The ‘why’ of historical fiction
I’ve always loved history, especially Russian Mennonite stories that relate to my ancestry.
As a kid I listened to my parents, aunts and uncles reminisce about their childhoods in southern Russia. In school, I devoured Russian classics by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Pasternak. It took a long time for these elements to come together, but in my middle age I decided to write a novel incorporating these interests, for the sake of story but also as a means of preserving the past.
Although I had many scenes in my head, there was much to learn. I collected more books on the subject(s) and also used the Internet extensively. Progress was slow: write, research, write, research, reorganize, etc., but I enjoyed it immensely. The story eventually took on a much broader perspective than I’d first planned, and I ended up with three published novels I call the Storm Trilogy.
After a foray into contemporary fiction, I felt the need to return to the historical fiction genre. I’d heard of a Mennonite saga from western Siberia/China that intrigued me. The story begged to be written, if only for my family and the readers I had garnered through the Storm books. And so began another fictionalized account of the Russian Mennonite experience: new characters, unfamiliar places, and a plot filled with disaster and hope.
You see, for some of us, story is everything. My mind may not retain cold, hard facts, but it will remember a story, the characters that inhabited it and the places it took me to. Fiction is a way to reveal and relate history through the lives of realistic characters. It takes a ton of research and hard work, but the reward is in the telling.
Other Side of the River tells of a group of people who flee western Siberia to escape the ever-tightening bands of Stalin’s Soviet Union, as far as the borders of China along the Amur River. Faced by obstacles political, personal and spiritual, Luise Letkemann and Daniel Martens struggle to fulfil their dream of life together in a place of peace. Perhaps that place can only be found on the other side of the river.
The print version of Other Side of the River is available at amzn. to/1uQSIyc for $16.63 and the complete e-book is found at amzn.to/1v7m1Lp for $7.59. Or visit janice.janicedick.com.