Charlotte Jacobs: 90 Seconds to Midnight: A Hiroshima Survivor’s Nuclear Odyssey

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr Charlotte Jacobs chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting 90 Seconds to Midnight: A Hiroshima Survivor’s Nuclear Odyssey.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 

• Charlotte Jacobs’s inspiration for crafting 90 Seconds to Midnight.
• How Charlotte gained insights into Setsuko’s inner world.
• How Charlotte balanced Setsuko’s unique voice and perspective with her voice as the narrator.
• How Charlotte balanced Setsuko’s public and professional life with her human story.
• The meaning of 90 Seconds to Midnight and why Charlotte chose it.
• Why Charlotte opens the biography with a vivid, haunting prologue amid the ruins of Hiroshima, a gripping scene that shaped Setsuko’s lifelong activism.
• How Charlotte emphasised the urgency of Setsuko’s anti-nuclear warning in today’s geo-political environment.
• How Charlotte crafted lyrical, eloquent narrative that was also gripping.
• Charlotte’s thoughts on the role of a biographer.