Writing with Cold Feet

Writers of nonfiction spend countless hours researching, but few are as dedicated about it as historical novelist James Alexander Thom. Not only does he consult typical sources such as letters and journals, but he also relives much of his characters’ experiences in order to bring realism to his writing. When researching his best-selling book, Follow the River, Thom fasted for a week to be able to “describe the physical and mental effects of severe hunger” that protagonist Mary Ingles en