The Barack Obama of historical fiction

To say Adam Braver writes historical fiction is like saying Barack Obama is a politician: technically true, but such a description diminishes the transformation involved. His first book, Mr. Lincoln’s Wars, was a collection of short stories that focused on the less-well-known personal aspects of the president’s life. Since then, he’s written novels about actress Sarah Bernhardt and one that takes the suicide of Vincent van Gogh as a major plot point. Braver, who spent most of his youth in Sacramento (he grew up in Land Park and played in a number of Sacto bands while living in Midtown during the ’80s), will be at two area bookstores promoting his latest novel, November 22, 1963. As one might guess from the title, it’s about the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated—but again, that’s an understatement. It’s a literary piece that blends fact and fiction, making protagonists of real people and asking very deep questions about the history, nostalgia and loss.