Apparently the interwoven group biography is exactly my thing: sarahendren.com/2024/06/1…
@ablerism Mine isn't a biography -- its focus is on just a few years in my figures' lives -- but I read The Life You Save May Be Your Own four or five times to learn how to braid a historical narrative.
@ablerism La Folie Baudelaire, by Robert Calasso. Really any book by Calasso functions as a series/collage of biographies/portraits, but I particularly love this one.
@ayjay Elie is so good! And yeah, I'm using "biography" generously. I'm especially interested in ideas as organizing principles to glimpse a bit of each figure.
@ablerism looking at your linked book list, I'm pretty interested in the Rigor of Angels and The Women are up to Something. Thank you for the suggestions!
@7robots Glad! Also thrilled to see your link to a new Sarah Perry. The Essex Serpent is among my favorite-ever novels.
@ablerism I loved Essex Serpent as well! You'll be glad to know that a few aspects of that story leak into Enlightenment.