Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Sandra Dallas

Award-winning author Sandra Dallas was dubbed “a quintessential American voice” by Jane Smiley, in Vogue. She is the author of The Bride’s House, Whiter Than Snow, Prayers for Sale and Tallgrass, among others. Her novels have been translated into a dozen languages and optioned for films. She is a three-time recipient of the Women Writing the West Willa Award and a two-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award.

Her new novel is Fallen Women.

A couple of weeks ago I asked Dallas about what she was reading. Her reply:
I’m half-way through Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard, the story of the murder of President James Garfield by the madman Charles Guiteau. It’s my husband’s book, and I picked it up by default. My sister said once that hell for us is being someplace without a book. Since there was nothing else in the house to take with me on a trip, I chose this book. Besides, I’d heard that Guiteau’s former wife had a Colorado connection and was curious about that. Destiny of the Republic is a superb history/biography of Garfield and of the delusional Guiteau, who thought he’d be hailed as a hero for ridding the country of the President. I knew as much about Garfield as I did about Millard Fillmore and was surprised to learn that Garfield was a brilliant but modest man who tried to rid the republic of the spoils system. I can only wonder what America would be like if he had lived.
Visit Sandra Dallas's website and follow her on Facebook.

Writers Read: Sandra Dallas (May 2011).

--Marshal Zeringue