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Meet Diane McKinney-Whetstone
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Imagination, Facts, and the Writing Process: An Essay by the Author
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More by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
About the author
Meet Diane McKinney-Whetstone
DIANE MCKINNEY-WHETSTONE is the author of six critically-acclaimed novels, most recently Lazaretto. Her fiction debut, Tumbling, was followed by Tempest Rising, Blues Dancing, Leaving Cecil Street, and Trading Dreams at Midnight. She lives with her husband, Greg, in her hometown of Philadelphia, a city that is one of her biggest inspirations. Its blocks and neighborhoods themselves become characters as she tells stories about everyday people existing in families and communities; characters faltering, yielding to their desires, falling, fighting, climbing, reaching for their better selves. Twice awarded the American Library Association Black Caucus Literary Award for Fiction, she is also a recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant. She is a past lecturer in the writing program at the University of Pennsylvania.
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About the book
Imagination, Facts, and the Writing Process: An Essay by the Author
BECAUSE LAZARETTO IS A work of historical fiction, writing it was a challenge for me. When I write a novel, I don’t want to consider the facts; I want to imagine them. I want to dive deep, then deeper still, into the oceans that are my characters’ interior worlds. I want emotional truths to swirl around me, thick like gumbo. I want to stand in the same places that they do and taste the same salty air or, when the sun is at its hottest, feel the pavement burn the soles of my bare feet, too. I want to chase a plot that leads of its own will to the darkened backroom of a lean-to shack and watch, amazed, as the space forms itself into the shape my story will take. Facts get in my way. Their precision drags me down. Facts force me to know rather than imagine. Fact is, I almost abandoned Lazaretto because of my frustration. And yet the facts of the Lazaretto—the quarantine station for which the novel is named—are so intriguing that I could not let the story go.
I was first inspired by the basic history of the Lazaretto. Situated just south of Philadelphia, it was built to protect the city against a yellow fever outbreak like the one in 1793 that killed 5,000 people, a tenth of the city’s population Thousands more were sickened, the wealthy fled, and Philadelphia lost its status as a young nation’s political center (at the time, of course, it had been serving as the capital). Another epidemic would surely reduce the city further, to a squalor-filled blotch on the Eastern seaboard, so quarantine protocol was established. All ships hoping to enter the city’s port during high quarantine season had to first stop at the Lazaretto to be inspected. Suspicious cargo was burned; sick passengers were held in quarantine until they recovered or died. During the Lazaretto’s heyday, more immigrants were processed there than at Ellis Island. What an unknown historical gem; what a dark and pestilence-filled, yet hopeful, place to situate a novel!
Characters and their stories started percolating in my head. I decided I would begin in the late 1890s, to distance the story as much as possible from slavery; I really did not want this story to be another story about slavery. Perhaps the story would become elastic and stretch into the Roaring Twenties. So I was breezing along, enjoying that blissful state of writing that allows me to meander, explore, discover. The journey was captivating. But then a new fact sprang up in front of me, causing me to screech to a halt: The Philadelphia Board of Health ceased to operate the Lazaretto in 1893.
Damned facts.
So I was forced to back up, to start the story in the late 1880s. I imagined a wedding there among the Lazaretto’s black live-in staff. A white man happens upon the celebration, and is smitten by one of the celebrants. She in turn is attracted to him. Her look is such that she could pass for white; certainly “passing” was a fact of the time. Yet this felt so typical, so expected. But unlike a historical date, which I had to respect, here was a fact that I could manipulate to achieve the emotional honesty I—and the story—craved. I could let the facts dance with my imagination. Why can’t he be the one “passing?” What would that be like, a white man pretending to be black? I had no idea, but I could discover it through writing. It was an exciting, invigorating exercise that led me to delve into his past, her past, the pasts of all the staff.
This exploration took me into Philadelphia itself, and I backed up in the story even more, to Lincoln’s assassination. In small increments, I was becoming more comfortable embracing historical fact. History reveals that when Lincoln’s body travelled to Philadelphia for public viewing, the city’s mayor set aside a private time for wealthy, white, politically-connected men only to pay respects. So I constructed a scene in which a black woman sneaks into this private viewing. I felt as if I was there too in Independence Hall, witnessing the spectacle of the privileged passing by the casket of a president who’d endeared himself to the masses. I could hear the ticking of their expensive pocket watches, could smell the tinges of cologne mixing with the aroma of wet cowhide.
Similarly, as I researched Philadelphia’s black population in the 1860s, I discovered a variety of established black communities. At one extreme were the well-educated, prosperous black people who owned their homes; at the other were those who lived in poverty-laced blocks where gambling houses thrived. What might happen if the two communities collide through a friendship that unites disparate worlds? Characters emerged, fully imaginary and yet firmly rooted in historical truth.
I believe that it is a writer’s obligation to change the reader. When I, the author, am also changed through writing—when I discover something about human nature, and as a result, something about myself—I view it as a gift. But in this case, it is my process that has been changed. Writing this novel took me full circle, back to what inspired me in the first place: the Lazaretto. I came to realize that the facts are not road blocks, but rather stepping stones that allow for a new perspective.
I visited the site where the structure still stands; I viewed countless renderings, photographs; read many descriptions. This fact-finding no longer felt obligatory, confining, something to resist. I peered into the windows of the Lazaretto and imagined what might have happened during one nineteenth century summer if a boat-load of black Philadelphians travelled to the quarantine station for a wedding. It would be historically inaccurate for a black nurse to be in charge, but what if the quarantine master is from a family of abolitionists and seeks to bring about parity however he can? In this case, giving his white staff weekend leave and allowing a black woman to be at the helm. And what if a man shoots at the boat bound for the Lazaretto, and later a corpse infected with yellow fever vanished, so that all the guests are trapped there, quarantined?
The more I integrated historical accuracy into my fiction, the more possibilities presented themselves. The more I locked the story in the 1800s, the more timeless it became—and ultimately, more honest.
Read on
Have You Read
More by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
TRADING DREAMS AT MIDNIGHT: A NOVEL
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Three generations of women, bound to each other by shared joy and pain, form the center of this moving story about letting go of the past in order to embrace the possibilities the future may still hold.
“Diane McKinney-Whetstone finds a way to connect with her characters—and makes us do the same.”
—Essence
LEAVING CECIL STREET: A NOVEL
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A compelling novel about family, friendship, and faith, Leaving Cecil Street is the story of best friends who have to decide what matters most in life after a tragedy comes between them.
“McKinney-Whe
tstone . . . has a true talent for strong characters, effortlessly natural dialogue, and prose that flows.”
—Kirkus Reviews
BLUES DANCING: A NOVEL
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In this richly spun tale of passion, betrayal, and redemption, former lovers must confront their complicated history after an unexpected reunion.
“[McKinney-Whetstone] ought to be classified among the best of all contemporary fiction writers, period.”
—Detroit Free Press
TEMPEST RISING: A NOVEL
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Diane McKinney-Whetstone richly evokes the early 1960s in west Philadelphia in this spicy novel of loss, healing, and love that follows three young sisters—Bliss, Victoria, and Shern—facing an uncertain future.
“McKinney-Whetstone’s gifts as a writer continue to fascinate.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
TUMBLING: A NOVEL
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The beloved bestselling debut novel that launched the luminous career of Diane McKinney-Whetstone, Tumbling is the “warm and wonderful” (Nikki Giovanni), beautiful and uplifting, story of Noon and Herbie and their tight-knit Philadelphia neighborhood in the 1940s and 50s.
“Even the air is palpable in Tumbling. . . . The story moves forth on the power of Ms. McKinney-Whetstone’s characters. Ms. McKinney-Whetstone captures the formidable struggle to protect both a community and a family.”
—New York Times Book Review
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Praise for Lazaretto
“A perfect book for the end of the Obama era. . . . This sprawling epic about black women, class stratification, yellow fever, racism, and familial bonds that transcend blood feels incredibly daring. . . . Transitions from historical family drama to a taut suspense story—it’s impossible to do it justice without giving away some of its deeply satisfying twists. Suffice it to say, though this story is set in the late 1800s, it feels impressively modern and relevant. Using the backdrop of Lincoln’s assassination as a starting point seems like a masterfully timed decision, as the black characters in this story contemplate not just the fate of the country, but also their own fate in the absence of a national leader who appeared—at least on the surface—to invest in their liberty. . . . McKinney-Whetstone’s trademark poetic prose is still as sharp as it has always been. She can make a gruesome turn sound beautiful, and her sentences read as though they were constructed with a painstaking devotion to musicality, without sacrificing plot and pacing. That balance is quite rare to find in contemporary writing—and I couldn’t be happier that McKinney-Whetstone has returned to show us all how it’s done.”
—Washington Post
“As in any Diane McKinney-Whetstone novel, there is love in all of its many facets and dimensions. The author shows that good writing is like a fine bottle of wine—it just gets better with time.”
—Essence
“When it comes to creating living and breathing characters, no one can touch Diane McKinney-Whetstone. Her new novel Lazaretto is no exception. . . . I suggest reading Lazaretto at the dinner table, because it will leave you as full as your favorite meal.”
—BuzzFeed Books
“Vibrant. . . . Completely engaging. . . . A unique blend of poetic language and graphic depictions of the injustices suffered by African Americans in the post-Civil War period.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Language sings throughout the whole of McKinney-Whetstone’s writing—from the lilt of her characters’ colloquial speech to her poetic, visceral descriptions. . . . A sophisticated and compelling novel that comes alive through a rich cavalcade of vibrant characters and a suspenseful plot.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Whetstone’s novel explores a fictional crisis that begins in the neighborhood surrounding Philly’s Lazaretto Hospital after the Civil War.”
—New York Post, “This Week’s Must–Read Books”
“Juggling a wide cast of characters, this book dives into family struggles, romance, Lincoln’s assassination, and the racial tensions simmering in post-Civil War Philadelphia. Perfect for fans of history and complicated, rich, character-driven stories.”
—BookTrib.com
“Once again, McKinney-Whetstone has managed to bring to life a wide range of characters whose triumphs and tribulations would never show up in a history book.”
—BookPage
Also by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Tumbling
Tempest Rising
Blues Dancing
Leaving Cecil Street
Trading Dreams at Midnight
Credits
Cover design by Jarrod Taylor
Cover photograph © ullstein bild/Granger, NYC
Copyright
A hardcover edition of this book was published in 2016 by HarperCollins Publishers
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
LAZARETTO. Copyright © 2016 by Diane McKinney-Whetstone. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
FIRST HARPER PAPERBACK EDITION PUBLISHED 2017.
Title page drawing of Lazaretto by Frank H. Taylor, 1895, courtesy of the Library of Congress
EPub Edition April 2017 ISBN 9780062126986
ISBN 978-0-06-212697-9 (pbk.)
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