influence the situations men create.

The vast, rolling countryside, with its vestiges of past Roman settlements and numerous hill-forts, is beautifully described. Tomlinson provides a rich and varied picture of Anglo-Saxon life: the sights and smells within the timbered halls, hand-fasting ceremonies and other worship rites for the strange local goddess called "Goat-headed Freya," and chilling prophecies fulfilled in blood. The back cover calls the timeframe covered by the novel “one of history’s bloodiest eras,” and for good reason. I hadn’t been familiar with all of the deadly wars and rivalries at the time (if you aren’t either, avoid Wikipedia!) and was shocked at how events played out.

The Tribute Bride is a solid, exciting retelling of a period crucial to Britain’s formation and of women’s hidden contributions to history. It was published by Acorn Digital Press in April in paperback (£7.99) and as an e-book ($8.99).  Thanks to the author for sending me a review copy.

Gaps fiction can fill: An essay by Jack Marshall Maness

Today I'm welcoming novelist and fellow academic librarian Jack Marshall Maness, who's here with an evocative post about family history, the personal relationships we can have with a particular place, and his process of uncovering Kansas' dark, violent, and politically fraught past.  I hope you'll enjoy reading his essay as much as I did.

~

Gaps Fiction Can Fill
Jack Marshall Maness

I am a Denverite. Apart from two relatively short stints away from my hometown, I have lived here all my life and have no plans to leave. It may seem curious, then, as a native and loyal Coloradoan—a state with its own rich history—that I have chosen in Song of the Jayhawk to write about a small river town tucked away in the far northeast corner of Kansas. Much less about a relatively obscure era of American history, the 1850s, which perch on the threshold of a decade that has enjoyed far more fictional and historical treatment.

I write about Kansas for many reasons. For starters, it is unspeakably beautiful. The rolling hills, woodlands, and ecosystems flush with wildlife that exist in eastern Kansas—between the hundredth meridian and the Missouri River—are rich and complex. One photograph of the sunrise over the river from my grandparents’ front yard, taken by my uncle last autumn, attests to the beauty of this part of the state.

View of the Missouri River from my grandparents’ house, looking southeast.
Photo by Jim Mullins, used with permission.

If its beauty is one reason I write about Kansas, the primary reason are its people. This is really where Song of the Jayhawk was born. When I was young my brother and I would accompany our mother every summer across what was once known as the “Great American Desert”—western Kansas—to her hometown of Atchison (bickering, with no air-conditioning, the whole way). We’d spend several weeks with our cousins, exploring the bluffs and tributaries of the Missouri. We’d then drive down to the southeast town of Coffeyville, where my dad would join us and we’d spend time with his family. We’d explore yet another river system, the Verdigris, and catch frogs with yet another cousin. Summer after summer, aunt after cousin after uncle, my family and Kansas became an integral part of my soul. Kansas is a second home to me.

And yet, as we would exit the Interstate near Topeka and veer north toward Atchison, an eerie sense of disquiet would befall me. As we wound through the dark, narrow roads, lined with cacophonous woods flush with insects, I knew family myths and ghost stories awaited me; like the one about my Irish great-great-grandmother, who, it is said, could move objects with her mind and once chased the children around the room with a flying sewing machine. There would be late-night visits to the cemetery, Ouija board games, and all the while the deep, dark, silent rivers would slither by below us.

The Missouri River. Photo by Ivan Quniones, used with permission.

As we neared town, boredom became excitement, and it would be repeated as we neared Coffeyville; family stories of toothless old men in wooden chairs hand-carved with images of pirate heads; and a mysterious Cherokee ancestor who would appear and depart through a back door, leaving behind a love story. Kansas was not only a second home; over the years it became a mystery, a gap among history, legend, genealogy and family lore. One I simply had to understand.

Senator David Rice Atchison of Missouri in 1850.
kansasmemory.org, Kansas State Historical Society,
Copy and Reuse Restrictions Apply.

I learned from my maternal grandfather, who is now 97 (and an aunt’s father, who compiled an amazing amount of genealogy), that my great-grandfather was actually born on a farm north of Atchison, and that his father had come to Kansas as early as the late 1850s from Ireland, fleeing, no doubt, famine and oppression. But Patrick and Maria Mullins unfortunately happened to settle in one of the most violent towns in one of the more tumultuous periods of American history, a town now known as “the most haunted town in Kansas.”¹ (A website spurned by a paranormal cable program even loosely drew a connection to my grandfather’s grandmother, who was committed to the state mental hospital in 1886 after she “began burning everything she could get her hands on.”²).

Haunted or not, history holds a more telling and interesting story; that the town was founded on a fundamentally evil principle—to spread slavery across the continent. Congress had decided in 1854 that “squatter sovereignty” would allow settlers to decide if Kansas would be a part of the North or the South. Highly organized, vested, and subsidized emigration flooded the area, and Atchison was founded as a vehement Pro Slavery settlement. Its paper, the Squatter Sovereign, was known for venomous editorials that included sentences such as, “[d]eath to all Yankees…”³ And according to one account, its namesake, Senator David R. Atchison of Missouri, told its people “[b]y God, sir, hang every abolitionist in the territory.” ⁴

Pardee Butler, some 10-20 years
after the novel’s opening scene.
kansasmemory.org, Kansas State Historical Society,
Copy and Reuse Restrictions Apply.

And the town-folk took him at his word. Just blocks from my grandparents’ house, on August 18th, 1855, a mob decided whether or not to hang the abolitionist Reverend Pardee Butler from Ohio. Butler had chosen to speak out against slavery and refused to keep quiet. According to one account, they narrowly voted to send him down the river on a raft instead of hanging him, only to tar-and-feather him the following year and set him out naked upon the plains. One of my relatives knew Butler and was a member of his congregation in his later years, long after “Bleeding Kansas,” as it would come to be known, was over.


Now the intrigue I had always felt as a boy made sense. Kansas (and my family) weren’t haunted—they just had a dark, mysterious history. And in the gaps among the history, genealogy, and family lore I knew I now had the beginnings of a novel, even a series of novels. What was “Bleeding Kansas” like for my great-great grandparents? What was it like for the Irish and German immigrants who came not for the fight for the cause, but just to own a farm? Why was my great-great grandfather’s land one of the only unsettled sections (16) in this hand-written map the surveyor scrawled in his family recipe book?

Atchison County Surveyor Henry Kuhn’s Record (and recipe book).
kansasmemory.org, Kansas State Historical Society, Copy and Reuse Restrictions Apply.

Song of the Jayhawk fills these gaps with fiction.

As I write in the novel’s introduction, the territory’s namesake tribe, the Kanza (or Kaw) Indians, did not tell many stories to whites, but they delighted in telling them to one another. One of their favorites was about a monster, the Mialueka—creatures with large beaks who tricked people into following them to the darkest recesses of the woods, or the rivers, from which they may never return.⁵ I have long delighted in wondering if this story was the inspiration for the infamous Kansas “jayhawk.” The librarian and historian in me believe not, but the writer knows it is so. It simply must be.

It is the truth behind the history that will forever haunt the present, a mysterious beast that emerges from the shadowy recesses of the past, for an indelible moment, and soon disappears.

Our choice is whether or not we follow.

~

Jack Marshall Maness is the son of four generations of Kansans. He is a librarian and professor at the University of Colorado.  

Song of the Jayhawk is his first novel, and he is currently working on its sequel. Follow his progress at www.songofthejayhawk.com.

----

¹ Hefner Heitz, L. (1997). Haunted Kansas. University Press of Kansas: Lawrence, KS.

² Atchison Globe, July 13, 1886.

³ A wonderful overview of the Sovereign’s role in Pro Slavery propaganda is provided by Cecil-Fronsman, B. (1993). “Death to All Yankees and Traitors in Kansas: The Squatter Sovereign and the Defense of Slavery in Kansas,” Kansas History, 16(1). Kansas State Historical Society: Topeka, KS. Available at: http://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/1993spring_cecil_fronsman.pdf.

⁴ Ingalls, S. (1916). History of Atchison County, Kansas. Standard Publishing Company: Lawrence, KS, p. 66.

⁵ Unrau, J. (1975). The Kaw People. Indian Tribal Series: Phoenix, AZ., p. 18

New York immigrant life, the Wizard of Oz, and genealogy: An interview with Cindy Thomson

Cindy Thomson, a writer from central Ohio, has written three historical novels: Brigid of Ireland, set in the 5th century, and the first two books in her Ellis Island series, Grace’s Pictures and Annie’s Stories, both about young Irish women beginning new lives in turn-of-the-century New York. The latter, out from Tyndale House this month, incorporates her heroine’s love of storytelling and the excitement surrounding L. Frank Baum’s classic novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Cindy’s website is www.cindyswriting.com. This interview was first published in the June newsletter for the Historical Novel Society's Great Lakes Chapter.

In the introduction to your website, you write that “I tell stories about those who went before us and left guideposts for us to find.” What themes from Annie’s Stories do you think will resonate most with readers today?

So many of our immigrant ancestors were searching for a place to call home. That is the theme of the Wizard of Oz, and that is Annie's wish as well. But like Dorothy Gale, Annie's task seems insurmountable. She's lost everything she identified with home, and she can't get it back. I think many readers share a desire to find a sense of belonging whenever they find themselves in a new situation. I also believe people who love books will enjoy the "bookish" theme this novel has.

Many children are familiar with L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, either the book or the movie or both. Was it a favorite story of yours growing up? What led you to back to it as an adult?

Yes! Although I didn't read the book until I started this novel. Like so many of us, I watched the movie. Like Gone with the Wind, it was an annual event I looked forward to. Dorothy was just an ordinary girl, like me, and the fact that she could have such an adventure and survive it (weren't those flying monkeys scary?) meant that I too could strive to do things just as amazing. When I was plotting this series I looked for what was new at the turn of the 20th century that people would identify with today. When I discovered The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published late in 1900, I knew I wanted to include it. If it's enthralled audiences for all this time, it must have made quite an impact on readers when it was new.

What were some of the more surprising or intriguing things you learned about it, or its author, in the course of your writing?

Besides the slippers not being ruby, you mean? At the time the book was praised for not being as scary as other fairy tales but what surprised me was how gruesome it still was. The Tinman was made of tin, but he was originally flesh and blood. His axe had been controlled by the Wicked Witch of the East, causing him to cut off his own limbs, one by one and then finally his head. And the Lion was quite violent when he was fighting enemies. Attitudes toward children were changing, but they were still not seen as innocents as much as we see them now. But Baum did love to entertain children (his and others), and basically the story hasn't changed and it still entertains us today, so I think he knew what he was doing.

What were some of your favorite or most useful research sources for Grace’s Pictures and Annie’s Stories?

Ellis Island itself is a treasure. There are so many stories there represented in the artifacts and even in the immigrants' own voices. I also visited the Police Museum in Manhattan and the New York Public Library, where I looked at lots of maps. There are lots of great reference books on this era. One terrific book I picked up at the Ellis Island gift shop is called Old New York in Early Photographs by Mary Black. New York is a historic city, but so much of it has changed. I'm thankful the history has been recorded.

I’ve been reading the Novel PASTimes blog for many years – it’s a wonderful site. What inspired you to start the blog, and how has it benefited your career?

Oh, thanks so much for reading it, Sarah! Way back when we started it (2006) there weren't many blogs focused on the genre. I thought if I got some other authors to run it with me, I could handle it. I wanted it to be a place where we could celebrate authors who write HF and learn more history. I think it's helped readers find my books and those of the blog contributors, but also some new voices that we've featured.

How long have you been interested in genealogy? Are there any stories you’ve uncovered from your family history that you find especially noteworthy or inspiring?

I started when I was 16 or 17. I've always been fascinated to know where I came from. I have uncovered several interesting stories from my family and also from my husband's family. We discovered the Thomsons and one line of my family lived in the same county in Ireland and came over within a year of each other. The Thomsons have some interesting Revolutionary War history and were at Valley Forge, and we found a small well-maintained church graveyard in Maryland where many of them are buried.

Another interesting find was that my grandmother didn't descend from the family we thought she did, although it's a mystery that will probably never be solved. Her father's supposed father died in the Civil War long before he was born. Hmm....And I've just recently discovered my other grandmother's family moved to Ohio from Nantucket during the War of 1812. Lots of interesting history there since they were whalers and the British stole their ships and therefore their livelihood. And that family dates back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and then back to Wales. There might be a future novel coming out of all that!

But what got me started writing fiction was a different family line. A couple of stories about them had been written down in the 19th century. One was about a boy who received a slave in payment for a debt, and he set him free. I wrote a children's story about that that was published in Clubhouse Magazine. They came to America from Northern Ireland in 1771 and left behind their oldest daughter, who became indentured in Ireland until she could pay her way to America. That's not usually how it worked, so I invented a story that is still unpublished. Maybe one day...

What suggestions do you have for other historical writers looking to succeed in the Christian fiction market?

Familiarize yourself with the market. One of the best ways is through the organization American Christian Fiction Writers. There is a Christian Writers Market Guide where you can learn about Christian publishers (many are owned by mainstream publishers now) and agents. Read lots of CF. You can find such a great variety today. Faith was a natural part of the lives of so many people of the past that weaving it into the story need not be difficult or forced. If it is, readers will resent it. Studying publishers’ guidelines and reading what they publish will give you a good idea of how they like to see the spiritual journey unfold in a novel.

The Man Behind the Curtain, a guest essay by Cindy Thomson

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of the beloved film The Wizard of Oz, novelist Cindy Thomson has written an essay on the personal history and literary life of L. Frank Baum, the creative mind behind the original story.  I'll be posting an interview with Cindy about her new historical novel Annie's Stories shortly.

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The Man Behind the Curtain
Cindy Thomson

This year marks the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz movie starring Judy Garland. Decades earlier, Lyman Frank Baum had written the endearing fairy tale, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which has continually enthralled audiences for over a hundred years. Certainly the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland has contributed to that, but as early as 1902, stage productions took up the tale. When Baum wrote the story, did he see it acted out in his head? When you look at Baum’s life, that seems likely.

Baum, who preferred to be called by his middle name, Frank, was born in Chittenango, New York on May 15, 1856. His father made money in the oil business and built the country home where he raised his family. Frank enjoyed a pleasant, comfortable childhood exploring the acres on his family’s estate and reading at leisure. He spent time alone, having been born with a heart condition that did not allow him to engage in rough childhood games. He has been described as a dreamer, and it’s likely his fertile imagination was nurtured from an early age. When he was fifteen Frank published a newspaper with his brother Harry. While it was not professional, it did allow Frank to develop his writing skills. He would later publish another monthly paper with a friend. Baum worked in many occupations before becoming a children’s novelist in his 40s.

Baum’s father owned several theaters and his sister, Frank’s aunt, was an actress. This no doubt encouraged Frank to try his hand at acting as well. He toured the state with Shakespearean troupes. He went on to appear in some productions at the Union Street Theater in New York City. Later he would manage some of his father’s theaters, and even produce his own stage play, The Maid of Arran, which saw success and was performed as far west as Kansas. But he had no other successful productions until 1902, when the first stage performance of The Wizard of Oz met audiences.

Baum met his future wife, Maud Gage, in his home state. She was the daughter of the famous suffragette Matilda Joslyn Gage. Maud, having been influenced by her mother, was straightforward and pragmatic, which was helpful in balancing out Baum’s dreamy and somewhat carefree personality.

The theater was not enough to support a family, so Baum went back to working in his father’s business. When his father passed away and the business failed, Baum took his family west where he opened a store and took up the creative outlet of photography. He also began to enthrall children, both his and others, with his storytelling. Eventually he would run another newspaper, entertaining folks with even more fictional stories. But as would happen with most of Baum’s ventures, this one eventually failed, perhaps due to drought conditions and Indian wars.

After his fourth son was born Baum moved the family to Chicago, where he worked as a reporter on the Evening Post. He would take on a few other jobs, one of which required frequent travel. When he was home with his boys, he liked to tell them stories or read them books. With the advice of his mother-in-law, Baum wrote down his tales. His connections in Chicago publishing proved beneficial in getting his stories published. His first children’s book, Mother Goose in Prose, did fairly well, and the publisher Way & Williams planned to publish another Baum book. However, they went under before that could happen.

With a weak heart to contend with, Baum gave up the life of a traveling salesman. He founded a trade periodical for window trimmers. At the Chicago Press Club, Baum met illustrator William Wallace Denslow. The two men teamed up and had the George M. Hill Company, at the time more of a printer than a publisher, publish their creation Father Goose, His Book. The printer shared the cost with Baum and Denslow.

L. Frank Baum with his book

The book was an immediate success, selling out several printings and becoming the best selling children’s book in 1899. Baum and Denslow presented Hill with a manuscript titled "The Emerald City." Hill did not like the title, but offered a deal that this time included all the costs paid by the publisher. Once Father Goose took off, Hill was willing to publish whatever Baum gave him. The title “From Kansas to Fairyland” was suggested, then “The Fairyland of Oz,” and then “The Land of Oz.” Baum was not satisfied and just before going to press he settled on "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."

The book became a best seller the Christmas of 1900. Hill published close to 90,000 copies. The colorful illustrations were a major part of the appeal. Critics raved about it, correctly predicting that adults would enjoy it as much as children. Baum would go on to write several more books, including a whole Oz series, but all most people remember is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. While there were a few attempts by other American writers at the time to produce an original fairytale, Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was the first to succeed, and perhaps it was Baum’s dreamy imagination, his experience with theater, his love of children’s stories that all came together to make it happen.

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Cindy Thomson’s newest novel, Annie’s Stories (Tyndale House Publishers, July 2014), features a character reading the “new” book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The book appears prominently on the cover. Thomson’s Ellis Island Series contains the struggles and perils early 20th-century immigrants overcame to live in a new country. You can learn more at www.cindyswriting.com.

The Background to Under the Almond Trees, a guest essay by Linda Ulleseit

Researching my genealogical connections has given me a sense of my personal relationship with history, and the same holds true for many other writers.  In the following essay, Linda Ulleseit details the background to Under the Almond Trees, a fast-moving saga about her courageous female ancestors and their involvement with early California history.

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The Background to Under the Almond Trees
Linda Ulleseit

I am blessed to have many strong, interesting women in my family. When I decided to write Under the Almond Trees, I chose three that influenced women’s rights in early California. I believe they lived their lives as a legacy of determination to achieve dreams. They didn’t necessarily want their descendants to do what they did; they only wanted them to have a wider opportunity.

First, I gathered family stories about the three women, my grandmother, my great-aunt, and my great-great grandmother. My favorite story of them all is how my great-great grandmother ran her husband’s lumber mill when a falling tree branch killed him in 1862. I am still fascinated by my great-aunt, who built homes in three counties of California at the same time as Julia Morgan. Another good story is my grandmother’s photography business, selling postcards of Tomales Bay to tourists in the early 1900s. These stories are what enticed me to write about them, so I put them in order chronologically. I researched dates such as births, deaths, marriages, and land records. Now I knew exactly where they were during the time of the stories.

Historical fiction is only valid if the author researches time periods, so this was next for me. I wanted to place the story in the context of local, national, and world events. My research included the Gold Rush, the Civil War in California, the World Wars, and the fight for women’s vote. Imagine how I felt when I found out my great-great grandmother and her sister wore bloomers only a few months after Amelia Bloomer scandalized New York with them, or that Santa Cruz was a huge supplier of gunpowder for the Civil War. Food, clothing, transportation, and daily life needed to be accurate to the time period. For example, Hershey bars with almonds first came out in 1908, so I could have a character receiving their first one as a gift in 1908 or 1909. I laid out everything I found next to the dates and stories of my characters.

Eva VanValkenburgh, the author's grandmother,
reading under the trees in her family's orchard

Then the hard part began. I had deeply detailed chunks of these women’s lives, separated by many years of nothing. With those holes, I could neither write a biography nor a novel. I would have to fill in with fiction. I have an avid imagination. I have, in fact, written an entire trilogy of historical fantasy novels. This was different. This fiction needed to fit the times and what I knew of these women. My great aunt, for example, came from a wealthy, prominent San Jose family. I know she dabbled in education at several colleges and taught school for a while. I also know that as soon as her father died she enrolled in school to become an architect. From that I can infer her father didn’t approve of her chosen profession. From my research, I know how society’s expectations would have affected her, too. I had to create a believable, passionate character biding her time, waiting for opportunity.

Dates and facts are boring. The stories bring history alive. The characters bring the stories alive for historical fiction fans. Authors must fictionalize the less glamorous, less well-known sections of characters' lives. Conversations, attitudes, and minor characters must be created and woven into the historical events and details of the time. For example, I know my great aunt and her partner lived in San Francisco. She worked at a sewing machine company, and her partner was a journalist. Those are the facts. The interesting part is their developing relationship with each other, my great aunt’s passion for architecture, and their reaction to the 1906 earthquake. That is what makes great historical fiction.

I hope, in Under the Almond Trees, readers will learn about three little-known women who played important roles in early California and accept my research as complete. Even more, I hope readers will love them as I’ve created them. Somewhere out there may be a distant cousin or old family friend who has heard a different story. I’d love them to share, even if it changes my book!

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Linda Ulleseit was born and raised in Saratoga, California, and has taught elementary school in San Jose since 1996. She enjoys cooking, cross-stitching, reading, spending time with her family, and taking long walks with her dogs. Her favorite subject is writing, and her students get a lot of practice scribbling stories and essays. Someday Linda hopes to see books written by former students alongside hers in bookstores.

Her first novel, On a Wing and a Dare, was published in 2012. It is a Young Adult fantasy set in medieval Wales, complete with flying horses, a love triangle, and treachery. Its sequel, In the Winds of Danger, was released in March, 2013, and the next one, Under a Wild and Darkening Sky, in 2014.

Interview with me at Layered Pages

Just a short post for now.  Fellow book blogger Stephanie Hopkins of Layered Pages invited me to be interviewed on her site, and the resulting piece is up today.  She asked about my thoughts on libraries, favorite book covers, memorable reviews I've written, blogging, involvement with the Historical Novel Society, BEA... and lots more.  It's quite long and detailed (and there are some pictures, too), and I'd like to thank Stephanie for asking me to be a guest on her blog.