Her debut made her a global star. Now she has finally written a follow-up \u2013 and this time, it\u2019s political. She talks about impostor syndrome, screen adaptations and becoming radicalised<\/p>\n
The artist and novelist Audrey Niffenegger began writing the long-awaited sequel to her bestselling debut, The Time Traveler\u2019s Wife, in 2012, just after Obama\u2019s re-election. It was a \u201crosy\u201d time in American politics, \u201cas good as it gets over here\u201d, she says now, but her new novel required her to imagine what the world might look like in 20, 40, 60 years\u2019 time. In the 14 years she spent exploring various dystopian futures, American politics moved on. And her imaginings began to look worryingly realistic.<\/p>\n
An early scene in the new book involves a group of neo-Nazis at a house party. When she was writing it, few people believed the US would witness a resurgence of neo-nazism. It\u2019s not like she is \u201cpsychic or anything\u201d, she tells me, the clues were all there. \u201cThe first thing I remember reading in the news was Watergate, and so I\u2019ve grown up with Reagan, and the Republicans coming on stronger and stronger, so that every Republican president we get is more of a disaster. And I thought the logical progression of that would be fascism,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
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