Katherine Howe: On the Golden Age of Piracy
Katherine Howe is the author of The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs, and the New York Times bestsellers The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and The House of Velvet and Glass, as well as the young adult novels Conversion and The Appearance of Annie van Sinderen. She served as editor of The Penguin Book of Witches, and her fiction has been translated into over 20 languages. Descended from three women who were tried for witchcraft in Salem, she and her family live in New England and New York City. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Katherine Howe
Photo by Nina Subin
In this post, Katherine discusses the process of writing her new historical fiction novel, A True Account, her hope for readers, and more!
Name: Katherine Howe
Literary agent: Suzanne Gluck at WME
Book title: A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Release date: November 21, 2023
Genre/category: Historical Fiction
Previous titles: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs, The House of Velvet and Glass, Conversion, The Appearance of Annie van Sinderen, The Penguin Book of Witches, Vanderbilt: the Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty (with Anderson Cooper), Astor: the Rise and Fall of an American Fortune (with Anderson Cooper)
Elevator pitch for the book: From New York Times bestselling author Katherine Howe comes a daring first-hand account of one young woman’s unbelievable adventure as one of the most terrifying sea rovers of all time.
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What prompted you to write this book?
My only hobby is that I am a sailor, and so like most people who spend a lot of time on the water, I love stories about pirates. I wanted to write an exciting adventure story about a woman in the Golden Age of Piracy that also interrogated how trustworthy we find our fiction to be.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
That’s a hard question to answer. I labored for three years over a different pirate novel, with totally different characters and a different setting, which was ultimately a failure. A True Account itself probably spanned about two and a half years from conception to publication, but that doesn’t include the four to five years I had already spent thinking about, dreaming about, and researching about pirates.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, personnel changes at my publisher meant that A True Account’s voyage to publication was helmed, at different points in time, by three different editors. I found I had to really advocate for Hannah Masury, and to trust in my convictions for how the story should go. I’m fortunate to have beta readers I really trust as well, to help me in that process. Having access to trustworthy feedback is crucial to any creative project.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
Several years ago, in a heap of junk sent to me by my parents, I came across an old punch bowl with a square-rigged clipper ship painted on the side. In doing some research I discovered that the bowl had belonged to a captain who had died at sea, and whose ship was taken over by his wife. When they started to run out of fresh water the crew and passengers mutinied, and the captain’s wife put the mutiny down with a pistol. The ship captain’s wife’s name was Hannah Augusta Masury Howe, and I was so taken by her story that I borrowed her name for my protagonist in A True Account.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
A True Account is a story about the risks that women will take to ensure their own safety and freedom in circumstances that seem impossible to overcome. I hope that readers will find some escapism, some excitement, some passion, and maybe even some inspiration to go out on their own account.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Sit down, open the laptop, and get to work.
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