The Woodlanders

There's a lot of trains in this book, just like in Dr. Zhivago.

And, you know, other big, sprawling epics, things like A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and But the biggest model for this book for me was the writing of Thomas Hardy and the way he, you know, will use a long span of time to be with characters like in Jude the Obscure or Tess the D'Urberville, The Woodlanders.

I think because these are such big issues, bigotry, love, race, orientation, all those things, it was important to have this big canvas to show the way things have changed and the way they have not changed.

And I also just loved the idea of being with a couple in love from the time they're teenagers until they're in their 70s and going every step of the