How I found The Seed of my Novel Inside Troves of Historical Research
If we speak the truth fearlessly, we shall add to our number those who will turn the scale to the side of equal and full justice in all things.” – Lucy Stone
Lucy Stone was one of the “triumvirate” of the Women’s Suffrage movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. However, she is not often referred to when thinking of the movement. Her omission from the narrative is due to the fact that as a staunch abolitionist, Stone opposed Cady Stanton and Anthony’s objection to the 15th Amendment, giving rights to African American males to vote, before women were granted the right.
In Katherine Sherbrooke’s luminous Leaving Coy’s Hill (Pegasus – May 4, 2021), Sherbrooke brings this pioneering feminist and abolitionist to vivid life with the goal of establishing her as one of the true pillars of the women’s movement, one whose fight for equality—regardless of gender or race—as well as personal fulfilment will resonate strongly with readers today.
How I found the seed of my novel inside troves of historical research
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I love historical fiction for its power to animate the “facts” of history, to infuse dates and names with the emotion behind them. I’m particularly drawn to historical fiction with a real person at its center, the kind of story that lets us explore the heart and mind of someone that had an indelible impact on the world.
My new historical novel, LEAVING COY’S HILL, is inspired by the life of Lucy Stone, an abolitionist and pioneering women’s rights activist from the 1800s. When I stumbled across the basic facts of her life—she was the first woman to speak regularly about women’s rights and the person who inspired Susan B. Anthony to join the cause—I was shocked that I’d never heard of her before. Intrigued, I began to research her life, all with one key question in mind. Was her story enough for a novel?
The answer was not as obvious as it may seem. There are plenty of remarkable people in history who wouldn’t make very interesting main characters. Imagine, for example, a boy who grows up wanting to go to the moon. He studies hard, passes all the required exams, and is chosen for a lunar mission, all while being the ideal family man. While that is a rare and incredible feat, it’s a boring story. Where’s the drama? Where’s the surprise?
On the other hand, imagine that our astronaut is handed an ultimatum from his wife: he must choose between the long sought-after mission and his family. If he goes to the moon, he will come back to an empty house. Now we are intrigued. What does he choose? Why does he make that choice, and what are the consequences?
If this astronaut is an actual historical figure, we can’t just fabricate that situation, at least not if it’s going to serve as the defining moment for our main character. But things like dining room ultimatums aren’t often included in history books. So, where to start?
Collecting Breadcrumbs
As I read biographies and sorted through troves of letters and historical texts, I was on the look-out for small details that might offer clues as to what Lucy Stone’s life was really like. When I read, for example, that a passage in the Bible so upset her as a child that she promised to learn Greek and Latin to fix the translation, it spoke volumes to me. Another text mentioned that Lucy had turned down the honor of writing an essay for her commencement because a male classmate would have to read it for her. That was a delicious detail that also had the makings of a great scene. Over time, I amassed a collection of nuggets like these that gave me a strong sense of Lucy as a character, and many that I knew could ultimately bring her to life on the page.
Finding Themes
The next key test was whether or not these moments, as interesting as each might be on its own, had anything in common. Did they suggest a coherent set of wants and needs anchored by a particular belief system? I think of this as the themes of the protagonist’s life, which need to be complex and interesting. For Lucy, two themes began to surface: 1) her desire to fight for justice no matter the personal cost; and 2) the irony that in order to help others, she first had to fight for her own voice to be heard. Both of these themes are compelling and, given the status of women in her day, inherently full of conflict. That’s good for any story.
Decision Points
The next step is finding situations in which our historical subject faced a fork in the road and had to make a decision that would significantly alter the future. Easy choices are not the stuff of great drama—our astronaut’s ultimatum only matters because he spent his life trying to get to the moon and sees himself as a family man. He wants both. It is in those moments when two competing desires fight against each other that stories take flight.
In Lucy’s life, two difficult choices in particular stood out to me: whether or not to accept the proposal of a man who promises a marriage of equals, and whether or not to publicly support Susan B. Anthony’s desire to block the 15th amendment, giving black men the vote before women.
The Crucible
What is particularly powerful about these two decisions for Lucy is that they relate directly to the goals that had long been central to her life: battling the injustice of marriage law; and fighting for both abolition and women’s rights. Her choices are dramatic precisely because they test the heart of her most fervent beliefs. These two decisions put Lucy’s character through a pressure cooker, and in both cases, her choice determines the future trajectory of her life. The novel, then, had to be about where her core belief systems came from, what led to her dramatic choices, and how they impacted her as a person. That’s the heart of the story.
Of course, pinpointing the seed of LEAVING COY’S HILL and properly nurturing it wasn’t quite as neat and tidy as all that. It took a lot of highlighter, sticky notes, dead-ends and new discoveries to piece together Lucy’s internal world clearly enough to understand the dramatic impact of her choices. But if I’ve done my job right, the result is a pretty incredible story that sings with emotion. I hope you agree!
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Katherine A. Sherbrooke is the author of Fill the Sky, which was a finalist for the Mary Sarton Award for Contemporary Fiction and the Foreward Indies Book of the Year, and won a 2017 Independent Press Award. She is Chair of the GrubStreet Creative Writing Center in Boston and lives south of the city with her husband, two sons, and black lab.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kazzese
Website: https://www.kasherbrooke.com/wp2/
LEAVING COY’S HILL
An unforgettable story about the triumphs and travails of a woman unwilling to play by the rules, based on the the remarkable life of pioneering feminist and abolitionist Lucy Stone.
Born on a farm in 1818, Lucy Stone dreamt of extraordinary things for a girl of her time, like continuing her education beyond the eighth grade and working for the abolitionist cause, and of ordinary things, such as raising a family of her own. But when she learns that the Constitution affords no rights to married women, she declares that she will never marry and dedicates her life to fighting for change.
At a time when it is considered promiscuous for women to speak in public, Lucy risks everything for the anti-slavery movement, her powerful oratory mesmerizing even her most ardent detractors as she rapidly becomes a household name. And when she begins to lecture on the “woman question,” she inspires a young Susan B. Anthony to join the movement. But life as a crusader is a lonely one.
When Henry Blackwell, a dashing and forward-thinking man, proposes a marriage of equals, Lucy must reconcile her desire for love and children with her public persona and the legal perils of marriage she has long railed against. And when a wrenching controversy pits Stone and Anthony against each other, Lucy makes a decision that will impact her legacy forever.
Based on true events, Leaving Coy’s Hill is a timeless story of women’s quest for personal and professional fulfillment within society’s stubborn constraints. And as an abolitionist and women’s rights activist fighting for the future of a deeply divided country, Lucy Stone’s quest to live a life on her own terms is as relevant as ever. In this “propulsive,” “astonishing,” and “powerful” story, Katherine Sherbrooke brings to life a true American heroine for a new generation.
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