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Speaker 1: Hey, guys, please don't forget about erro dot net A

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r r oe dot net. I believe in the power

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of choice, and your listening habits are a choice. There

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are seventeen podcasts to listen to. Please enjoy them. A

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R r o e dot net. How are you doing today, Allison,

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I'm very good.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me on your show.

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Speaker 1: Let me tell you something. I'm very excited about this

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because the way that you have done this book is,

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oh my god, so shocking. I mean, even the cover

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of the book gives it a texture of where I mean,

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it's like, I can't explain it, except it makes it

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makes me feel like that I was in that time period.

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Speaker 2: Oh that makes me so happy. I mean, the cover

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is really really beautiful and evocative of the Gilded Age.

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Speaker 1: And it actually it gives it gives a Titanic a

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new page basically, you know, pardon the pun, but that's

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the way I mean, because it you know, because we

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all know the story. But how many people know this story?

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Actually I should say story please because this two books, right,

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you know, I.

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Speaker 2: Personally had never known about this legend about Harry Elkinswidner,

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the builded aage book collector who perished on the Titanic

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and took with him this rare and precious book. So

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I don't think that many people have heard about him.

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Speaker 1: Now, did you find it fascinating in the way? Because

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I'm because I'm a big fan of anybody who can

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put a pin to paper or a writing instrument on

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a page and start bringing out something. And Harry just

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seemed to be that guy that he brought things with

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him and because no matter where he was, he was Harry,

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and he happened to enjoy books.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I mean, I think he lends himself to being

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in a novel because he was this dashing, twenty seven

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year old Harvard graduate, a passionate young man who just

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as you said, loved to collect particularly books, and so

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automatically right off from you know, the get go, you

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have a character, of real life character to work with

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that also has this tragic death, you know, at the

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age of twenty seven on the Titanic and takes with

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him this treasure that is never found again.

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Speaker 1: So now, how did My thing is is that when

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you were doing the research, which you did, a lot

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of the thing is is that how did you weigh

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the odds between what is clickbait what is authenticity? I mean,

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there has to because we're in this age where it's

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like we want to rewrite history, but what do we trust?

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Speaker 2: That's a wonderful question. So I have been a historical

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novelist for you know, twenty five years, and doing the

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deep dive into the research is for me the most

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edifying part of the you know, writing process, because I

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get to learn something. So doing that to see as

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research and learning about who Harry Elkins was, How did

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his family come to be so wealthy, How did his

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book buying you know, just date in his childhood and

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then into his young adult life, and then how does

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his mother make this library at Harvard after he dies

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with this very special room inside that? How does you

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know his three thousand volume book collection has his original

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desk and chairs. All of those details are grounded in fact,

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and you know, help create this atmosphere of you know

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that comes the backdrop for the novel.

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Speaker 1: But you know, it's so fascinating with you talking about

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those three thousand books right away, I'm going, is there

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anybody around today that still collects books like that? Because

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I mean that was that was one of the things

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as a child, I always dreamt of having this room

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that had all of these books, l like Harry, and

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I was like, I want that. And nowadays you don't

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hear of that.

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Speaker 2: You don't, But then you know there are these people

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who do really still believe that a house isn't a

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home unless you have walls of books. I mean, I

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feel like I have walls of books. I have books

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around my bed, my sofa. So it's definitely not as

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beautiful as the Harry Elkinswiden Memorial Library room, but I

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think it still exists.

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Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you this personal question, those books

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going on to a library, because that's what Eleanor created

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for Harry in honor of all of those books. I mean,

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for it to leave the origin of where they once belong,

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I mean, ah, yeah, yeah, that would be like taking

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my daily journals out of here that I've had for

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thirty three years.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I mean, I think what Eleanor did after her

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son perished on the Titanic so tragically, really is a

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testament to maternal love, a way of healing through grief.

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Those volumes, which were in the ancestral home of Linwood

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Hall outside Philadelphia, were moved to this particular room inside

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the memorial Library, which I like to describe as the

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beating heart of the library because, as I mentioned, it

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has his original desk and chairs, it has this three

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thousand volumes, It has this beautiful portrait over the mantle

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of Harry, and to this day, every week the librarian

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puts fresh flowers on Harry's desk at the request of

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Eleanor's behest to the university, in order to conjure up

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the sensation that at any moment, Harry might come and

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pick one of those volumes off the shelves and sit

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down to read. I think it was not only a financial,

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you know, endeavor, a endeavor of a mother's love, but

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it also was a spiritual endeavor for his mother to

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do this, And I think that's one of the reasons

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why I wanted to tell this story from in his

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own words, as a voice, you know, the voice of

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his ghost inside the library his mother built in his honor,

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limit You can feel him inhabiting this space with his books,

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but also with this connection to his mother and those

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who loved him while he was alive.

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Speaker 1: I am a firm believer in those ghosts, because I

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believe that my writing is not me. It is that

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it's somebody lived here before I did in this force,

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and I write because they said you're going to write.

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Do you feel the same way? Do you think who

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is your muse?

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Speaker 2: Ah? That's a great question, you know. I feel every

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time I sit down to write a new book, I

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have to sort of open this portal inside my head,

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in my heart to let those voices come through. Whether

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they are the voice of a you know, one who

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lived before and I'm channeling a historical character, or even

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if it's invented. I do believe that every character on

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the page has its own soul, and then I have

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to sort of listen to them and do them justice

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as I'm trying to bring them to life on the page.

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Speaker 1: Please do not move. We'll be right back with Alice

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and Richmond. The name of the book the Missing Pages.

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We're back with author Alice in Richmond. Look at what's

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happened to you as that writer and somebody who has

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built up a love and a trust as well as

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compassion for that writer inside of you. Because the lost

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wife right now has taken a path here that there's

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no way that you envisioned this when you were putting

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those initial words on that page.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, there was no way I could have anticipated what

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would soon follow with that book.

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Speaker 1: You're right, but that's the part about writing that you

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try to share with those that you know. You know

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kind of dabble in it, but it's like no, no,

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go farther, go farther. You can push it. Just get

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beyond that limit and stop hiding your work.

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Speaker 2: I think every book pushes you to your limits. You

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as you said, it takes, it makes, it pulls you

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further than you ever anticipated going when you first set

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down at your desk to start writing, and it's a marathon,

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and it's you know, it can take several years to

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finish in novels. You know, The Lost Life took me

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over three and a half years to write, and I

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had two children in diapers. So when I look back

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at that book, it was such an endeavor of you know,

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really believing in the story, even though I think there

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were a lot of skeptics in the beginning thinking that

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novel would sell. But it just you know, the word

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of mouth, people reading a book, falling in love with

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the characters, learning something new, That sort of you know,

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grassroots energy can really take a book to you know,

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the next level when you're least expecting it.

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Speaker 1: This book is so much what I call a dear

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future reader moment. The missing page is take. I mean,

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it's something from a long time ago and you planted

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it here, so dear future reader.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was something that I never expected

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writing about. My daughter was on a tour at Harvard

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when she learned this legend about Harry not getting on

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the lifeboat with his mother but instead going back to

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retrieve this rare and precious book that he had just

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purchased in London. And when she shared that story with me,

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I immediately was like, I'm sure he just said that

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to his mother to you know, give her, you know,

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a glimmer of hope that he would be on the

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next Life's vote, but that he knew he had to

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be a gentleman in stay behind, but the book was

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an excuse. But then afterwards, I kept on returning to

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that scene, and I thought, was there any truth that

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he might have returned to his cabin for a book

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that was so precious he'd risk his life to save it.

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And that's when I learned he had just you know,

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purchased this book of Francis Bacon's Essays, a sixteenth century

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manuscript that was as small as a baseball card, so

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tiny with gilded, you know, edges, And I was like,

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maybe there is some truth to this story. And that's

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you know, the questions propel you to think maybe there's

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a novel here. And then I started to think, would

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it be interesting if he got to tell what really

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happened in his own words as a ghost inside the

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Library's mother built in his honor because that gave me

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the ability for him to speak his truth, to tell

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the final chapter of his story when no one else

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knew those last moments on the Titanic.

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Speaker 1: So where were you on the path when his ghost

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touched you? Because I because there's no way this automatically

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fell into your lap. Somebody had to reach through the

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universe in all of those clouds and say, hey, Allison,

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you're going to write this.

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Speaker 2: Where was Where was I at this moment? You know,

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that's such a great question. I was at a crossroads

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where my you know, I was going to be losing

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my last child to college, that they were going off,

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and there was this separation and I feel like my

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daughter sharing this story was like a parting gift with

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me as she embarked on that new chapter of her life.

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And I kept on thinking of that scene between mother

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and child on the Titanic when I was writing this book.

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And your your question is so poignant because I never

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thought about the parallel there. But there was this sense

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of my daughter giving me a gift in this separation

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of saying like, this is a story that I think

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is worth investigating, and I'm going off now in a

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different direction, you know. So I never thought of that parallel,

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but that's where I was when this story was shared

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with me. And I actually dedicate the story to Charlotte

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because she did give me the first seats of inspiration

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to you know, examine and cultivate for this book.

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Speaker 1: Wow, Where can people go to find out more about you, Allison?

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Because I mean, ten minutes with you is just not enough.

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Speaker 2: My website is Alison Richmond dot com. My spelling of

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my name is a little unique. It's a L Y

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s O N riphm an and you can find me

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on Instagram at that same name. You can find my

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books at hopefully every one of your independent bookstores, Barnes

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and no Go all the online site.

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Speaker 1: You've got to come back to this show. Then you've

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got to come back here and we're going to talk

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about your next book. We're going to and then when

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and when when The Lost Wife you know, officially is

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released in picture form and stuff like that, we got

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to talk about it because that's what people need to know.

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Speaker 2: Oh. I so appreciate the invitation to return and to

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really you know, have the opportunity to be able to

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talk about the missing pages with you today.

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Speaker 1: Excellent, Will you be brilliant today?

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Speaker 2: Okay, you two, Thanks so much,