Girl in the Blue Coat

Monica Hesse is a columnist with The Washington Post and the author of several novels. Before writing Girl in the Blue Coat, Hesse wrote two science-fiction novels.

In this Author Q&A with The Washington Independent Review of Books, Hesse explains how her experience as a journalist prepared her well to make the jump from science fiction to historical fiction. She says that:

“It’s a big leap, but it’s also a total un-leap. I’m a journalist by trade, so research is my comfort zone. It was reassuring to work on a book where, when I wasn’t sure what should happen to my fictional characters, I got to go and find out what did happen in real life. And when I thought, ‘Well, this chapter would be much easier to resolve if I knew whether color film existed in World War II Europe,’ it felt natural to put on my reporter costume and call around until I could find an obscure vintage film expert who could say, ‘But, of course. You want Kodachrome or Agfacolor, or maybe Agfachrome, but first let’s have a detailed conversation about the specific dates of your book’s events and who your characters are, because that would impact which camera film they’ve [stet] be most likely to get.’”

Hesse features many real-life historical elements in Girl in the Blue Coat. Which ones, in particular, benefitted from Hesse’s journalistic eye and sensibility?

Teaching Suggestion: Break the novel into sections (first half, middle section, and concluding chapters) and engage the class in a discussion of the historical plot points that are prominent in each section. Then, ask the students to discuss which elements they were most surprised by, or most impressed by, or which ones they’d like to learn more about.

Differentiation Suggestion: For advanced learners, and/or for those students inclined toward creative writing, you can ask them to read this Writer’s Digest article on world-building techniques in historical fiction and then write their own two-page piece of historical fiction, from any historical period of their choosing.