INDIANAPOLIS — If you’re an avid nonfiction reader the last 25 years, the name Kate Shoup may already ring a bell.
Inspired by watching her mom write, little Kate found her spark early. By the late ’90s, she had published her first book and today her name appears on more than 70 covers.
“I’m so grateful to my mom because I would never have even had an inkling that was something a person could do,” Kate told FOX59’s Lindy Thackston. “If you don’t see somebody do something, someone that you know, you really don’t think it’s for you.”
The Broad Ripple-based author has written an impressively wide range of titles, including Starting an Etsy Business for Dummies, The Agassi Story, The Freedom Riders: Civil Rights Activists Fighting Segregation and Quantum Mechanics: Great Discoveries in Science.
Her newest release may seem like a departure, but the new genre is actually right in her wheelhouse.
The story she’s been saving for years
In 1985, Kate went to her first Indy 500 with her dad and witnessed the iconic “spin and win” by Danny Sullivan. From then on, she rarely missed a race, even going solo.
“I bought a ticket and sat by myself way up high in turn four and everyone was like, what is this woman doing here by herself?! And I just wanted to go. I’ve always loved it.”
Image via Kate Shoup
Image via Kate Shoup
Image via Kate Shoup
Image via Kate Shoup
Image Image via Kate Shoup
Years later, Kate discovered the best seat in the house was actually right in her own backyard.
“I bought the house next door to this house and that’s how we met!”
Kate eventually married her neighbor, Olivier Boisson, a race engineer of more than 20 years.
“Right now he works for McLaren, but he’s worked for a lot of different teams over the years and he just sort of pulled me into that world.”
All that time, a fictional tale shaped by real adrenaline has been brewing in Kate’s storytelling mind.
Fact, fiction and full throttle
To help readers distinguish her work, Overtaken and her future novels are published under the pen name Elisabeth Oliver.
“All the engineering questions I could literally just ask Olivier at any time, and often very inconvenient times!” joked Kate when talking about the writing process.
IndyCar and F1 veterans Sebastien Bourdais and Romain Grosjean were invaluable resources, along with Indy 500 champion Tony Kanaan, thanks to Boisson’s 2013 winning team connection.
Overtaken might be romance fiction, but it’s built with the details of a real race day.
“What are all the things Tony had to do between winning and actually getting to dinner? How long are you at the track? The whole team went to Fogo de Chao, and he didn’t get there till 9 o’clock! What is the order of operations?”
The art of changing course
Although the novel is geared around the Indy 500, it’s a story all romance readers will enjoy.
If only 14-year-old Kate could see “Elisabeth” now!
“It seemed late because most people who do this stuff, you’re in your late 20s, early 30s, maybe your 40s, but then I just thought, why not try? I just wanted to try, and I’m so glad I did.”
Sometimes, like Danny Sullivan in 1985, changing direction can take you exactly where you need to go.
As a former competitive skier, her next two novels revolve around competitive skiing and will be released soon. She is also in talks to write a fourth book about another professional sport.
About Elisabeth Oliver and Overtaken
Elisabeth Oliver is part racecar fanatic, part hopeless romantic. When not at a racetrack, Elisabeth–who lives in Indianapolis with her husband and their two dogs–enjoys reading, skiing and riding her motorcycle. She is also mom to daughter Heidi.
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