Jefferson Flanders

Here are seven questions for Jefferson Flanders, author of North to Nantucket.

Q: What inspired you to write about the Civil War?

A: As I’ve noted before, it was a combination of a lifelong interest in the conflict, sparked by a visit to Gettysburg as a boy with my father, and encountering the 73 names on Nantucket’s Civil War memorial and wondering about their stories.

As I began my research, I learned that most Nantucket men had served in the  20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was dubbed the “Bloody 20th” (and, later, the “Harvard Regiment” for the large number of Harvard graduates in its ranks).

It seemed fitting to have Gabriel North, a Harvard graduate, join the 20th Regiment along with his brother Michael and experience the difficult early years of the war.

I was fortunate to have two deeply researched historical accounts to turn to: Harvard’s Civil War: The History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry by Richard F. Miller and The Civil War: The Nantucket Experience by Miller and Robert E. Mooney.

Q: Nantucket sits at the center of the story…

A: Yes, it does. I’ve sought to show how the Civil War profoundly shaped the lives of islanders. We see the impact at home through the eyes of Charlotte Hathaway. Nantucket became an island of women during the war. It wasn’t the first time that this had happened, for during the whaling years, many of Nantucket’s men were away on voyages of three years, but the consequences of the war were more severe.

Nantucket wasn’t the summer playground of the wealthy then, as it is today. I tried to capture the insularity of island life, the isolation from the mainland, but also the strong sense of community and the amazing physical beauty of the place. (It’s easier today to explore the out-of-the-way spots in a Jeep with four-wheel drive!). In some ways, Nantucket hasn’t changed, and it’s no wonder that it engenders a deep loyalty.

Q: In researching the novel, what surprised you?

A: I hadn’t realized how unpopular the war was in certain Northern quarters. While Boston remained a center of abolitionism, there were also a fair number of Copperheads. The 20th Regiment also bore the nickname “The Copperhead Regiment” because many of the Harvard officers were sympathetic to the South and argued that they had volunteered to restore the Union, not abolish slavery. It was a shock to learn that Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., future Supreme Court justice, was among the dissenters. And there was considerable working-class opposition to the war from the Irish in Boston and New York, which surfaced in draft riots.

At the same time, I must note the willingness of thousands of young men who  were willing to fight and die for the Union and to abolish slavery.

One other discovery: I hadn’t realized that in the summer of 1864, as the Union war effort stalled, President Lincoln thought he was going to lose the election to McClellan and the Peace Democrats. The victories of Sherman in Georgia and Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley convinced voters to stay the course, that victory over the South was possible.

Q: This is your 12th novel…

I have been accused of being prolific. But I like telling stories and, as far as I can tell, my books have been well-received.

I don’t suffer from writer’s block. My time at the Associated Press and as a sportswriter, meeting deadlines, helped cure me of any perfectionism. I’ve learned that “steady does it,” that sticking to a daily writing routine pays off, as does the confidence that you can find a way out of any plot corner that you write yourself into.

I’d like to think that over time  I’ve gotten better at my craft, but that may be wishful thinking. A friend who has read all my novels tells me his favorite is Herald Square, my first foray into fiction.

Q: Do you have a favorite?

No, actually, I don’t. I do have favorite characters. Karina Lazda (Herald Square), Feliks Hawes (The Hill of Three Borders, Charles Bridge), Dillon Randolph and Christa Schiller (An Interlude in Berlin). It typically takes me a year to finish a novel, which means I spend a year with the characters, imagining their story. It’s hard at the end to let them go.

Q: What’s next?

I’ve started the research and writing process for my latest project, a sequel to North to Nantucket. I found there were more stories to tell. This next novel will follow the lives of several Philadelphians, including Dr. Conor Fitzpatrick, who appears in North to Nantucket. At my current pace, publication will be in the Spring of 2027.

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Copyright © 2026 Jefferson Flanders
All rights reserved

In his twelfth novel, author Jefferson Flanders tells the intertwined story of Nantucket islanders Gabriel North and Charlotte Hathaway during the Civil War, a story of faith, love, and sacrifice in extraordinary times. 

From windswept island beaches to fiercely contested battlefields, North to Nantucket immerses readers in the heartbreak and courage of a tragic conflict whose unresolved questions still challenge Americans today.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

My lifelong interest in the Civil War began with a visit to Gettysburg as a boy. Years later, when I found Nantucket’s monument to the 73 men who died in the conflict—a striking number for such a small community—I was prompted to learn more. What I discovered in researching the resilience of island life during the war inspired me when I imagined Gabriel and Charlotte’s story.

NOW AVAILABLE:

Paperback | Kindle

Cover design and illustration by Taylor Coughlin

© 2026 Jefferson Flanders

C.S. Lewis,, the English academic , author, and Christian apologist, once offered this advice on writing: “Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, or nothing else.”

I think that’s much better advice than the “write what you know” cliché that many writing instructors typically suggest for beginners. Yes, I get that recommendation is meant to encourage creative authenticity, but it ignores the more important factor of creative enthusiasm.

It typically takes me more than a year to complete a novel, from start to finish. I can’t imagine investing that time and effort without deeply engaging with the story. Why would I write about something that doesn’t move me?

For the most part, prior knowledge is overrated when writing fiction. If you’re caught up in creating a compelling narrative, you can learn what you need to know–and rely on your imagination to fill in any blanks. I’ve written before about how with enough craft and some diligent research, some well-regarded novelists have fashioned a seamless fictional world with little or no first-hand experience:

Experts on life in the Soviet Union raved about the accuracy of Martin Cruz Smith’s Gorky Park, and yet the novelist didn’t speak Russian and spent only two weeks in Moscow before writing his bestseller. Patrick O’Brian, author of the famous maritime series featuring Jack Aubrey, apparently couldn’t sail. Sid Smith’s Something Like a House, a novel about the Cultural Revolution, won Britain’s Whitbread First Novel Award and yet Smith couldn’t read or speak Chinese, and hadn’t worked in or visited China. Creativity, it seems, can trump biography. In fiction, what matters is that the reader believes.

Of course, it is possible to write largely out of one’s experience, and that’s a valuable foundation for any writer. Yet writing what you don’t know but are keenly interested in strikes me as a more creatively rewarding path to follow.

© 2025 Jefferson Flanders