Some readers think there is nothing to learn from historical fiction. Yet the historian and the writer of historical fiction can work in a way that is complementary. Historical novels can thus enrich our understanding of the past. History is a record of the past that is full of gaps. We mostly don't know what was said or how people behaved when there was no one around to record what was going on. The historian's trade is never simply about stockpiling facts. The novelist's trade is never just about making things up. Those undocumented areas of history often force us to contemplate the most private, human moments, away from the public stage, and the blank spaces they leave are irresistible to a novelist.