Michael
asked
Erik Larson:
Alexander Vassiliev's NKVD archive notebooks show Martha Dodd as a Soviet spy gathering information from her father and her many Nazi lovers and giving that information to Boris. Why did you leave that important aspect of her character out of In the Garden of Beasts? Thanks!
Erik Larson
I did go through Vassiliev's archive. I don't recall any material that provided definitive proof that she was passing information from her father directly to Boris. To others, yes. If you've got it, share! Send me a direct message via Twitter, @exlarson.
More Answered Questions
Ivy
asked
Erik Larson:
Mr. Larson, I recently saw the film Imitation Game after finishing your latest book, Dead Wake. I may be misinterpreting the information, but in your book you credit the British with having a code book that allowed them to intercept and decode German communications. In the film about Alan Turing, it seems like his invention was what provided the means for cracking German codes. How do these two pieces fit together?
Joanne Brokaw
asked
Erik Larson:
I'm a huge fan of all of your books (I finished "Dead Wake" last night), and am always amazed at the way you're able to turn tons of research into a compelling narrative that reads like a novel. Do you do all of your research first and then write, or are you writing as you're researching?
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