Q&A: Author B.A. Shapiro takes a detour from art trilogy with new book, 'Metropolis'
With her novels “The Collector’s Apprentice,” “The Muralist” and “The Art Forger,” B.A. Shapiro attracted readers who revel in literary thrillers set in the world of art.
For her new novel, Shapiro pivoted to a vastly different world — storage units.
“Metropolis,” which will be released on Tuesday, involves a death (suicide or murder?) in a cavernous Boston storage unit and a cast of characters of all types and ages. Some of them, escaping past or present demons, live in their units in the storage warehouse. All of them merge in the novel’s complicated plot.
Shapiro, 70, has a doctorate in sociology and has worked as a systems analyst and statistician as well as a professor of sociology and creative writing. Born in Connecticut, she lives in Boston and in Naples, Florida, and is a mother and a grandmother.
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She will appear May 23, at Gramercy Books in Bexley. In advance of the event, she spoke recently with The Dispatch.
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Q: How did you decide to set “Metropolis” in a Boston storage unit? Have you ever used a storage unit?
Shapiro: No! One of the things about writing fiction is that you get to learn a lot about things you don’t know. I had always wanted to write a book about people who are from all different walks of life and then, because of a single event, are thrown together … One day, I opened the newspaper and there was an article about this big storage-unit building that looked like a medieval castle and how people were moving out of it. I said, that’s it.
Q: Do people actually live in storage units?
Shapiro: They do. Obviously, it’s illegal but people do it. Some of the things that are stored there — artworks, musical instruments, wine — need climate control, so a lot of those units have good ventilation.
Q: One of the “Metropolis” characters is a young immigrant working on her doctorate in sociology. How did your background figure into the character of Marta?
Shapiro: Originally, her dissertation was similar to mine but in the third or fourth draft, I realized that the theme of the book is life chance: You’re born with a set of privileges or non-privileges that have nothing to do with you. So I made that (socioeconomic resources from birth) her topic. In America, we want to believe that people can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and that everyone is equal and that was an idea I wanted to disprove.
Q: How did you happen to write literary thrillers set in the world of art?
Shapiro: By accident. I wrote five books published in the 1990s and they basically came out and died. Then I wrote four more books that I couldn’t even sell to a publisher. And then I wrote a book that was going to be my very last book — “The Art Forger” — and it got published and became a New York Times bestseller. I got a two-book contract and decided I really liked writing about this art stuff.
Q: Will you return to the world of art?
Shapiro: Well, I didn’t want to get pegged so “Metropolis” isn’t set there — although there is a photographer in it … I’m working on a book now that has art in it, but in another way. This is about a woman who has multiple personality disorder and each of her different personalities is an artist, although they all work in different mediums. It’s a murder mystery/legal thriller with the working title “Multiplicity.” … It probably won’t be out for two or three years.
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Q: Your novel “The Muralist” speaks of European refugees during the build up to and during World War II. Are you Jewish, and were there similar experiences in your family?
Shapiro: I am Jewish. Most of my grandparents came here at the beginning of the 20th century, running from the pogroms in Russia. My grandmother was one of six children in Odessa. Five came to the U.S. and one stayed there and had a family. So I have cousins and half-cousins in the Ukraine and am so distressed about the war. These things just never end, thanks to autocratic, sociopathic men.
Q: When did you become B.A. Shapiro and not Barbara Shapiro?
Shapiro: Everyone thinks that was because I wanted to hide my gender, but it wasn’t. My first five books that nobody read were published under Barbara Shapiro. The first things book sellers look at before ordering your new book are your past sales and Barbara’s past sales were not good, so that’s how I became B.A.
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At a glance
B.A. Shapiro will appear in conversation with Nancy Gilson at 7 p.m. May 23, at Gramercy Books, 2424 E. Main St., Bexley. Tickets — $30, which includes a copy of “Metropolis” — may be reserved at www.eventbrite.com. Proof of full vaccination is required for attendance and wearing a mask is encouraged. Call 614-867-5515 or visit www.gramercybooksbexley.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: B.A. Shapiro, author of The Art Forger, has new book, Metropolis
