An Interview with Marcia Biederman, Author of “Attic Wife”
Our guest today is Marcia Biederman, the author of Attic Wife: The Shocking Case of Agnes Young McAlpin. This is Biederman’s fifth work of non-fiction.
Attic Wife is a true story of a young Haida woman caught in a nightmarish marriage, set at the time of the Klondike Gold Rush. Her husband, the nere-do-well son of a large, well-to-do Pennsylvania family, promises her a new life in his family home. Instead, she’s subjected to neglect and abuse from him and her in-laws. The book takes its title from the years Agnes spent hid away in the family’s attic, where she gave birth to and raised children.
The Kirkus Review of Books hails Attic Wife, "In this meticulously researched story, Biederman integrates information from letters, church records, and newspapers to yield a richly detailed book that highlights Haida life, the assimilation projects of 1900s America, and the Alaskan gold rush.”
Related Links
Attic Wife at McFarland Books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and Walmart
Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum: “The Courage of Agnes Young McAlpin" talk by Marcia Biederman