How is the perspective of your novel unique? How does it hark back to the classic novel?
This novel brought me to a completely new writing place. I’ve written novels where every character on the page is one created from my imagination.
Then, in Loving Luther, I used that imagination to craft a story about people who were once real, living, breathing people. And I’ve given cameo appearances to historical figures—Brigham Young, Lottie Moon, Aimee Semple McPherson.
But this! To take a fictional character, lift her up from one story and bring her to life in another—not a retelling or a reimagining, but a completely new tale—that was new to me! I tried my best to craft a novel that fans of Dickens would appreciate.
The final scene is a direct homage to Dickens’s scene, with some of his very lines interspersed. I am also unashamedly sentimental in parts, free with the emotive dialogue of my characters. Those who are noble are undoubtedly so, and those who are scoundrels are unashamed in their dealings.
What’s the value of fiction and storytelling in today’s society?
Fiction gives us a chance to explore. I don’t mean just learning about cities and history, but a chance to explore mindsets and points of view. In The Seamstress, readers get to see not only the unfolding of a revolution, but the desperation and poverty that led to that violence and destruction.
Fiction allows us to empathize with the kinds of people we might never meet in real life. I think sometimes we feel safer letting a fictional character into our heart because it’s a safe way to explore new emotions. We can make predictions and lose nothing if we’re wrong. People like to think of fiction as an escape, but I prefer to see it—and create it—as an immersion.
What role does faith play in this story?
Both Laurette and Renée were raised with an ever-present sense of religion in a staunchly Catholic village. Neither girl, however, in her simple, pastoral life, ever sought anything deeper than ritualistic practice—Laurette, not even that. Their prayers are memorized and recited, with a concept of God as a looming, far-off presence.
Though their paths are markedly different, each has to come to a place where she needs to trust in the forgiveness of Christ in order to forgive her own choices. Faith is what allows us to live with ourselves.
Click through to learn why Allison says she’s NOT done with Charles Dickens…