Kate Quinn has a rare talent. She can drop you into another time period so completely that you forget you’re reading, then hit you with a detail that makes you realize how much of women’s history has been ignored, softened, or simply left out.
In our first Friday Fiction episode, I sit down with the New York Times bestselling author behind her newest release, The Astral Library, The Briar Club, The Alice Network, The Rose Code, and my personal favorite, The Diamond Eye to talk about where that power comes from and what it costs to do it well.
We start with the origin story that shaped everything, a librarian mom who became her first reader and a dad who quietly modeled what real partnership looks like. From there, we get honest about the vulnerability of sharing drafts, the weird confidence a writer has to carry, and why deadlines can be a gift. Kate also walks through the creative leap into magical realism with The Astral Library, plus the nerves of releasing something new when readers expect a certain kind of historical fiction.
We also dig into research ethics and critical thinking, from spotting propaganda in memoirs to reading for bias and noticing what a source refuses to say. If you love libraries, hate book bans, write fiction, or just want a smarter way to read history, this conversation is for you!!
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Thank you! Xx, Alex
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