Sara Donati's Blog, page 10

Ms Middleton poses a few questions

Not every book is for every reader. There are many novels out there that don’t work for me, even well-written novels that are broadly praised. And yet, here I am respondingto an email from someone who is very dissatisfied withThe Gilded Hour:

I have questions about The Gilded Hour. I just finished reading it and, of course, I’m confused by the ending. Why was the murder plot story not finished?

Also, I was confused as the story is supposed to take place in 1883 but, there is mention of cabs,...

Medical Mystery: I need some input

This post concerns a very detailed and vivid obstetric case with a bad outcome. If you are pregnant, trying to get pregnant (ever), or have a very young baby, probably better not to read this.

When I’m trying to sort out the fine points of the way medicine was practiced in the 1880s, I sometimes come across medical journal articles that strike me as improbable. Because I’m not a medical professional, I have to rely on my study of 19th century medical texts and friends who are to interpret for...

Researching Names for Writers of Historical Fiction

I read a lot of 19th century newspapers for all kinds of reasons, but this clip from the NYT (November 1885) is a great example of one of the ways I find names.

NYT November 1885

Here we have Giuseppe Giudici who shot and killed Maggiorini Dagahiero, as well as Ling Chun, Ling Yum, Chun Fong and Lung Mow who are all involved in a perjury case.

Click for full size. Central Reporter. 1886 on cases heard in September 1885.

A word of warning: even the NYT was really bad at getting the names of im...

HRC: Why not.

I don’t usually use this weblog for political statements, but in this particular instance there’s nowhere else to post this in its entirely, with intact links. So feel free to ignore it, I won’t be offended.

Foreword. Please remember that information about any and every presidential candidate — information thatyou should be able to find — may not be as accessible as you think it is. Nor is informationnecessary reliable, no matter how creditable the source may seem. According to the World Pre...

Never Hillary

Remembrance of Things Past

I don’t usually use this weblog for political statements, but in this particular instance there’s nowhere else to post this in its entirely, with intact links. So feel free to ignore it, I won’t be offended.

Foreword. Please remember that information about any and every presidential candidate — information thatyou should be able to find — may not be as accessible as you think it is. Nor is informationnecessary reliable, no matter how creditable the source may seem....

Facebook & Missing Persons

If you have gone to look for me on Facebook you will have noticed I’m missing in action over there. I deactivated my account for a variety of reasons Eventually I’ll probably re-activate it, but for the time being Sara is still over there. Until I get past this writer’s block business I’ll be keeping a lower profile.

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The Gilded Hour: New Edition, Slippage & Good Stuff Coming

GOOD NEWS:

The trade paper edition of The Gilded Hour is now out there in the world.

SNAFU NEWS:

I blame the midnight elves.

If you follow along here and/or on Facebook* you may remember that whenThe Gilded Hour was in the crucial final stages of the editorial process, my editor left Penguin/Berkley, and I a new editor picked up where she left off.

Please note immediately: neither editor is responsible for the slippage I’m talking about here. The change in editors was not their decision, and...

The Gilded Hour, Race & Ethnicity over Space

If you remember the Mazzini Hotel fromThe Gilded Hour(where the Italian Benevolent Society met), you wouldn’t have any way to know that there really was a hotel by that name on the spot on the south border of Washington Square Park in the early 1880s. That whole neighborhood, south of the park and north of Houston, was home to many immigrants and was ethnically very diverseat that time.

The city’s largest group of French and French Canadians was there, as well as a longestablished African Ame...

Trump, Abortion & The Gilded Hour

Early in my planning for The Gilded Hour I wasawash in academic historical publications, 19th century newspapers and medical journals, and general reading aboutwomen’s health issues of the time and the introduction of women to the medical professions. The stories I came across that struck me as most interesting had to do with poor women immigrants, mostly Irish and Italian and Roman Catholic, who were stuck between that proverbial rock and a hard place. They had no money for birth control, an...

The Gilded Hour Giveaway: Trade Paper May 3

I have a question for you, because on Wednesday I’ll be at Village Books in Fairhaven to do a short reading as a precursor to the Chuckanut Writers Conference(where I’ll be teaching, in case you missed that) and I’m at a loss for what to read.

Picking the right passage that lasts for 10-15 minutes when the audience doesn’t know you or your work is tricky.

It’s got to be engaging, not give too much away, and in my experience, it goes over best if it’s something amusing rather than dark. Any su...