Blog Tour, Interview & Giveaway: My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie
My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie released last week and I am thrilled to bring you an exclusive interview with the authors! Check out all the book information, author interview, as well as the tour-wide giveaway!
Wife, Widow, and Warrior in Alexander Hamilton’s Quest for a More Perfect Union
From the New York Times bestselling authors of America’s First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton—a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. Haunting, moving, and beautifully written, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza’s story as it’s never been told before—not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal—but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.
Order your copy of MY DEAR HAMILTON today!
My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamiltonby Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie
Category: Adult, Historical Fiction
Publication: April 3rd, 2018; William Morrow
A general’s daughter…
Coming of age on the perilous frontier of revolutionary New York, Elizabeth Schuyler champions the fight for independence. And when she meets Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s penniless but passionate aide-de-camp, she’s captivated by the young officer’s charisma and brilliance. They fall in love, despite Hamilton’s bastard birth and the uncertainties of war.
A Founding Father’s wife…
But the union they create—in their marriage and the new nation—is far from perfect. From glittering inaugural balls to bloody street riots, the Hamiltons are at the center of it all—including the political treachery of America’s first sex scandal, which forces Eliza to struggle through heartbreak and betrayal to find forgiveness.
The last surviving light of the Revolution…
When a duel destroys Eliza’s hard-won peace, the grieving widow fights her husband’s enemies to preserve Alexander’s legacy. But long-buried secrets threaten everything Eliza believes about her marriage and her own legacy. Questioning her tireless devotion to the man and country that have broken her heart, she’s left with one last battle—to understand the flawed man she married and imperfect union he could never have created without her…
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Interview:
1. What inspired you to write historical fiction?
We’re both fascinated by history and what it can teach us about the modern world. Being able to both educate readers and entertain them at the same time is a real joy. Especially when we discover great untold American stories about Founding Mothers like Eliza Schuyler Hamilton.
2. Did you get to do any fun research for My Dear Hamilton?
Yes! In addition to Alexander Hamilton’s thousands of letters available online on the National Archives website, Eliza’s story required a lot of archival research, including at the New York Public Library and the New York Historical Society. We also visited quite a few historical sites, and our favorite was probably to the battlefields of Saratoga and the museum there where we tried on costumes. We also got a colonial cooking lesson in the basement of Fort Crailo, Eliza Hamilton’s mother’s ancestral home.
3. How do you split up the work when co-authoring a novel?
We have complementary writing strengths and we’re well aware of them, so we tend to dole out sections to each other based on what we each do best. But we also write to a deadline, so when one of us falls behind, the other takes up the slack and if one of us can’t make a scene work, the other one comes to the rescue. We swap chapters constantly, and edit freely. If we do come to an impasse, we talk it out and inevitably come up with a third solution that is better than either of us originally envisioned. That’s one of the most magical things about our partnership!
4. What is one thing you learned about each other in the co-writing process?
We learned that we have very different styles of plotting and writing, for starters. Stephanie, who tends to have more of a relational memory, makes charts and graphs and move scenes around in Scrivener, and fill out timelines. Laura, by contrast, who has an incredible memory for dates, will sometimes just jot down notes on a napkin she finds at Panera!
5. What is one piece of history you learned your head canon had wrong?
It was hard to realize and remember how young these revolutionaries were. Discovering that Lafayette was a 20-year-old Major General in the American Army–and good at his job–was as surprising as realizing that he, Eliza Schuyler, and James Monroe were all about the same age.
6. What’s one thing every Hamilton fan should know about Eliza?
Some of Hamilton’s writings are in Eliza’s handwriting, which supports a contention that they were collaborative partners. He couldn’t have been what he was without her.
7. If Eliza were alive today as the age you’ve written her about, what would her social media accounts be like?
Well, we wrote about her whole life, so that’s hard to say. However, even at a young age, Eliza’s family endured slander and calumny. In her real life, she faced the indignity of having her privacy violated in the press. So we think she would have been one of those private people who either don’t use social media or only do so under a secret name.
8. Without spoilers, what was your favorite part of My Dear Hamilton?
There are so many parts! But we’re particularly proud of the chapters on Yellow Fever because we did something creative there that we haven’t seen anywhere else. And we’re also thrilled to have significantly explored Eliza’s life after her husband’s death. She famously lived “another fifty years,” and no one has much treated those decades either in fiction or non-fiction–until My Dear Hamilton.
9. Tell us what you hope every reader will learn about Eliza?
That her sacrifices were important to the foundation of the country, and that there are many Founding Mothers like her whose stories deserve to be told.
Giveaway:
Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie’s MY DEAR HAMILTON – Blog Tour Schedule:
April 2nd
Book review Virginia lee – Excerpt
Books A-Brewin’ – Excerpt
Brandy Paige Roberts Blogger page – Excerpt
My Girlfriends Couch – Excerpt
April 3rd
Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents – Excerpt
It’s All About the Romance – Excerpt
My Book Snack – Review & Excerpt
Smexy& Fabulous – Excerpt
April 4th
Always a happy ever after –Review & Excerpt
Ficwishes – Excerpt
Movies, Shows, & Books – Excerpt
Quirky Lady Bookworm Reviews – Review & Excerpt
Stephanie’s Book Reports – Excerpt
SJAT’s Books and More – Review & Interview
April 5th
Hearts & Scribbles – Excerpt
Literature Goals – Excerpt
Reviews by Tammy and Kim (Rachel & Jay) – Review & Excerpt
What Is That Book About – Excerpt
April 6th
Books After Fifty – Excerpt
History Undressed – Review & Excerpt
Under the Covers Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
True Book Addict – Excerpt
Zili in the Sky – Excerpt
April 7th
3 Degrees of Fiction Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
Books According to Abby – Excerpt
Evermore Books – Excerpt
KDRBCK – Review & Excerpt
April 8th
BookCrushin – Interview
Liz’s Reading Life – Excerpt
Smut Book Junkie Book Reviews – Excerpt
Vagabonda Reads – Review & Excerpt
April 9th
Book Bug Blog – Review & Excerpt
Devilishly Delicious Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt
Just One More Chapter – Review
Read-Love-Blog – Excerpt
April 10th
Miss Riki – Review & Excerpt
My Fictional Escape – Review & Excerpt
Oh, for the Hook of a Book – Review & Interview
April 11th
Bound By Books Book review – Review
Sofia Loves Books – Review & Excerpt
April 12th
Denny S. Bryce – Review & Excerpt
Good Drunkard – Review & Excerpt
Ruth Downie – Interview
Margie’s Must Reads – Excerpt
The Voluptuous Book Diva – Excerpt
April 13th
A Bookaholic Swede – Review
Creating Herstory – Review & Interview
Historical Fiction Reviews – Review & Excerpt
Kris Waldherr Art and Words – Excerpt
April 14th
Book Nook Nuts – Excerpt
Deluged with Books Cafe – Review & Excerpt
Eclectic Ramblings of Author Heather Osborne – Review
Leigh Anderson – Review
Nerdy Soul – Review & Excerpt
Reading Between the Wines Book Club – Excerpt
Teatime and Books – Excerpt
Two Girls with Books – Review & Excerpt
Author Bio:
Stephanie Dray is a New York Times bestselling author of historical women’s fiction. Her award-winning work has been translated into multiple languages, illuminating women of the past so as to inspire the women of today. She is a frequent panelist and presenter at national writing conventions and lives near the nation’s capital.
Links:
Stephanie Dray Website |Newsletter | Facebook |Twitter | Dray & Kamoie Website
Laura Kamoieis a New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction, and the author of two nonfiction books on early American history. Until recently, she held the position of Associate Professor of History at the U.S. Naval Academy before transitioning to a full-time career writing genre fiction under the name Laura Kaye, also a New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels.
Links:
Laura Kamoie Website |Newsletter | Facebook |Twitter | Dray & Kamoie Website
Thank you so much for sharing! ~Jessica, InkSlinger PR