Guest Speaker, Sarah A. Chrisman ~ This Victorian Life
Sarah A. Chrisman is the author of the internationally-acclaimed Tales of Chetzemoka historical fiction series, as well as a number of non-fiction books about the Victorian era. Reviews of her work have appeared in The New York Times and the Edinburgh Book Review, and she has appeared as a guest on Whoopi Goldberg's The View.
"A number of years ago, when Gabriel suggested that we explore our mutual love of history by introducing things from the late-Victorian era into our daily lives, I saw it as a way to apply the immersion techniques of cultural studies to historical studies. The past is another culture, to be understood and respected. We can't travel to the past the way we travel to other countries, but we can surround ourselves with the everyday details of another time, and learn from them.
With every detail of Victorian life we've welcomed into our daily existence, we've gained insights into the culture of the time. My books are my way of sharing these insights with the world. After all, a book is a conversation between author and reader which goes on for days, and covers far more territory than a face-to-face meeting ever could."
Sarah’s Books
I knew I wanted to be a writer from the time I was a very small child. To me, writing is far more than a career or an occupation: it's my way of understanding the world, how I explain it both to myself and to other people. I can't not write, any more than a musician can keep from humming or tapping out tunes, or a visual artist can keep from expressing things in their own medium. Gabriel says that he and I are both "people who live in words," and I've always felt the expression to be as apt as it is beautiful.
This Victorian Life: Modern Adventures in Nineteenth-Century Culture, Cooking, Fashion, and Technologies
