Please welcome David Ebershoff, author of The 19th Wife. David will be chatting on LibraryThing until June 12th.

Mensagem editada pelo seu autor, Jun 1, 2009, 12:09pm.

Hi Everyone--

Over the next few weeks I'll be out and about talking about THE 19TH WIFE in a number of cities -- San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Des Moines, Wichita, Asheville, Raleigh, and Lincoln, NE. (Dates and locations are on my author page on LibraryThing.)

I hope to see you at one of the events or hear from you here.

Cheers,

David

Hi David,

I really enjoyed the 19th Wife. I thought it was a very powerful story and the characters were incredibly intricate and detailed. How much time did you spend researching the history of Mormonism, particularly Ann Eliza Young? I loved the chapters devoted to her childhood and life growing up in the midst of the Mormon faith development.

Thanks!
Nari

Hi Nari--

Thank you for your nice words. I spent a good few years researching the 19th-century part of the story. I read quite widely on early LDS history, spent time reading the sacred texts, spent a lot of time with missionaries who visited me in my home, attended Sunday services (which are open to non-members), and visited many of the historical places mentioned in the book. Ann Eliza's story was once well-known, and there is a vast record about her life: her two books, her many public lectures, her testimony to Congress, the ample court documents from her divorce, numerous reminiscences by people who knew her, as well as hundreds of newspaper articles about her.

Thanks for your question and saying hello.

All best,

David

Hi David,

I don’t really have a question for you, I am just writing to say hello and thanks for The 19th Wife. I found your novel in a second-hand bookstore in Sweden a few months ago. I had never heard of it at the time so I just picked it out at random, but I really enjoyed it. On the whole I found the present-day parts of the book a lot more interesting and absorbing than the Ann Eliza Young parts, but it was interesting to learn a bit more about the history of the Mormon church and I think you did a really good job weaving the two stories together!

Good luck with your book tour!

/Elin

Hi Elin--

Thank you, I'm really glad you gave the book a chance. You're not the first to tell me you liked the contemporary story more. On the other hand, just as many people have told me they prefer the historical story. When writing the book I knew many people would rank one over the other -- it's almost inevitable. But imagine the book without the historical story, or vice versa. It would be a very very different novel.

Thanks for taking the time to say hello.

Cheers,

David

Hi David,

I also don't really have any questions about your book 'The19th Wife' but I wanted to tell you that I enjoyed it very much. I work in a big bookstore in Manchester, UK, and we recently had your book on a special promotion at the till point. I recommenced it to lots of customers and had a fair few tell me that they had already read it and enjoyed it as well. I also preferred the modern half of the story over the 19th part but I did like how you stayed away from turning Ann Eliza into a perfect heroine; you made it clear that she was nowhere near as clean cut as she would have liked you to believe in her narrative but was a normal, flawed, real person like the rest of us.

All the best,

Liz

Hi Liz,

Thanks very much for your comments, and for putting the book into so many readers' hands. There is nothing like a bookseller (or a librarian!) passing a book along.

You're absolutely right: Ann Eliza is flawed, as we all are. She was courageous, articulate, imaginative, energetic, charismatic, and ambitious; she could also be vain, naive, narrow-minded, petty, and selfish. These complexities drew me to her because they make her human. I'm glad you feel the same way.

Say hello to your fellow book-lovers in Manchester!

Cheers,

David

Hi David,

I read The 19th Wife and found it to be one of the best books that I read last year. I especially liked both the unreliability of Ann Eliza and the relationship between Jordan and Elektra. I liked that you ended each section at a natural point instead of the more popular method of ending on a moment of high drama, allowing me to enjoy each story in full, rather than spending a few pages wishing I knew whether protagonist #1 had survived certain evisceration or not.

I am currently reading The Rose City and am most struck by the insecurity and sadness pervading each protagonist. I am enjoying each story quite a bit (although not the part about the cat, especially since his new roommate was so genuinely nice), I'm just in a melancholy mood for some time after each one.

Hi RidgewayGirl,

Thank you very much for your thoughts about both books. With THE 19TH WIFE, I had to find the balance between keeping the drama high (so that the reader would keep moving from one narrative to the next) while also writing something that is perhaps thoughtful and nuanced.

THE ROSE CITY I suppose is full of sadness, but I also see these characters as living on the threshold of adulthood, and thus their futures (mostly) point to brighter days.

Again, thanks very much for reading both books. A pleasure to hear from you.

All best,

David