Jessica

Shattuck

Bestselling Historical Novelist

Award-Winning Author

Travels from: Boston, MA

“She is charming, articulate, gracious and poised. She created the right balance of timing, content, and personality.” — The Chilton Club

Jessica Shattuck is the award-winning author of The Hazards of Good Breeding, Perfect Life, NYT bestseller The Women in the Castle and most recently Last House. Set at the end of World War II, The Women in the Castle tells the story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined. Combining piercing social insight and vivid historical atmosphere, The Women in the Castle is a dramatic yet nuanced portrait of war and its repercussions that explores what it means to survive, love and ultimately, to forgive in the wake of unimaginable hardship.

Jessica’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, Glamour, Mother Jones, WIRED, Believer Magazine, the Boston Globe, Open City, The Tampa Review, and The Sun, among others. She is the winner of the Frank O’Connor short story competition in 2001, and her book, The Hazards of Good Breeding was a finalist for the 2003 PEN/Winship Award, and a New York Times Notable Book. The Women in the Castle also won the 2017 New England Book Award. A graduate of Harvard University, she received her MFA from Columbia University.

Drawing from her in depth knowledge of history, the influences of her own family history (read her amazing NYT Op-Ed, “I Loved My Grandmother. But She was a Nazi”), and her passion for storytelling and writing makes for an unforgettable event. Jessica explores and offers a fresh perspective on one of the most tumultuous periods in history.

Jessica's Featured Titles

Writing the Past to Make Sense of the Present

Both my grandfathers fought in WWII, on opposite sides. I am obsessed with trying to understand the time periods and events that shaped my grandparents’ lives. How could ordinary Germans have embraced Nazism? How did fighting in the Pacific during WWII shape the attitudes and outlook of its veterans? In this talk I discuss using family stories and history as a springboard for my fiction, and the way writing is, for me, a way of reckoning with the past.

From Promising Beginnings to Devastating Endings

How could ordinary Germans have embraced Nazism? How did fossil fuels become the cornerstone of modern life? These are some of the questions I have tried to answer through my fiction. In this presentation I will discuss my research and writing process, and the journey and responsibilities of a historical fiction writer to their readers and to the past.

Last House: The Age of Oil

Oil is a cornerstone of modern life, and a defining force on the lives and fates of the characters in my novel Last House. A discussion of post WWII America, the Cold War, the Student Movement of the late 1960s… and the process of connecting the dots through narrative.

Last House: Every Generation Fears the World is Ending

A talk that explores the theme of perennial existential anxieties— from the nuclear fears of the 1950s to the climate crises of today, and the process of exploring this through writing Last House.

Writing as Reckoning: Harvesting Family History for Literary Inspiration

A multimedia presentation about using family stories and history as a springboard for my fiction. Both my grandfathers fought in WWII, on opposite sides. Understanding their motivations, experiences, and post-war attitudes has always been of great interest to me. In this talk I will discuss how trying to imagine and understand their lives and the lives of my grandmothers has been an inspiration and learning experience for me.

The Women in the Castle: The German experience of WWII

Few novels about WWII are told from German characters’ perspectives. My novel, The Women in the Castle, draws inspiration from my own German grandparents’ “ordinary German” lives, as well as my research into and connection to the German Resistance movement. In this discussion, I share what it was like to write about this time and to reckon with my own family’s past.

Living two Lives at Once: Writing and Parenting

Craft Talk: Novel Writing from Inspiration to Execution

“Jessica was a HIT! She sold the most books of any of our speakers, received the best questions from the audience and got a number of comments from our “old guys” who said that – though they hadn’t read fiction in decades, they wanted to buy her book! She was a great, strong, but sweet presence and a delight to have here.” — The National WWII Museum

“The Chilton Club is a gracious Boston city club established in 1910, originally as a club for ladies. WOMEN IN THE CASTLE was highly recommended to the Reading Circle. Jessica was an enormous hit!! She is charming, articulate, gracious and poised. The lecture – as all are- was held in the ballroom with chairs arranged somewhat formally, lecture style with podium. She was at ease with the microphone and moved nicely as she answered questions. She would listen, answer the question, and then adeptly use the question to offer more insight. Most of the people present were older than she, and she was skilled in speaking to them with genuine warmth and honesty – during her talk, answering questions, and while signing books! And a great conversationalist during lunch. The event was one of our most enjoyable and successful of the year, partly because people were intrigued by the book and the colliding stories of the three women (and indeed many had read it), and because they found Jessica refreshing as a speaker. She created the right balance of timing, content, and personality.” — The Chilton Club

“Ambitious in its historical sweep yet intimate in its portrayal of a family’s trials, Jessica Shattuck’s moving new novel brings to life the ’50s and ’60s in America in such a way that we feel powerfully their contemporary relevance. THE LAST HOUSE is utterly compelling.” — Claire Messed, author of The Emperor’s Children and This Strange Eventful History

Jessica’s Recent Work

Honors, Awards & Recognition

NYT Bestseller
New England Book Award
Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction

Media clips

LitHub | WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM “ORDINARY NAZIS”: THE DANGER OF MAKING MONSTERS OUT OF MEN

New York Times | I LOVED MY GRANDMOTHER. BUT SHE WAS A NAZI

Salon | ON NAZIS, FAMILY, AND THE QUESTION OF FORGIVENESS: 2 NOVELISTS CONFRONT THE LEGACIES OF THEIR FAMILIES

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.