The Map Colorist follows the life of a talented young woman born into a 17th-century Amsterdam family of mapmakers, as she grapples with deceit and societal norms, seeking to map the unexplored African continent. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Since my first novel was set in the seventeenth century, I wanted to stay in that timeframe. I had decided that I wanted to have my main character do something unusual for a woman, and I hit upon the idea of cartography. My research showed me that Amsterdam was the map-printing capital at that time, and I discovered the work of map colorists who were paid to color maps for collectors. When I found out about four maps of Africa that were unattributed in the Atlas Maior, the largest publication of the century, I knew that I had found the map that my character would create.

How did you research the historical context and mapmaking processes of 17th-century Amsterdam to bring authenticity to your narrative?

I was able to find books about cartography in general, and even a book that talked about women involved in the business in Amsterdam in my century, though none of them were creators. I first learned about colorists in reading the notes to an abridged version of the Atlas Maior. Reading a book about the printer, Joan Blaeu, I discovered that some of the maps were unattributed. I emailed the editor of the Atlas Maior edition to confirm that the map I was considering was still unattributed. He confirmed that it was, and he called my attention to an exploratory trip to Africa, which seems to be reflected in the map I use in the novel. 

Scholarly articles on the cartographic publishers of Amsterdam in the seventeenth century informed the picture of how the business was run. I was also able to find books and articles about everyday life at the time. An online museum exhibit by the Rijksmuseum also gave me added information. I located an original online account from a bit later than my period on how to color maps using watercolors. So, as is so often the case with historical fiction authors, my research involved books, online articles, primary sources, museum exhibits, etc.

Your depiction of the characters’ emotions is incredibly profound. How did you manage to evoke such strong emotional connections between the readers and your characters?

It’s difficult to explain how one does this. I suppose that I put myself into the situation of each character, and wondered how I would react. Of course, this falls far from my own personal experience, but some emotions seem to transcend time and place. In addition, I have been reading novels for decades, and analyzing them with my book club. As Neil Gaman has said, “And fiction gives us empathy: it puts us inside the minds of other people, gives us the gift of seeing the world through their eyes. Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.”

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

My next book will be a mystery, also set in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, this time in the book-printing world. I am still researching it, so I don’t know when it will come out. 

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