History Through Fiction - The Podcast

Colin Mustful

History Through Fiction founder and editor Colin Mustful talks with historical novelists about their craft of weaving history and fiction to create engaging, historically detailed stories.

  1. 2d ago

    Building a Literary Community: History Through Fiction’s Book Festival, The Working Writer, and a Santa Fe Retreat

    How do books create a community beyond the page? In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful is joined by Jodi Harrison, Melissa Makarewicz, and Robin Henry to explore three ways readers and writers can gather, learn, and keep showing up: a free virtual book festival, The Working Writer online community, and the Novel Whisperer Writing Adventure in Santa Fe. Jodi Harrison, program director of the Fort Myers Literary Society, discusses the first History Through Fiction Virtual Book Festival, taking place Saturday, November 14. The free online event is designed to give readers room to meet authors, join conversations about historical fiction, move between panels and discussion groups, and connect through bookstores and book clubs. The conversation also highlights the community read of Jessica McCann’s All Different Kinds of Free and asks how readers can support authors beyond simply buying books. Melissa Makarewicz introduces The Working Writer, an online community for writers balancing creative work with jobs, families, and the rest of life. Weekly writing sprints, monthly goal setting, focused resources, peer feedback, and the simple act of being noticed when you show up all help turn an overwhelming ambition into steady, intentional progress. Robin Henry, managing editor and acquisitions colleague at History Through Fiction and a book coach through Readerly, previews the Novel Whisperer Writing Adventure in Santa Fe, New Mexico, June 6 to 12, 2027. The small-group retreat will combine protected writing time, individual coaching, shared meals, creative fellowship, and space to think deeply about historical fiction projects in progress. Together, these conversations make a larger point: books do not exist in isolation. They live in the relationships among authors, readers, bookstores, writing groups, and literary communities. Explore the Book Festival at historythroughfiction.com/book-festival, learn about The Working Writer, and find details about the Novel Whisperer Writing Adventure. Discover more stories, workshops, events, and resources at historythroughfiction.com.

    Building a Literary Community: History Through Fiction’s Book Festival, The Working Writer, and a Santa Fe Retreat

  2. Oct 5

    Vanessa Miller on The Ladies Hall, Oberlin, and the Fight for Equality

    In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful talks with Vanessa Miller, author of The Ladies Hall, about three Black women—Mary Church Terrell, Anna Julia Cooper, and Ida Gibbs Hunt—who entered Oberlin College expecting its promise of equality to be real. What they encountered was a place where the doors were open, but the hearts were not. Vanessa explains how their experiences became a story about education, belonging, and the unfinished work of equality. The conversation follows Vanessa’s research into Oberlin’s founding as an interracial college, its abolitionist community, and the Oberlin-Wellington rescue of John Price. She shares why she chose Mary’s and Anna’s perspectives, how she gives her characters room to be young, imperfect, and still becoming, and why historical fiction can connect the past’s struggles to today’s conversations about race, access, and DEI. She also reflects on the calling behind her faith-informed writing, her MFA studies, and the ambitious future she envisions for her work. Guest framing (draft based on episode transcript; please confirm): Vanessa Miller is a historical-fiction author and the writer of The Ladies Hall, a novel about Mary Church Terrell, Anna Julia Cooper, and Ida Gibbs Hunt at Oberlin College. In this conversation, she draws on her research, her experience as a writer, and her commitment to inspirational storytelling to bring their early lives and enduring influence into focus. History Through Fiction is a home for readers and writers who believe the past is full of stories worth recovering—and that the best historical fiction can deepen our understanding of the present. Discover more novels, workshops, events, and community at https://www.historythroughfiction.com.

    Vanessa Miller on The Ladies Hall, Oberlin, and the Fight for Equality

  3. Sep 28

    Brothers, Railroads, and Elephants: Jane D. Cairns on Exalted Objects

    In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful welcomes author Jane D. Cairns to discuss Exalted Objects, her historical novel about nineteenth-century New Hampshire brothers George and Will Stark. What begins with a strange historical discovery—one brother placing the other in McLean Asylum because the family could no longer stop him from buying elephants—opens into a larger story about reputation, freedom, ambition, and the strange ways love survives rivalry. Jane traces how George, a railroad executive and political candidate, and Will, a poet and traveling lecturer, embody competing ways of seeing the world: order and creativity, structure and whimsy. She shares how she moved from journalism and local history into fiction, learned to write the gaps left by the historical record, and drew on research into railroads, steam power, period newspapers, and a Harper’s Weekly illustration. The conversation also explores the collaborative work behind the audiobook, the role of writing communities and the GrubStreet Novel Incubator, and why careful research—even details that never appear on the page—helps historical fiction feel authentic. Jane D. Cairns is a Massachusetts-based writer, journalist, and grassroots local historian, an active member of GrubStreet in Boston and a graduate of its Novel Incubator program. Her work brings together archival curiosity, social and economic history, and a novelist’s attention to the emotional life behind the facts. History Through Fiction is a home for stories that connect the past to the present through historical novels, conversations, workshops, events, and a community of readers and writers. Discover more at https://www.historythroughfiction.com.

    Brothers, Railroads, and Elephants: Jane D. Cairns on Exalted Objects

  4. Sep 21

    Laura Kamoie on Abigail Adams, “Remember the Ladies,” and A Founding Mother

    In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful speaks with historian and historical novelist Laura Kamoie, co-author of A Founding Mother, about Abigail Adams—the sharp-minded, outspoken woman whose letters reveal the human stakes behind the American Revolution and the creation of a new nation. Together, they explore what Abigail’s life can teach us about voice, independence, and the ongoing work of building a more perfect union. The conversation begins with a scene from 1814, as Abigail hears that Washington has burned and wonders whether the American experiment is collapsing. From there, Laura discusses Abigail’s surprisingly modern voice, her tart humor and intellectual confidence, and the full force of her appeal to “remember the ladies.” The episode looks beyond the familiar quotation to Abigail’s larger arguments about women’s education, political representation, and financial independence—including the entrepreneurial work and careful planning that allowed her to leave money to the women in her life. Laura also reflects on the craft of historical fiction: how close readings of letters and primary sources become dialogue and interior voice, how historical novels can function as a form of public history, and how she and Stephanie Dray collaborate to create a single, unified character on the page. She shares how her work as a historian and teacher informs her fiction, and why Abigail’s insistence that each generation must do its part remains resonant as the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Laura Kamoie brings together a historian’s care with sources, a novelist’s feel for character, and a deep commitment to telling the stories of people who shaped the past from within the pressures of everyday life. Her connection to Abigail Adams is especially compelling because A Founding Mother joins archival research, narrative craft, and the urgent question of how a nation’s ideals are lived—and revised—over time. At History Through Fiction, the past becomes vivid through story, conversation, and the craft of bringing overlooked lives into focus. Explore the catalog of historical novels, workshops, events, and the wider community at https://www.historythroughfiction.com.

    Laura Kamoie on Abigail Adams, “Remember the Ladies,” and A Founding Mother

  5. Sep 14

    Tim Schooley on The Circus of the Vanishing Elephant: Family, Freedom, and Life Under the Big Top

    How do you make an elephant disappear? In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful sits down with Tim Schooley, author of The Circus of the Vanishing Elephant, to explore what happens when a circus illusion becomes real—and when a beloved elephant, a fractured family, and a young clown’s search for belonging are all pulled into the same mystery. Set in 1974, Schooley’s novel follows the King Minos Circus after Henrietta, its star elephant, vanishes during a parade. Suspicion falls on Randi, the circus owner’s estranged daughter, and Ainge, a young clown haunted by a painful family history. The conversation explores family, chosen family, loyalty, animal freedom, and belonging, while also opening a window onto the practical realities of a traveling circus: its performers, crews, trains, arenas, ticket sales, and the pressure of keeping a small business alive during recession and rising fuel costs. Schooley shares how his own experience as a Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey clown gave the novel its lived-in sense of spectacle and backstage labor. He also discusses why he chose 1974—a year marked by Watergate, the aftermath of the Vietnam War, political unrest, recession, and long lines at gas stations—and how newspapers, period details, and on-the-ground visits to Portland and Seattle helped him bring that world to life. Tim Schooley began his career as a circus clown before becoming an appellate lawyer, teaching at UC Davis Law School, and serving as managing attorney of the California Court of Appeal in Sacramento. He is the author of The Wool Translator, is active in Sacramento’s literary community, and helped found the Sacramento Book Festival. History Through Fiction is a home for historical novels, the research and craft behind them, and the readers and writers who keep stories in conversation with the past. Discover more books, workshops, events, and community at https://www.historythroughfiction.com.

    Tim Schooley on The Circus of the Vanishing Elephant: Family, Freedom, and Life Under the Big Top

  6. Sep 7

    Eliza Knight on Lost in the Summer of 69: Music, Memory, and Starting Over at Any Age

    In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful speaks with Eliza Knight, author of Lost in the Summer of 69, about the music, memory, and family ties behind a grandmother’s daring 1969 road trip. When Eleanor Bell is diagnosed with dementia, the widow and former musician decides to travel west to revisit the concerts and songs that shaped her life—before memory makes them harder to reach. Eleanor’s daughter Leanne and teenage granddaughter Nora set out after her, turning a search into a three-generation journey through the changing sound of the late 1960s. Knight and Colin discuss why Woodstock was only one part of 1969’s concert story; the research required to get artists, dates, roads, gas stations, hotels, and Howard Johnson menus right; and the choices that let historical fiction honor the record while still making room for imagination. They also talk about road-trip rituals, family expectations, and the possibility of beginning again at any age. Knight is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction, creator of the History Undressed blog, and host of the History, Books and Wine podcast. In the conversation, she shares how she moves among historical fiction, historical romance, and other forms of storytelling—and how an MFA, teaching, and a carefully scheduled creative life help sustain the work. History Through Fiction is a home for stories that bring the past into conversation with the present, connecting readers and writers through historical novels, workshops, events, and community. Discover more at https://www.historythroughfiction.com.

    Eliza Knight on Lost in the Summer of 69: Music, Memory, and Starting Over at Any Age

  7. Aug 31

    Stephanie Dray on Abigail Adams, Frances Perkins, and the Work of Democracy

    In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful speaks with historical novelist Stephanie Dray about two women who helped shape the United States from outside the official centers of power: Abigail Adams, featured in A Founding Mother, and Frances Perkins, the subject of Becoming Madam Secretary. Their stories offer a vivid way into an enduring question: who gets to define freedom, and what does democracy demand from ordinary citizens? The conversation begins with Abigail Adams—wife of John Adams, mother of John Quincy Adams, and a forceful thinker in her own right. Dray describes Abigail raising children, managing a farm, seeking financial independence, and challenging the revolutionary promise of “all men are created equal” with her famous appeal to “remember the ladies.” From there, the episode moves to Frances Perkins, the New Deal architect whose work helped shape Social Security, labor protections, workplace safety, and the nation’s evolving social contract. Dray also reflects on the family history that led her to recognize Perkins’s impact on her own relatives’ lives. A novelist of women whose contributions have often been overlooked, Stephanie Dray brings together archival research, historical imagination, and close attention to voice. She discusses the challenge of transforming letters and public records into emotionally immediate stories, the changing dynamics of co-writing, and the perseverance required to carry a major project through unexpected obstacles. (Draft guest framing based on the episode transcript; please verify final credits before publishing.) At History Through Fiction, the past becomes most vivid through story, conversation, and the craft of imagining lives that official histories have too often left at the margins. Discover the catalog of historical novels, workshops, events, and community at https://www.historythroughfiction.com.

    Stephanie Dray on Abigail Adams, Frances Perkins, and the Work of Democracy

  8. Aug 24

    Kerri Maher on Summer of Love: Sisterhood, Sobriety, and the 1967 Bay Area

    In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, Colin Mustful speaks with Kerri Maher, author of Summer of Love, about the myths and realities of the 1967 Bay Area counterculture. Through the lens of family, art, addiction, and reinvention, this conversation invites listeners to look beyond flower-crown nostalgia and into the emotional complexity of a turbulent era. Together, they explore Maher’s dual-timeline novel, which follows two sisters pulled in different directions by the cultural upheavals of the late 1960s and a later-generation storyline shaped by questions of sobriety, memory, and healing. The discussion moves from Berkeley and San Francisco to Napa wine country, tracing how place, research, and lived family stories helped Maher create a world that feels both vivid and deeply human. Kerri Maher is the author of Summer of Love and several historical novels, including The Kennedy Debutante. Drawing on her California roots, family stories from the 1960s, and a long, hard-won writing journey, she brings both personal insight and narrative craft to a novel about longing, change, and the search for connection. History Through Fiction is a home for readers, writers, and history lovers who believe the past comes alive through story. Explore more historical novels, discover workshops and events, and join the wider community at https://www.historythroughfiction.com.

    Kerri Maher on Summer of Love: Sisterhood, Sobriety, and the 1967 Bay Area
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History Through Fiction founder and editor Colin Mustful talks with historical novelists about their craft of weaving history and fiction to create engaging, historically detailed stories.

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