Stephanie Dray on Abigail Adams, Frances Perkins, and the Work of Democracy
History Through Fiction - The PodcastShow Notes
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.
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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.
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.
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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.