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Eva Stachniak

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Eva Stachniak is an award-winning and internationally bestselling author of six novels, including The Winter Palace, Empress of the Night, and The Chosen Maiden. She holds a PhD in literature from McGill University. Born and raised in Poland, she moved to Canada in 1981, and lives in Toronto.
   
   
   
   
   

Books

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Latest news:

Posted by on Apr 27, 2022

The School of Mirrors on Storytime in Paris/ Paris Underground Radio.

Canadian Paperback

From January 24, 2022, The School of Mirrors ia available in paperback in Canada.

Paperback edition link.

From Hazlitt Magazine

‘Silence We Inherit and Carry With Us’: An Interview with Eva Stachniak 

BY CHRISTINE FISCHER GUY

The author of The School of Mirrors on sexual violence, the history of midwifery, and opening up archival silences. 

The New York Times recommends The School of Mirrors as “one of the books that promise to bring your summer alive.”

On the Power and Purpose of Historical fiction;

Conversation between Eva Stachniak and Christina Baker Kline “about history, facts, truth, interpretation, and how our writing about the past informs and comments upon the present”

CBK: Both of us write fiction set in the past that reflects, or illuminates, or comments upon, life in the present day. How did you come to write about the past, and what does your writing say about the world we live in today?

ES: I was born in Poland and the women who raised me never stopped talking about the big historical upheavals they lived through. As a child, I quickly calculated: to be a grandmother I have to live through two World Wars, to be a mother, through one World War and one Nazi occupation.

I never forgot that I was raised in what historian Timothy Snyder aptly called “the Bloodlands of Europe”: Hitler’s and Stalin’s killing fields. How could I? War ruins were around me. Everyone I knew talked about loss and displacement. Borders had shifted. Part of Poland became Soviet Russia, part of Germany became Poland. All this irrevocably shaped my parents’ lives and mine.

*** ***

MORE at LITERARY HUB

A reflection on how the memories of war linger in families:

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The School of Mirrors Reviews

Posted by on Jan 15, 2022

From my reader: “When I start one of your novels I know that you will take me to places where I haven’t been before. I can’t imagine the research that you must do to get all of the details right!! You make me feel that I am right there among your characters. 
Eva, thank you for another wonderful read. 

… Stachniak’s lively style and plot twists keep the story moving, and we care deeply about her characters and their fates. The novel is textured with details surprising even to those who know French history and have visited Versailles. This is a compelling novel and very highly recommended.

Historical Novel Society: Editor’s Choice.

“THE SCHOOL OF MIRRORS is a scintillating and vibrant addition to literature on the French Revolution, and a reminder that women — even when silenced and hidden — have always been brave, powerful and important parts of history.

….

Stachniak has researched every aspect of Parisian life in the 18th century. She weaves every detail — from clothing, food and even attitudes of the time — into gorgeous, shimmering prose with ease, and then elevates these details into stunning, lyrical history by placing women at its forefront.

….

As she makes clear, women have always been at the heart of every political era, movement and uprising. Through the lives of Veronique and Marie-Louise, she reminds us how much women like them had at stake, not to mention how much they had to sacrifice.

Bookreporter Review by Rebecca Munro

Details about how clothes smelled, how hygiene was absent, how streets were piled with excrement and filth—all made this book almost like a verbal movie to me. I could see, and almost smell and even taste the words Stachniak put on paper.

The author … gives the characters life with pain and loss, hope and laughter. You will care about them and they will remain with you long after you close this book.

Penny A Parrish FOR THE FREE LANCE–STAR

Stachniak combines a delicately embroidered historical world with enduring situations, like the exploitation of the less fortunate and parent-child relationships. Her multifaceted approach also showcases Queen Marie Leszczyńska’s charity work and a fascinating cloth mannequin used to train midwives. The theme of illusion versus authenticity emerges in subtle ways. This accomplished novel should enthrall Francophiles and women’s history enthusiasts.  

Booklist review

The book is not so much character-driven as plot-driven, but this is one of the few times where it works. The force of history, especially in times of revolution, is a powerful one. Even the great movers of the time, like Louis XVI and Robespierre, find themselves at the mercy of forces beyond their control. Ordinary people, especially those at the edges of their societies (as women tend to be) are all too often even more marginalized.

Seattle Book Review... five star review

Audiobook

Listen to a sample here.

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The School of Mirrors in the media:

Posted by on Jan 8, 2022

National Bestseller

The Globe and Mail Bestseller list for the week of March 5, 2022

Interviews:

Words with Writers Podcast

After a longer than expected winter break, hosts Chris Gorman and Brandi Tanner are finally back with a brand new episode featuring award-winning and bestselling author Eva Stachniak. Author of the newly released historical fiction novel The School of Mirrors, Eva discusses her new book, the craft of writing historical fiction, the connections between her work and ongoing events of today’s world, and so much more.

History Author Show Video Interview

In conversation with Dean Karayanis.

The interview is available as a video on YouTube, and for streaming audio at HistoryAuthor.comiTunes, our iHeartRadio channel, etc. You can also simply say, “Alexa, play the latest episode of the History Author Show,” and she’ll play it on the iHeart app.

Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb

Behind the book talk about inspiration, sources, and the 18th century women.

Kris Waldherr Art and Words in conversation with Eva Stachniak

Eva’s prose is simply stunning: lyrical, intimate, and insightful. I was privileged to read an advance copy of THE SCHOOL OF MIRRORS and found myself completely immersed in Eva’s sweeping recreation of 18th-century France in all its glories and terrors. By the time I turned the last page, I’d felt as though I’d journeyed through that tumultuous era firsthand.

Writer’s Digest. Eva Stachniak on Filling the Blanks

…Eva discusses where her research led and where her imagination took over in her new historical fiction novel, The School of Mirrors, what she hopes readers get out of the experience, and more!

BookTrib

From Russia’s Winter Palace to France’s Versailles–a conversation with Nancy Bilyeau

Bookbub

 Melissa Flandreau writes: about The School of Mirrors

This beautifully written story takes place in the 18th-century court of King Louis XV. At Deer Park, on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles, young girls arrive believing they’re being offered employment in the household of a count. Instead, they’re trained as courtesans for the king, and Veronique quickly becomes a favorite. But when she becomes pregnant, she’s quickly taken away to give birth, and then separated from her daughter, Marie-Louise. Full of vivid details, The School of Mirrors is a riveting read.

More on BookBub

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Inspiration for The School of Mirrors

Posted by on Oct 3, 2021

The School of Mirrors —already published in Germany as Die letzte Tochter von Versailles—is set in the corridors of Versailles at the time of Louis XV and among the midwives of Paris during the French Revolution.

The story was inspired by the following quote in the The Private Memoirs of Madame du Hausset, Lady’s maid to Madame de Pompadour, a lively account of court life at Versailles:

I asked Madame, if the young lady knew that the King was the father of her child? “I do not think she does,” replied she, “but, as he appeared fond of her, there is some reason to fear that those about her might be too ready to tell her; otherwise,” said she, shrugging her shoulders, “she, and all the others are told, that he is a Polish nobleman, a relation of the Queen, who has apartments in the palace.” This story was contrived on account of the cordon bleu, which the King has not always time to lay aside, because, to do that, he must change his coat, and in order to account for his having a lodging in the palace so near the King. 

The “young lady” in this passage refers to one of Louis XV young lower class mistresses, known as the Deer Park girls, kept in ignorance of their lover’s identity. This is all I had to begin ..

I will be sharing more posts about the writing of The School of Mirrors, soon, but for now, here is the picture of the board which kept me company for the last three years. You may recognize the portrait of Queen Marie Leszczyńska, Louis XV’s wife and some of the interiors of the Versailles Palace where many of the novel’s scenes took place.

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9 Works of Historical Fiction Featuring Real People

Posted by on Feb 24, 2019

What a pleasure to see Bronia Nijinska and The Chosen Maiden in the company of nine historical novels chosen by Wiki.ezvid.com for this wonderful recommendation:

Novels that use real historical figures as characters have all the best qualities of historical fiction and biographies. You can learn some actual facts about the lives of fascinating people, while also getting caught up in an imaginative story written in an entertaining way.

Wiki.ezvid.com


Here she is, still a young dancer, dancing in Petrushka,
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The Chosen Maiden reviews and interviews

Posted by on Jan 4, 2017

 

The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers interview:

           Eva Stachniak on The Chosen Maiden   

Publishers Weeklystar review

Stachniak brilliantly brings the story of Bronia, the lesser-known Nijinsky, to life. She has an excellent command of the period and the dance world, and an ability to draw characters who will enrapture the reader.

The Toronto Star:

…delightful …

…  a tale of intrigue, love, betrayal and redemption set in the realm of art and artists, exploring the line between dedication and obsession, creation and madness.

… Stachniak weaves together beautifully the myriad moments that bring this fascinating family and period to life.

Library Journal:

… exquisite fictionalized memoir.

… Drawing on her thorough research into Bronia’s archives, the author has teased out revealing insights into the art of the dance, and she writes skillfully about the emotional truths that arose from Bronia’s ambitions, family relations, and deep anxieties. Dance fans will welcome this graceful and entrancing foray into the recent past.

Quill and Quire:

Many works of fiction take as their inspiration true events and persons of historical significance, but few do so as lovingly and imaginatively as Eva Stachniak’s fifth novel

….

a remarkable work of historical fiction

The Chosen Maiden is both a tribute to a female artist who remained true to her vision despite numerous obstacles, and to the woman behind her who made it possible. MORE

The Globe and Mail

Eva Stachniak: ‘We live in a country that embodies the essence of the 21st century’

The Chosen Maiden was born out of my fascination with Ballets Russes, a Russian dance company which, in the summer of 1909, took Paris by storm, and fundamentally transformed Western notions of modern art. I wrote it because, after over 30 years in Canada, I’m still exploring the encounters between East and West, their exhilarating possibilities and illuminating setbacks.. MORE

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Madame du Coudray. Interview with Nina Rattner Gelbart

Madame du Coudray. Interview with Nina Rattner Gelbart

Posted by on Apr 7, 2022

I’ve stumbled across The King’s Midwife; A History and Mystery of Madame du Coudray when I was researching my latest novel The School of Mirrors and needed some information on French midwifery in the 18th century. The book captivated me at once. Here was a story of, an extraordinary Enlightenment woman, an accredited midwife, an educator, an inventor of a teaching tool which can still be admired at the Musée Flaubert in Rouen. Knowing that Madame du Coudray had a place in my novel, I reached out to her biographer, Nina Rattner Gelbart.

ES: How did you come across Madame du Coudray?

NRG: I was doing research on little-known female journalists in the 18th century for my first book, a study of a periodical called Le Journal des Dames. In the 1700s there were quite a few collected biographies called Femmes célèbres, mostly about queens and royal mistresses, but also full of information on other important women of that time who were famous then but essentially forgotten today. Among them was this extraordinary midwife, commissioned by King Louis XV to travel around France teaching obstetrics. I turned up many mentions of her, saying that she had invented a mannequin, and written a textbook on birthing. The dates and other details in these mini-bios turned out to be all wrong, but the contours of an amazing story were there. I was fascinated, and decided that as soon as I was done with my book on the Journal des Dames I would learn more about Mme du Coudray. Much to my astonishment, I found that hardly anything had been written on her since her own time! So I sent inquiries to each of the 90-plus French departmental archives, asking if they had any documents on her. I could tell them what archival series to look in, because if she was sent by the king she would have had to be in touch with his minister of finance. Some archivist said no, some said maybe, but many said they had a rich supply. So, over the course of about 8 years—whenever I had free time from my professor job or a sabbatical semester or a summer—I traveled around France gathering and reading all traces of her I could find. Because her mission was official, that is because the king had recognized her talent and commissioned her to basically arrest infant mortality (!), hundreds of letters existed, to her, about her and by her. I was in heaven. There are hardly any women, especially in the 1700s, who left that kind of paper trail.

ES: How do you see her, you who have researched her life, immersed yourself in her work, her friendships, her achievements?

NRG: I was from the first, and still am, completely smitten. Madame du Coudray had a strong sense of self and, out of sheer guts and stamina, she invented a life-long patriotic and humanitarian mission to save babies for France. This was a job envisioned by her and then royally created for her, completely unprecedented. She persuaded the king that she had something unique to offer to the nation. She was a strong, tough person, but just imagine what she had to deal with as she moved from one French city to another, set up her operation, taught the huge number of very young women that the local parish priests had selected for her as potentially eager student midwives. Everywhere she went she had to deal with administrators appointed by the Court in Versailles, males of course, many of whom resented the trouble to which she put them and the need to accommodate a woman’s demands. And she was demanding! The house had to be equipped in particular ways, the teaching day needed a particular structure, and the location for lessons was almost always the city hall, where other administrative business was usually conducted but had to be put aside so she had the necessary time and space. Her intelligence, her courage, her way of dealing with obstacles thrown in her path, her perseverance—all this made me a huge admirer.

ES: The Machine. How revolutionary was it? How was it used as a teaching tool? What have you found in the archives about it? In my novel I reimagined Madame Du Coudray’s presentation of the Machine at Versailles …  so I am particularly interested in your take on it.

NRG: The “machine” was absolutely revolutionary. Models of the female body existed before, of course, often in miniature and made of wood, stone, or ivory. But hers was life-size, and meant to be practiced upon, so built of strong yet pliable material. The internal structure was sometimes actual pelvic bone, but often a wicker frame, and it was covered in straw or upholstery and then a thick, durable outer fabric. There were vessels inside the mannequin that could hold water to imitate amniotic fluid, and of course there was the model of the fetus which could be placed in various positions to replicate difficult births—transverse, breech—that the practicing midwife might encounter and need to handle safely. The model was appreciated and approved by the Paris Faculty of medicine and the College of surgery, and Madame du Coudray and her team produced hundreds of these which got distributed everywhere she taught. A pristine model was always left to be permanently displayed in each town’s Hôtel de Ville, so that when the practice ones got damaged or worn out there would always be an intact replica showing how it should look when repaired. I understand there is now a replica of the Rouen original displayed in the Musée de l’Homme in Paris.

ES: Is Madame Du Coudray well known in France? 

NRG: She is better known now than she was before. Until I visited the Musée Flaubert in Rouen—it is a history of medicine museum named for the novelist’s father who was a doctor—I didn’t even know there was an extant model. It was certainly not advertised! I was wandering through that museum and suddenly came upon it. I was so completely surprised that when I saw it I actually began to weep. I had worked with so many letters written by Madame du Coudray, but somehow standing in front of this amazing object, that she actually conceived of and sewed together herself, was unbelievably moving. 

ES:  You are not only the author of The King’s Midwife, but—most recently—of Minerva’s French Sisters described as : A fascinating collective biography of six female scientists in eighteenth-century France, whose stories were largely written out of history. How did they capture your attention?

NRG: I am always looking for the women in the Enlightenment. The French Revolutionary goal of “fraternité,” of brotherhood, always bothered me because we know there were women playing important instrumental roles in all aspects of political and intellectual life. But they are not talked about, Who were they? Where were they? In fact they can be found, but it takes a lot of determined sleuthing around. The anatomist in my new book, Mlle Biheron, was mentored by some of the same people who supported Madame du Coudray, so that was how I came across her. Then I learned of her partner, the botanist Mlle Basseporte at the Jardin du Roi. Then I learned of the field naturalist, Jeanne Barret who, disguised as man, got on Bougainville’s around-the-world voyage and collected flora from far-away lands that were then sent back to the Jardin. Through her I learned of the astronomer Mme Lepaute. I was led to the mathematician Mlle Ferrand and the chemist Thrioux d’Arconville through other channels. These six are by no means the only women doing serious science in France in the 1700s, but they were the ones about whom I was able to learn enough to really flesh out detailed stories of their works and days. 

Nina Rattner Gelbart is professor of history and the Anita Johnson Wand Professor of Women’s Studies at Occidental College.

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Blog Posts–a selection

Posted by on Nov 24, 2021

Here are the blog posts I have written over the years about writing historical fiction. I have collected them here for easy access.

What do memoirs of Catherine the Great reveal?

A visit to a 19th century dentist

On writing about Catherine the Great

On Russian women in the 18th century

Using memoirs and letters as sources for historical fiction

On St. Petersburg and Catherine the Great

Writing The Winter Palace: biographies of Catherine the Great

Writing the Winter Palace: inspiration

Using Historical Details in Novels

What I’ve Learnt from Hilary Mantel About Writing Historical Novels

Archival Research for Historical Novels

Writing Historical Novels

Left for the Library

On the Insidious Absence of Stories

Wroclaw and Breslau–memory

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