The Postmistress

Sarah Blake's new novel "The Postmistress" has a blurb on it from another author at Blake's imprint, Amy Einhorn Books. That wouldn't be surprising or remarkable if it weren't for the fact that that author is Kathryn Stockett: "The Help" is still sweeping bestseller lists nearly a year after its release. Einhorn knows how to choose strong women's fiction, and while Blake's book couldn't be more different than Stockett's, the two novels do share complicated, complex female characters and their take on events around them.

While "The Help" centered on civil rights-era Mississippi, "The Postmistress" is about the early days of World War II, before the United States had entered the fight. In our interview, Blake talks about why she wanted to set her story right at that moment, as well as why she wanted it to take place on two continents. She also discusses why she wanted to have letters play such an important role in her novel.