Please welcome Sonia Gensler, author of The Revenant. The Revenant will be available through Alfred A. Knopf on June 14, 2011.
Read my review of this great read here.
What inspired the story of The Revenant?
I’ve always had a thing for girls’ schools – particularly19th century finishing schools that were daring to rival boys’ schools in the their level of academic sophistication. During a summer gathering in Tahlequah, OK, one of my critique buddies pointed out Seminary Hall (now part of Northeastern State University) and explained that it once was a Cherokee boarding school. I hadn’t known the Cherokee Nation built such a sophisticated school for their girls, and I had to know more. (You can learn more here.) Turns out there is a ghost story associated with the school – NSU graduate students conduct ghost tours every October – but I wanted something a little sexier and more shocking than the ghost of a former principal wandering around the school.
Read the entire interview here.
