It’s release day for The Miniaturist’s Assistant, which I reviewed for the May edition of Historical Novel’s Review, the magazine of The Historical Novel Society. The review is below, and the author graciously agreed to do a Q&A, so be sure to check that out as well!
BOOK REVIEW
In Charleston, South Carolina, in 2004, Gamble Vance is an expert at restoring miniature portraits. But there is one that she can’t forget—a woman with hazel eyes. Why does she look familiar? Then Gamble sees a young woman in Stoll’s Alley in old-fashioned dress. She appears to be a ghost, or a memory, and looks very much like the woman in the portrait. The woman even speaks to her. Gamble is impatient to share this with her best friend Tolliver. Tol is of the Geechee people, who believe in ghosts, and he will not think she is crazy.
In 1805, Daniel Petigru paints miniature portraits for Charleston’s wealthy. He is missing Gamble, who has left him and gone back to her time. She appeared in October 1804, brought home by his sister Honor, who announced she’s been seeing this woman in Stoll’s Alley since she was 12 years old. But the connections are deeper than all of them know, and Gamble is destined to come back.
This is a story with deep meaning and a message that some souls are meant to meet, regardless of where and when they happen to be. They must meet sometimes as part of their own fates—their own lives or deaths, and sometimes it is for reasons they cannot begin to understand. There do not seem to be fast rules of time travel in this novel. The rules are fluid and subject to change. The method of time travel appears to be a place, but also possibly a person. As the lives of those affected flow into each other, so do the rules and methods of time travel. The relationships—friends, lovers, siblings, parents, and children—are all well written and profoundly felt. This is an emotional and impactful novel. Highly recommended.
My rating is 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 on sites with no half-star option.
I received a free copy of this book via The Historical Novel Society. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katherine Scott Crawford is the award-winning author of The Miniaturist’s Assistant and Keowee Valley. A former backpacking guide, newspaper columnist, and recovering academic, she’d rather be in the woods with her dog than anywhere else. She enjoys curious people, adventure, and snow — and believes historical fiction the best way to time travel. An eleventh-generation Southerner, she lives with her family in the North Carolina mountains.
Q&A with Katherine Scott Crawford
Bonnie: Hi Katherine, and thanks so much for answering my questions today. Let’s go beyond the bio. Tell us something about yourself that we might not know from reading your bio.
Katherine: Thanks so much for having me here, Bonnie! Hmm, let’s see: I tend to be an open book, but something many people may not know about me is that I love to draw. My parents gifted me with art classes at the Greenville Art Museum in South Carolina (where I grew up) when I was very young—and it turned out to be a class filled mostly with adults. I loved it. I constantly sketch when I travel or am researching, in the notebooks I use, of the scene I’m looking at, a piece of historical clothing, a sword, etc. I’d love to find the time for art classes again one day.
Bonnie: The Miniaturist’s Assistant is a dual timeline novel. What were the challenges in writing dual timelines?
Katherine: I didn’t find too many challenges in moving from one voice to another with The Miniaturist’s Assistant, which may seem odd, as the 2004 chapters are told from Gamble’s (a 21st century woman’s) first-person perspective, and the 1804 chapters from Daniel’s (an early 19th century man’s) third-person perspective. Their voices, thankfully, came easily to me. What was trickier was figuring out how to braid the very distinct timelines, and time periods, in a way which not only would make sense to the reader, but also would hopefully feel seamless—meant to be. I wanted every authorial choice I made in the story to reflect its main premise: that time is fluid and porous. I hope it worked!
Bonnie: One of the main characters is a Miniaturist, of course. Describe the research you did in order to create his world and show the reader his art convincingly.
Katherine: I am a sucker for research. I’m an 11th generation South Carolinian with long ties to the Lowcountry and Charleston, and my first novel was set in the Revolutionary-era Carolinas, plus I’m a huge history dork—so luckily, I already had some historical knowledge about that time period in Charleston. But I knew very little about portrait miniatures. After I discovered the incredible Miniature Portraits exhibit at The Gibbes Museum in Charleston, and decided to base one of my characters on noted Charleston artist Charles Fraser, I found an “in” into the research. I researched heavily in online archives, onsite and online at The Gibbes, and was graciously connected to an expert in miniature portraits and art conservator who shared other resources and her own experiences with me.
Bonnie: This is really Part 2 of the previous question. Much of the unveiling of Daniel’s art was done through Gamble, an art conservator, 200 years later. Before you started the novel, were you familiar at all with art restoration, and how did you approach that research?
Katherine: I’d attended grad school at the College of Charleston, which has a historic preservation program, and was lucky to spend a summer studying Italian art and literature in my 20s, so I had a bit of general knowledge about art conservation just from being around those programs. I approached that research like the ex-academic I am: I dove in headfirst, read scholarly articles, graduate theses, and interviewed people on the topic. I figure, the more I learn, the better. Not all of it shows up in the novel, but because I have that knowledge, Gamble does. I think it makes a difference.
Bonnie: I’m a huge fan of time travel fiction, especially when it’s a historical fiction mashup. What made you decide to jump into this subgenre, and have you read other time travel fiction that inspired you?
Katherine: Honestly, I did not expect Gamble to time travel. When I began the story, I’d imagined a more linear dual-timeline, with the lines crossing in more traditional ways—maybe through discovered letters, etc. But Gamble is unlike any character I’ve written, and she was determined to go back.
I’m actually not a big reader of time travel fiction. But two historical novels I really love—as a writer and a reader both—utilize the device so well: Susanna Kearsley’s The Rose Garden, and Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. I guess this is to say that while I’m not a natural skeptic, I have to buy into the premise as a reader: it has to make sense on both a story and emotional level, and those novels lead us willingly headlong into an adventure we feel like we take ourselves.
Bonnie: Is this a standalone or will there be a Book 2?
Katherine: The Miniaturist’s Assistant is a standalone. (But never say never.) At present, I’m working on an entirely new historical novel.
Bonnie: I believe this is your second book, but the first book with Regal House. Can you tell the aspiring writers who read this blog something valuable you learned on your journey to get published?
Katherine: Yes, this is my second novel: my first, Keowee Valley, was published in 2012 by Bell Bridge Books, a small press based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Miniaturist’s Assistant is with Regal House Publishing, an independent literary press out of North Carolina. There were over a decade of years, two children, one graduate degree, many jobs, and lots of life lived in between.
My advice would be to remember that your writing journey is your journey, and no one else’s. Own it. All that matters is what it looks and feels like to you.
Bonnie: Katherine, thank you again! I truly enjoyed The Miniaturist’s Assistant.
PURCHASE LINK
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