William Burton McCormick, author of the historical novel Lenin’s Harem will be one of six members of the writers’ panel “MEDIEVEAL, VICTORIAN OR ICE AGE? Bringing History Alive” during Thrillerfest XII on Saturday, July 15, 2017 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. The fifty-minute discussion begins at 3:20 P.M with panel members revealing their techniques for researching and writing accurate and engrossing historical fiction that keeps readers turning pages. Audience participation is encouraged.
Thrillerfest is the world’s largest conference for thriller enthusiasts with authors such as Lee Child, Karin Slaughter, Lisa Gardner, Steve Berry and Heather Graham in attendance.
McCormick lived four years in Latvia and Russia to research and write Lenin’s Harem, meeting with historians, museum curators, and sifting through eye-witness accounts of the events depicted in the book. The novel follows the life of an aristocrat who tries to keep himself and his family safe by joining the Red Latvian Riflemen, vanguard of the Russian Revolution only to fall prey to Stalin’s purges years later. Noted for its sweeping scope and historical accuracy, Lenin’s Harem became the first work of fiction ever added to the Latvian War Museum’s permanent library in Rīga. In 2013, McCormick spoke about the book and the history behind it at the Latvian embassy to the United States in Washington D.C.
Other historical novelists’ on the panel include Susan Elia MacNeal, Kay Kendall, William Martin, Michael Mayo and Ann Parker. The discussion is moderated by Nancy Bilyeau.
More information on ThrillerFest can be found at thrillerfest.com
Praise for Lenin’s Harem:
“Lenin’s Harem is a different kind of thriller, kind of what you’d get if you married Dostoyevsky with Daniel Silva. Broad, ambitious, and plenty good.” —Jon Land for The Providence Sunday Journal
“Lenin’s Harem is an important historical fiction work that offers clarity to a complex and tumultuous time in Russian history. A prodigious and gripping read.” —The Historical Novels Review
“The attention to historical detail and depth of introspection are worthy of Pasternak or Solzhenitsyn. Enthralling, reads as true as my grandfather’s letters.” —Daniel Wagner, former Dean of the CIA’s Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis
“William Burton McCormick takes us inside lives that would otherwise be not simply invisible to us but unimaginable.” —Suzannah Dunn, author of The Confession of Katherine Howard
