I’ve accidentally written a history book. It started out as a memoir with some historical research because I didn’t feel qualified to write history. I didn’t study the subject and I know that it is quite rigorous in terms of citing sources and creating an expansive bibliography. In short, I was afraid. My writing experience is limited to novels and some literary criticism so I set out to write something that was broadly novelistic.
Long story short: a memoir was never going to be commercially viable. Nobody is interested in my life. I’m a nobody. But the place I wanted to write about is fascinating to potentially thousands of people – which brought me back to history. I know from my previous novels that the problem with genuine history is the lack of narrative and plot, which are usually imposed in retrospect. In lieu of these, it simply has chronology, which can make for
