Writer for Young Adults
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson Random House, February 2019 Genre: Historical Fiction It’s 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She’s brilliant, but she’s also a young black woman working in an old boys’ club. Her career has stalled out, she’s overlooked for every high-profile… Continue reading Book Talk: American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee Katherine Tegen Books, October 2018 Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh and enroll… Continue reading Book Talk: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
I don't get out to the movies much anymore, mostly due to a combination of parenting fatigue/childcare costs/fear that the movie won't be worth the effort. But when my cousin Dan Whitener announced that his original song "We Are Gonna Be Okay," co-written with his wife Eileen Kern, was featured in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, I knew… Continue reading BlacKkKlansman: This is Why Historical Fiction Matters
The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein Disney-Hyperion, May 2017 Genre: YA Historical Before Verity . . . there was Julie. When fifteen-year-old Julia Beaufort-Stuart wakes up in the hospital, she knows the lazy summer break she'd imagined won't be exactly what she anticipated. And once she returns to her grandfather's estate, a bit banged up… Continue reading Book Review: The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken Disney-Hyperion, January 2016 Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy (Time Travel) Passage, n. i. A brief section of music composed of a series of notes and flourishes. ii. A journey by water; a voyage. iii. The transition from one place to another, across space and time. In one devastating night, violin… Continue reading Book Review: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers & Other Badass Girls edited by Jessica Spotswood Candlewick Press, March 2016 Genre: YA, Historical Fiction (with some Fantasy) From an impressive sisterhood of YA writers comes an edge-of-your-seat anthology of historical fiction and fantasy featuring a diverse array of daring heroines. Criss-cross America — on… Continue reading Book Review: A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood
Or: The Dark Side. Or: The Crusades as Fought by Hunksome Orlando Bloom. Last week I wrote about my admiration for the Masterpiece drama Indian Summers and the way the writers create ambiguous characters while staying fairly true to history. As we were finishing up the show's season finale, I happened to be watching a very… Continue reading When You’re On the Wrong Side of History (Part 2)
How do you get an audience to root for someone who's on the wrong side of history? When you're writing a book or screenplay, it can be a tricky business. You have to make the character seem sympathetic, while still staying true to the history. You can't shrink from portraying the brutal realities of his or… Continue reading When You’re on the Wrong Side of History (Part 1)
Gold is in the air this fall, and not just in the turning leaves. Two new YA westerns, Erin Bowman's Vengeance Road and Rae Carson's Walk on Earth a Stranger, send strong young women on the trail for gold in the 19th century. Vengeance Road is a straight-up western, chockfull of strong characters and fast-paced action. When… Continue reading Golden Girls
A few weeks ago Sarah A. Chrisman published an article on Vox provocatively titled, "I love the Victorian era. So I decided to live in it." In it, Chrisman describes how she and her husband have recreated the Victorian era as much as possible, from wearing period-appropriate clothing in their 19th-century Washington State house to washing… Continue reading The Past is a Foreign Country. And You Can Never Go Back.
Abby Murphy 