Tracey Enerson Wood stops by the blog this week to discuss her historical fiction debut, The Engineer’s Wife. Welcome, Tracey!
Author Name: Tracey Enerson Wood
Book Title: The Engineer’s Wife
Book Genre: Historical Fiction/ Book Club Fiction
Release Date: April 2020
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
How would you describe The Engineer’s Wife?
She built the Brooklyn Bridge, then was lost in its shadow.
How long did it take for you to write the book? Did you do have to do any research?
It took about a year to do the research, another 2 years to write it, and then another 2 years to find an agent and publisher. All told, it was nearly ten years between initial concept, and holding the book in my eager hand.
What drew you to the historical fiction genre?
I have loved HF ever since I read Herman Wouk’s Winds of War as a teenager. It was the first time I could really picture historical events, and having characters to follow made history ever so much more enjoyable to me.
For you, what’s the hardest thing about writing?
Having the discipline to ignore the whining dog, social media, and whatever fun events everyone else is doing. In my former occupations (nurse and interior designer) I was always contained in a work space. It’s much harder to keep focused when you don’t have that physical separation from your non-work space. And you need intense focus to write well.
What do you love most about it?
I thoroughly enjoy using the creative part of my brain. I love bringing characters to life. But mostly I enjoy talking with readers, and learning how my words affected them, what they enjoyed (or didn’t).
What are your interests outside of writing and reading?
I enjoy being with family, traveling, cooking. Also important to me is honoring military veterans and their loved ones, for whom I have co-written non-fiction books.
Are you working on a new project?
Yes, I am working on my second novel, The War Nurse. It is the story of Julia Stimson, a WWI nurse who bravely recruited, trained, and led nurses in wartime France. I’m also working on a cute and helpful non-fiction book: 101 Life Hacks for Military Spouses.
Where can readers find you?
My website: https://TraceyEnersonWood.com
I’m also on Instagram: @traceyenersonwood and twitter @traceyenerson.
Thank you, Tracey! The Engineer’s Wife is out now!
The Engineer’s Wife
Emily Warren Roebling refuses to live conventionally―she knows who she is and what she wants, and she’s determined to make change. But then her husband Wash asks the unthinkable: give up her dreams to make his possible.
Emily’s fight for women’s suffrage is put on hold, and her life transformed when Wash, the Chief Engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge, is injured on the job. Untrained for the task, but under his guidance, she assumes his role, despite stern resistance and overwhelming obstacles. Lines blur as Wash’s vision becomes her own, and when he is unable to return to the job, Emily is consumed by it. But as the project takes shape under Emily’s direction, she wonders whose legacy she is building―hers, or her husband’s. As the monument rises, Emily’s marriage, principles, and identity threaten to collapse. When the bridge finally stands finished, will she recognize the woman who built it?
Based on the true story of the Brooklyn Bridge, The Engineer’s Wife delivers an emotional portrait of a woman transformed by a project of unfathomable scale, which takes her into the bowels of the East River, suffragette riots, the halls of Manhattan’s elite, and the heady, freewheeling temptations of P.T. Barnum. It’s the story of a husband and wife determined to build something that lasts―even at the risk of losing each other.
Author bio:
Tracey Enerson Wood has always had a writing bug. While working as a Registered Nurse, starting her own Interior Design company, raising two children, and bouncing around the world as a military wife, she indulged in her passion as a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She has authored magazine columns and other non-fiction, written and directed plays of all lengths, including Grits, Fleas and Carrots, Rocks and Other Hard Places, Alone, and Fog. Her screenplays include Strike Three and Roebling’s Bridge.
Other passions include food and cooking, and honoring military heroes. Her co-authored anthology/cookbook Homefront Cooking, American Veterans share Recipes, Wit, and Wisdom, was released by Skyhorse Publishing in May, 2018, and all authors’ profits are donated to organizations that support veterans, currently chef Robert Irvine’s foundation.
Her debut novel, The Engineer’s Wife, a historical fiction about the woman who built the Brooklyn Bridge, was released by Sourcebooks in April, 2020. A New Jersey native, she now lives with her family in Florida.