Robert Nolin

Certain books can change our lives. E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime was such a book for me. It was my introduction to historical fiction, and it was nothing less than a revelation: historical novels didn’t have to be about wars. My debut novel, Charani’s Gift, was inspired by an article about a turn-of-the-century Missouri town in the grip of “magneto madness.” There was a lunatic asylum outside the town, so I began my story with a pair of young psychiatrists. I needed to give them a proper subject. To my surprise, she turned out to be the story’s protagonist. I’ve begun a second novel about the effort to save the American bison from extinction.

Robert Nolin and his wife live in Pittsburgh, PA.