This is a guest blog by historical fiction author Bruce W. Bishop.
I found a treasure when I was a child in the 1960s.
It was in the attic of the 1890s house in which I was raised on the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. A forgotten bookcase held early hardcover copies of the Bobbsey Twins series, 1930s editions of Nancy Drew books, and late 1950s editions of Hardy Boys mysteries. Somehow, these treasures once owned by two older cousins who lived elsewhere in Canada found their way into our home. The provenance didn’t matter: they initiated my fascination of reading fiction and non-fiction that was written long before I was born.
Later, I discovered the work of James A. Michener when I was in high school. The Drifters (1971) was the first of his novels I read, and I was hooked. I devoured it before a school trip I took to Fuengirola, Spain, and Tangier, Morocco later in the seventies.
About twenty years on, his novel Caribbean (1989) was a wonderful accompaniment to my first trip to that region (Barbados). The way Michener was able to blend history with a compelling storyline and interesting characters was intriguing.
By chance, I embarked on a career in travel writing in the mid-1990s. I give credit to Mr. Michener for sparking my interest in how the past shapes the present. (And I’ll also thank my first newspaper and magazine editors in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. for taking a chance at publishing an unknown writer’s articles and photos.)
Journalists find an affinity with historical fiction writers because the research phase of the process doesn’t intimidate us, as it may other first-timers, to fiction writing. I now marvel at how Michener (and his contemporaries) did their research prior to the advent of the Internet. I can only imagine the countless hours they spent in public libraries and archives around the world.
In fact, my debut novel, Unconventional Daughters (2020) was inspired by a remnant of history: I resurrected four handwritten letters from 1927 given to me in the 1970s when I was still a teenager. They were written by a young Danish-Canadian bride on her honeymoon in Europe to her mother in Canada.
A steamship arriving from Boston in Yarmouth, N.S. in the 1920s (‘Unconventional Daughters’)
The letters are chatty, and at times gossipy. Reading between the lines, was the daughter indulging her mother in some passages? Or did her words stem from guilt?
The reality was that this young bride had married her mother’s second husband—her stepfather, technically. But the bridegroom, divorced from his bride’s mother, was quite young himself, in actuality.
After transcribing the letters to my laptop, I realized I could author a novel and incorporate my Nova Scotian hometown as it had been in the early 20th century. My setting was an economically successful shipbuilding and seafaring port on the western tip of the province, close to the state of Maine.
I could fictionalize the story of this unorthodox family who would have undoubtedly faced prejudice from the close-knit, conservative community in which they lived and worked. A real scandal!
I marveled at what I found regarding life from 1900 to 1935 in the town in which I grew up. I combed the local archives and museum for details as to how the Spanish Flu affected the province, how the Halifax Explosion of 1917 debilitated the infrastructure of the capital city, and how Prohibition and rum-running were considered a curse and a blessing to the region.
It was disheartening to discover that not only were European immigrants discriminated against during this time but also African Nova Scotians. The latter population was descended from the slaves brought to Nova Scotia by the British during the American Revolution.
Barrington Street, Halifax, N.S. in the 1930s (‘Uncommon Sons’)
I chose to end Unconventional Daughters in 1935 when the female protagonist moves to the ‘big’ city to begin a new life, and that fictitious event spawned my subsequent two novels, Uncommon Sons (2021) and Undeniable Relations (2022). The trilogy need not be read in any particular order, though: all three are standalone stories with a few recurring characters.
Arriving in Yarmouth, N.S. on the MV Bluenose from Bar Harbor, Maine, 1950s (‘Undeniable Relations’)
Some say that family sagas had their heyday in the 1970s and into the eighties thanks to bestselling authors such as Irwin Shaw (Rich Man, Poor Man, 1969; Beggarman, Thief, 1977) and Colleen McCullough (The Thorn Birds, 1977). In more recent years, television series and movies created by author, scriptwriter, and playwright Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey, Belgravia, and Gosford Park) prove that historical family dramas haven’t lost their allure to today’s readers and viewers.
However, I’m a realist who knows 20th century historical fiction can be a hard sell to mainstream publishers and literary agents. The genre stands tall by itself. I’m a proud self-published author, whose books would not exist had I waited for a “trad” publisher to hand me the so-called golden ticket. To ensure my work holds up next to titles from those companies, I’ve personally employed excellent editors, book cover designers, and book formatters, many of whom have worked for trad publishers before turning freelance.
My next release might not be considered historical fiction if we adhere to the rule that the work must be set before 1974. Grow up, Rory Rafferty takes place in Toronto in 1979 and will be published by the end of 2024. (Let’s call it vintage coming-of-age fiction, shall we?)
Thank you to Paper Lantern Writers for this opportunity.
Bruce W. Bishop is an alumnus of Saint Mary’s University (Halifax) and the Ontario College of Art & Design University (Toronto). His articles have appeared in print and online publications since 1997 and he has authored and contributed to several travel-related guidebook publishers, including Fodor’s, DK Eyewitness, Marco Polo guides, and Michelin Green Guides.
He was an elected president of the Travel Media Association of Canada (2000-2002). He currently resides in Nova Scotia. When he’s not writing, he enjoys being an occasional private tour guide to Nova Scotia for Bespoke Travel Experiences based in New Orleans.
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I enjoyed this so much – TY for the interview and insight into your life and writing. James Michener, a true master. Will be sharing this.
My pleasure, Anne – truly!