For better or for worse, stories of wartime are inherently dramatic. In this session, we’ll hear from three novelists who consider war’s repercussions even on those who might be thousands of miles away from the front lines. Stephen P. Kiernan and Jessica Shattuck set their novels during and after World War II. The titular heroine of Kiernan’s The Baker’s Secret uses her vocation to sustain her fellow villagers in German-occupied Normandy and to enact her own quiet but effective form of resistance. Shattuck’s novel, The Women in the Castle, also explores the legacy of resistance, as a group of resistance widows, women whose overlapping stories exemplify the moral costs of war, come cautiously together in the wake of the conflict that killed their husbands. Finally, playwright and novelist Laura Harrington’s A Catalog of Birds brings to light the wounds—both seen and unseen—that devastate not only a Vietnam veteran but also the family and rural community to which he returns. Guiding their conversation is moderator Catherine Parnell, senior associate editor of Consequence, a literary magazine focusing on the culture of war.
