Jennifer Chiaverini, the New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, will be visiting Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley on Saturday, September 17th!
Chiaverini’s latest novel, Fates and Traitors, is a “riveting work of historical fiction following the notorious John Wilkes Booth and the four women who kept his perilous confidence.”
“In her latest novel, Fates and Traitors, Jennifer Chiaverini once again demonstrates her masterful ability to bring history to life… With her varied and well-drawn ensemble of female narrators, Chiaverini spins a rich and suspenseful tale, shedding new light on America’s most notorious assassin—and the women who loved him.”
—Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of Sisi: Empress On Her Own
“Fates and Traitors is a novel about mothers and sons, brothers and sisters, the line between patriot and traitor, and the lengths we go to for love. A fascinating look at a slice of our country’s history, an incisive portrait of obsession, and overall impossible to put down.”
—Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of At the Water’s Edge and Water for Elephants
What comes to mind when you think of Pittsburgh?
First come memories of my own visits to Pittsburgh — riding the Duquesne Incline up Mt. Washington, attending my cousin’s wedding at Heinz Chapel, wandering around the Cathedral of Learning, and exploring the Carnegie Natural History Museum with my two sons when they were young. After that, I think of the stories my husband has told me of his family and their long history in the area—his paternal grandparents’ immigration from Italy and his maternal great-grandparents’ immigration from Transylvania in the early twentieth century; his Italian grandfather’s vast vegetable garden on a gently sloping hillside near a creek; his German grandfather’s role as an air raid warden in Ambridge during World War II; his grandmother’s job with the Beaver County Times in the 1950s; and, of course, his own childhood escapades and the numerous times he nearly burnt down his neighborhood with his early rocketry experiments. (He’s now an aerospace engineer and the neighborhood still stands, so it all ended well.)
What books are on your nightstand?
I don’t often read in bed, so at the moment the only things on my nightstand are a lamp and a telephone. The last novel I read was Amor Towles’s magnificent A Gentleman in Moscow, the story of a Russian count who was declared an “unrepentant aristocrat” by a Bolshevik tribunal in 1922 and was sentenced to life under house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. The book at the top of my To Be Read pile is an advance reading copy of The Confessions of Young Nero by Margaret George. I’m a devoted fan of her work, and I know her latest novel will be wonderful.
Is there a book you’d like to see made into a film?
I’d love to see any of my historical novels made into a movie, mostly so that I could hang out on the set and learn about what goes on behind the scenes, research I’m sure I could use in a future book. If I can’t choose one of my own novels, I’d like to see Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven made into a film, if I could be guaranteed a faithful adaptation. It’s a dystopian novel, and yet it has so much heart, hope, and compassion—not to mention live theater and Shakespeare, two of my favorite things.
Who would you most want to share a plate of pierogis with?
I wish I could share a meal with Mary Ann Booth, Asia Booth, Lucy Hale, and Mary Surratt, the four narrators of my new novel, Fates and Traitors, so I could ask them exactly how much they knew of John Wilkes Booth’s plans before he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln and if they had ever suspected him capable of such violence. I’d also love to sit down with Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace—the daughter of the renowned poet Lord Byron, an early nineteenth century mathematician who is credited with writing the first computer program, and the fascinating heroine of my next novel, Enchantress of Numbers. I’d love to have a long, heart-to-heart conversation with her over a plate of pierogis, because I know she’d have some enthralling stories to tell and scandals to divulge.
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