In Kelly Rimmer’s The German Wife (Graydon House), the author crafts a story around the true circumstances of Operation Paperclip, a post-WWII intelligence program that employed former Nazis in the United States.

Rimmer spoke to PW about what draws her to write historical fiction and about the fictional relationships that enable events from the past to resonate emotionally with her readers in the present.

The German Wife has a fascinating premise. Can you talk about the origins of this particular story?

At a festival to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, I read about German scientists working with American scientists to develop the rockets that would ultimately see humankind reach the moon. I was immediately struck by how unlikely that arrangement was. Just a few years earlier, those men had been on opposing sides of a horrific war—but they worked together and achieved one of humanity’s most astounding technological accomplishments. I started researching as soon as I got home that night and immediately fell down something of an Operation Paperclip rabbit hole, and this book is the result of that.

How do you capture the historical moment so vividly?

I believe convincing historical fiction requires two things from the writer: relentless research, and enough space in their process for extended daydreaming. If a writer can picture themselves in a scene over and over again, they’ll know it well enough to capture it vividly in a story.

Berlin and Texas in 1930 and Huntsville, Alabama, in 1950. Very different settings. Can you talk about creating a sense of place for these locations?

One of my favorite resources for research is first person accounts—things like oral history recordings, journals, and letters. A writer or speaker will often mention the things that most matter to them, so it’s about paying attention to those little details and using them as guideposts to further my research. I also love to look at photographs from relevant places and eras. A simple image can say so much about what a place or time was really like.

You are a master at writing characters whose personal circumstances reflect the broader societal and world conflicts unfolding around them. Share a little about your two central characters in The German Wife and the tensions that define their relationship.

Initially, there seems to be few parallels between the lives of Lizzie and Sofie, my central characters. Sofie grew up in an aristocratic German family, while Lizzie spent her childhood and adolescence in poverty as a farmer’s daughter in Northwest Texas. These two women meet as adults early in the book and their entire relationship becomes defined by their first encounter, which is a very public argument about the Operation Paperclip project. They begin on opposite sides of an ideological divide, but as their pasts are revealed, I’m hoping readers will wonder if these women might have more in common than first appeared.

Your books are frequently historical, yet they contain cogent insights into human behavior that feel timeless. Do present-day events inspire your work, even as you write about the past?

I never intended to write historical fiction, which might seem a strange thing to say, given most of my books in recent years have been just that! I set out to write about people and I’m still trying to do that—it’s just that in recent years, I’ve been thinking more about how we in the present era are shaped by recent history, so my stories are set in the past.

In addition to your historically based books, you’ve written contemporary romance. Do you have a favorite genre?

My contemporary romances were intended to capture complex relationships, just as my historical and general contemporary novels do. I don’t tend to think about genre when I’m writing. My favourite book is usually whichever one I’m currently writing.

Do you always know what book you’re going to write as you set out, or does your creative process take you in unexpected directions?

I plan my books extensively, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t surprises. I might know what the ending of the story is going to be before I write the first sentence, but the way things happen can surprise and delight (or frustrate!) me.