A Traveler Came By— It’s historical fiction, but what more?

In ancient times Plato (whoever they were) and Aristotle were the first to sort the creative arts into specific varieties, including poetry and prose. Such classifications evolved through ancient eras, middle-age mediocrity, Renaissance enlightenment, and in the seventeenth century, French innovation. The Gallic intellectuals divided art, music, and creative writing into categories they called “genres”, and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with the help of academics, novels and fictitious narrative were divided into “subgenres.” Recent decades brought the process to a consistent conclusion when tertiary sets of “microgenres” were created.

Of course, many novels seem to fit one genre or subgenre as well as others, and like literary fiction, they cross boundaries appealing to multiple audiences. At times labeled “mainstream fiction,” such works can’t be sorted until their public is determined. Unlike strict genre fiction, they may be easier or harder to sell, have ill-defined followings, and often depend more on author regognition than literary class, subject matter, or intrinsic value.

So, what genre suits A Traveler Came By? Set sixty years ago and brimming with bygone events and personalities both humble and famed, the novel is historical fiction, for sure. But which other genres or subgenres seem also to fit? …  Coming of age? Certainly… Romance? Yes… Baseball? Yup … Civil rights primer and Jim Crow travel log?... Check. Seduction and loss of innocence? Of course … First love? Aye… True crime? Okay… Mystical tragedy or tragic memoir? Perhaps… Murder mystery? Kind of.

When advanced readers of A Traveler Came By were asked which subgenre might make a good match, all of the above and a few others were suggested. Which might you pick? … Can’t wait to hear.