A Chat with Lisa Wingate – historical fiction author

At the Historical Novel Society conference of 2023, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on the topic of Who Are You: A Historian Writing Fiction or a Historical Fiction Author?  Lisa Wingate was on that panel along with Margaret George, Jamie Ford, and Alan Winter. It was a lively, informative discussion with an engaging group of authors.

I’ve been a fan of Lisa Wingate’s novels ever since reading Before We Were Yours which tells the story of the children of single mothers and poverty-stricken parents who were taken away by the Tennessee Children’s Home Society and its Memphis branch director, Georgia Tann. While heartbroken birth mothers searched for their stolen sons and daughters, the children were often kept in unlicensed boarding facilities and given new names and histories before being advertised for adoption to families who could afford to pay. This is the truth behind Before We Were Yours.

Lisa’s latest novel, Shelterwood, is the story of Oklahoma’s “elf children,” who fled corrupt guardians to survive alone in the forest, and a National Park Service law-enforcement ranger who rediscovers their story in 1990. Lisa has said that the most shocking stories hide in places we think we know. She described the background to Shelterwood this way: “Despite countless field trips, museum tours, and history classes growing up in Oklahoma, I heard not a mention that the most powerful politician of the state’s fledgling years was—a woman. In an era when women couldn’t even vote? The true story of Kate Barnard, her 1909 investigation of bizarre reports of “elf children living in a hollow tree,” and her eventual discovery of the children’s true identity inspired the events in Shelterwood.”

Lisa says that she’s “a collector of stories, bits of untold history, interesting characters, and all other chance encounters that may one day be fodder for a story. I never know what will spark a new novel or a short story, but I keep drawers full of scraps and notes, to ensure that all those potential treasures won’t be lost.”

Lisa has written more than 30 novels! As she says on her website: “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t write. I started writing books before I started school, and I never quit writing. I had a very special first-grade teacher in Peasley School in Northboro, Massachusetts, who recognized a little ability and a lot of desire in a shy transfer student. Mrs. Krackhardt wrote on my report card that she expected to see my name in the pages of a magazine one day, and I suddenly felt incredibly special. She started reading my stories to the class, and I was hooked. I quickly discovered the joy of having an audience, and set out on many, many writing projects. Even though I always dreamed of becoming a writer, I didn’t begin pursuing the goal in earnest until after college, marriage, a career as a journalist and technical writer, and then the birth of my oldest son (ordered girl, got boy, fell in love with boy).”

Lisa’s fiction is inspired by true events. “I’ve always been fascinated by pieces of ‘hidden history.’ I love the idea of lending relevance to the past by weaving it into the lives of fictional characters and allowing readers to live through events with the characters. Experiencing history in this way, in story form on a personal level, has multi-layered value. It not only grows our understanding of the world, but also fosters and strengthens a sense of empathy, a feeling of having walked in someone else’s shoes.”

Responding to the question of how historical fiction illuminates the issues of today, Lisa replied: “I’ve always been fascinated by pieces of ‘hidden history.’ I love the idea of lending relevance to the past by weaving it into the lives of fictional characters and allowing readers to live through events with the characters. Experiencing history in this way, in story form on a personal level, has multi-layered value. It not only grows our understanding of the world, but also fosters and strengthens a sense of empathy, a feeling of having walked in someone else’s shoes.”

“We are all unconsciously biased, Lisa said at the 2023 panel, “and we tend to see things through the lens of ourselves and our time. Historical fiction authors strive to present history through a different lens than that used by historians and to help readers understand and learn from the past.”

For thoughts on Lisa’s novel Before We Were Yours click here. For thoughts on Shelterwood … unfortunately, you’ll have to wait until I read it!

FOR MORE ON READING & WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION  FOLLOW A WRITER OF HISTORY. There’s a SUBSCRIBE function on the right hand side of the page. 

M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel THAT WAS THEN is a contemporary thriller. Mary’s other novels, THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads or on her website www.mktod.com.