I wonder how our country’s founding is being taught today. Would I be shocked if I sat in on a history class? Would I find errors? Is it true that most Americans are historically illiterate? A sad, shocking truth, perhaps. One of the reasons I write historical fiction is to preserve history in even a small way & perhaps rekindle it where it’s waning. Since my college years were dedicated to 18th-century literature & history, I hope to preserve the way our ancestors lived and spoke, at least by mirroring letters and primary sources. But as has been said, the past is a different country, they do things differently there. And I do write fiction, in fact.
No novel is perfect but I try through research to be as accurate as I can. Sometimes you get backed into a historical corner & just guess. Given that, there’s one intentional/unintentional error in the novel & I’m wondering if anyone will mention it. No one has flagged me yet but The Belle of Chatham just released so it’s out there, waiting for someone to refute it. And I hope a student of the American Revolution finds it & restores my hope that someone besides me loves history enough to tell fact from fiction.
One of my previous novels, The Lacemaker, contains that same history. If you’ve met Liberty Lawson of Williamsburg, Virginia you may remember that particular historical mention when you come across it again in The Belle of Chatham.
Happy reading, I hope!