Sarah Fritz on Writing About the Virtuosic Composer Clara Schumann

Women’s historical fiction and historical romance are currently more popular than ever, but women’s historical nonfiction? Not so much. Despite being a biographer, when choosing books for pleasure, I’m still drawn again and again to fictional retellings of women’s history rather than nonfiction ones. They’re not only more compelling (as all fiction tends to be when plots can be crafted rather than proved by citation), but they also let me engage more of myself on their pages. The fiction gives an immersive experience of women’s viewpoint.

Article continues after advertisement

In nonfiction of women’s histories, particularly biography, there is a pesky prominence of men’s point-of-view. The practical reasons for this are numerous, from lack of research availability to the popularity of men’s history to the appeal for men readers and critics’ approval.…