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Lalita Tademy
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Lalita Tademy

Goodreads Author


Born
in Berkeley, California, The United States
Website

Genre
Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction

Member Since
October 2011

URL


LALITA TADEMY left the corporate world to immerse herself in tracing her family's history and writing her first historical novel, CANE RIVER. Her debut was selected by Oprah Winfrey as her summer book group pick in 2001.

Lalita Tademy's second historical novel, RED RIVER is set during Reconstruction-era Louisiana a time period and subject matter often summarily skimmed in our history books. The story of Red River begins in 1873, and follows the ramifications of an incident on Easter Sunday of that year on successive generations of two families involved.

In her latest work, Citizens Creek, Tademy brings us the evocative story of a once-enslaved man who buys his freedom after serving as a translator during the American Indian Wars, and his gran ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

What is your research process like, and how do you check your work for historical accuracy? Can you describe an instance when you decided, for dramatic or plot purposes, it was better to overlook historical precedent?
Lalita Tademy Thanks Sam.
Every author's research process is different, but mine has been similar for all 3 of my historical novels. First, I zero in on a time perio…moreThanks Sam.
Every author's research process is different, but mine has been similar for all 3 of my historical novels. First, I zero in on a time period and geography that interests me, and then I read everything I can get my hands on that describes the events that unfolded there. I read non-fiction, fiction, biographies, cultural analyses, political essays, old newspapers, family genealogies, interviews, period cookbooks, old letters, absolutely anything that will give me an increased sense of time and place. I look for the what, and then began to try to understand the why. What was the mood of the times, the conventions and customs, the tensions at play? How can I, as an author of fiction, capture the big picture, keeping in mind that my individual character may not be aware of much of what I know through research and hindsight.
Only after steeping myself in the times do I begin to weave the narrative, and develop the voices of the characters, at which point the need to create a compelling story arc might (and often is) in conflict with absolute faithfulness to a forest of fact. This is the intricate dance - balancing accuracy with storytelling.
The very first time I played (quite guiltily) with what you're calling historical precedent, is when I moved a yellow fever epidemic in Louisiana to 2 years earlier than it really broke out, but it was a convenience to the plot. I justified this to myself by reasoning that the flavor and possibilities of the times trumped an actual date.
After my story is very developed (at least 5 drafts in), I get very serious about inadvertent historical goofs by having "experts" read the manuscript to uncover those obvious and not-so-obvious breaches that I haven't yet caught. And no matter how bullet-proof I think the historical elements are, the publisher's copyeditor usually catches at least a handful of errors - a rifle that can't shoot as far as I've depicted, a river flowing in the wrong direction, a maritime captain who wouldn't be the one to actually steer a vessel, girls playing a game of stickball despite the fact that only boys were allowed to participate at that time in that culture.
And hopefully, most inaccuracy is caught before publication, because if there is even one wrong fact, the unwritten law is that at least one reader will find it:-)(less)
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What’s the best thing about being a writer?
Lalita Tademy Creating a narrative is like putting together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Even though you know the size and shape and colors you're working with, pro…moreCreating a narrative is like putting together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Even though you know the size and shape and colors you're working with, progress is, at times, painfully slow and seemingly endless, and at other times wonderfully satisfying, a series of pieces falling exactly into their place.
The best thing about all of the process, whether tortured or inspired, is that as the author, you are the only one who can follow these particular characters and ideas and bring them to life. That is a great burden and a great joy.
For me, the research always takes me someplace that I didn't know about before, and I get to live in that world as I create it for my characters and my stories.(less)
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Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.06 · 52,885 ratings · 2,942 reviews · 7 distinct works • Similar authors
Cane River
4.07 avg rating — 48,146 ratings — published 2001 — 54 editions
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Red River
3.87 avg rating — 3,223 ratings — published 2006 — 36 editions
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Citizens Creek
3.90 avg rating — 1,264 ratings — published 2014 — 15 editions
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All the Women in My Family ...
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4.33 avg rating — 246 ratings — published 2018 — 3 editions
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Au bord de la rivière Cane
2.60 avg rating — 5 ratings
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The 8 Immortals - Rewarding...
liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating
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Cane River (a novel)
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Quotes by Lalita Tademy  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“You can't tell how heavy somebody else's load is just from looking. The Lord doesn't give us more than we can carry”
― Lalita Tademy, Cane River
tags: cane-river, hardness, heavy, lalita-tademy, life, load, slavery
38 likes
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“Reaching too deep into something not meant for you is full of pain. Figure out what you can have and work on that”
― Lalita Tademy, Cane River
tags: cane-river, hardness, lalita-tademy, life, slavery
21 likes
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“Sometimes while you wait for what you think is better," Philomene said, "what is good enough slips away.”
― Lalita Tademy, Cane River
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Polls

264215
Historical ReWind Tuesday is when you have a chance at Snagging a great Historical Kindle Ebook or receive 3 Points in our Points Program
There will be a Random.org pick to determine the 2 winners that will take the Kindle Ebook or receive 3 Points in our Points Program.

3 Points in our Points Program.
 
  29 votes, 78.4%

 
  8 votes, 21.6%

37 total votes
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