News and Random Musings about Historical NovelsDo you prefer lopping off heads from horseback on the Mongolian steppes or delivering subtly devastating rejoinders over tea in a Victorian drawing room? Authors keep writing new novels to suit your taste, and I keep discovering new old ones. Feb 8, 2010, Review of Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!A new review of Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!, a book for young people about life in a medieval village, has been posted. Written (mostly in verse) by Laura Amy Schlitz and illustrated by Robert Byrd, its narrators range from about age 10 to 15. It won the 2008 Newbery Award. Feb 6, 2010, Review of Amenable WomenAnnis has contributed an insightful review of Amenable Women, Mavis Cheek's 2008 novel about a modern woman and Henry VIII's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, one of the few wives who survived him. This is one for the TBR list of readers interested in a less tragic angle on the Tudor period. Novels published in January 2010 are being added to the website. Some that look especially interesting include a pair of Tudor-era novels, Kate Emerson's Between Two Queens, #2 in the Secrets of the Tudor Court series about ladies-in-waiting to Henry VIII's wives; and Karen Harper's The Queen's Governess, about Katherine Ashley, governess to the future Queen Elizabeth I. Diane Stuckart's new mystery, A Bolt from the Blue, is #3 in a series featuring Leonardo da Vinci as sleuth. Another new mystery, this time set in 19th century London, is David Dickinson's Death of a Wine Merchant. Turning from mysteries to literary novels, Victoire, My Mother's Mother was written by Maryse Conde about her grandmother, a light-skinned woman of mixed race who worked as a cook for a white Creole family in the French Antilles. Feb 5, 2010, Review of Island of the SwansA new review of Island of the Swans has been posted. This historical romance by Ciji Ware is based on the life of eighteenth-century Scottish noblewoman Jane Maxwell. Originally published in 1988, it has just been reissued in a new edition by Sourcebooks. If you regularly shop for books at Amazon.com, you may have noticed the selection of new books there has suddenly dropped. This is due to a disagreement between Amazon and Macmillan over pricing for newly released Kindle editions, which has led Amazon to drop Macmillan's books from their website. If you can't find a book you want at Amazon, I would encourage you to try Powell's Books, which continues to carry a full selection of new books. There's more information about the fight between Amazon and Macmillan's at the Authors Guild website. I'll excerpt a paragraph that summarizes the Authors Guild's take on this controversy: "Amazon has a well-deserved reputation for playing hardball. When it doesn't get its way with publishers, Amazon tends to start removing "buy buttons" from the publisher's titles. It's a harsh tactic, by which Amazon uses its dominance of online bookselling to punish publishers who fail to fall in line with Amazon's business plans. Collateral damage in these scuffles, of course, are authors and readers. Authors lose their access to millions of readers who shop at Amazon; readers find some of their favorite authors' works unavailable. Generally, the ending is not a good one for the publisher or its authors -- Amazon's hold on the industry, controlling an estimated 75% of online trade book print sales in the U.S., is too strong for a publisher to withstand. The publisher caves, and yet more industry revenues are diverted to Amazon. This isn't good for those who care about books. Without a healthy ecosystem in publishing, one in which authors and publishers are fairly compensated for their work, the quality and variety of books available to readers will inevitably suffer." Who are you backing in this fight? Take our poll. Feb 3, 2010, Interview with author J. Sydney Jones
In this novel two different resources came together:
Mahler famously wrote, "I am thrice homeless, as a native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, and as a Jew throughout the world. Everywhere an intruder, never welcomed." He most definitely felt an outsider, but whether or not that affected his music is up for discussion. What did seem to affect his music was revealed during a "walking cure" he had with Freud in the summer of 1910. It came out during their in-depth discussion that Mahler, as a young boy, had witnessed his parents making love. Frightened and somewhat shocked, the youngster ran out onto the street, bumping into a hurdy-gurdy man grinding out a light and frolicsome melody. Freud felt that the literal collision of these two events deeply affected the composer's later work. Indeed, in Mahler's compositions one can make out the continual battle between deeply dramatic music interrupted at times with facile melodies.
Frau Blatschky, the cook of my protagonist in the Viennese Mystery series, provides a meat-and-potatoes variety of old Viennese and Austrian cooking. I think I should start putting her recipes in the books, as so many fans have asked for them. Basically, zwiebelrostbraten is thinly sliced sirloin sauteed and combined with onions that have been fried golden brown. A sauce is created with butter, brandy (optional) and mustard. And you must serve them with fried potatoes. Here are a couple of websites to help out: Austrian Recipes and The Passionate Cook.
Feb 2, 2010, Review of new mystery Requiem in Vienna by J. Sydney Jones; Writers' RetreatA new review of Requiem in Vienna by J. Sydney Jones has been posted. This is the second in a new series featuring a fictional lawyer in Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century. The first in the series, The Empty Mirror, revolved around Viennese artist Gustav Klimt and garnered critical acclaim. This one features composer Gustav Mahler. In a tragic computer accident, I lost the first review of Requiem in Vienna that I wrote a couple of months ago, so I had to read the novel twice. I enjoyed it just as much the second time. The characters are complex and interesting, and the story immersed me in turn-of-the-century Vienna. Last year, I had the good fortune of attending a writer's workshop led by Mary Morris, a wonderful writer of contemporary novels and a fabulous teacher for novelists of all sorts. She'll be leading another workshop March 3-6 in Mountain Lake, Florida (not far from Orlando). I'm going, and it would be a special treat to meet some of my website visitors there who are also budding historical novelists. Mary has a gift for teaching writers. Her bag of tricks includes exercises that add life, depth and meaning to her students' writing, while generating that extra spark of hope and enthusiasm that is sometimes needed to bring a writing project to fruition. The workshop is limited to 12 participants. For more information, email charlotte at charlotteterry.com (substitute the @ symbol for "at"). Coming tomorrow: an interview with author J. Sydney Jones Feb 1, 2010, Interview with "Fools' Guild" author Alan Gordon
When reading about the Middle Ages in Durant's The Age of Faith, I suddenly thought of having the fools have their own guild, making it part training, part secret society. Then, while researching the fifth book, I discovered that there were Fools' Guilds in Swabia, formed in each village to create the masks and revelry for Fasnacht, a pre-Christian drive-away-the-winter holiday that was a precursor to Mardi Gras.
There are few surviving examples of actual jokes, but based on what I've seen, yes. There was also a tradition in some areas of having the fools perform naked. I assume that was bawdy at the time, unlike now. Oh,
They would be as distressed at the lack of peace in the world as I am. But there would be many opportunities to make fun of things, and this newfangled internet to spread the word. They would probably end up working at The Onion.
Jan 29, 2010, Review of Cheryl Sawyer's The Winter PrinceA new review of The Winter Prince, Cheryl Sawyer's historical romance about Mary Villiers, the Duchess of Richmond, and Prince Rupert of the Rhine has been posted. Rupert was a German prince whose mother was the sister of King Charles I of England. A consummate soldier, he offered his assistance to his uncle at the beginning of the English Civil War and fought as a cavalry commander for the Royalists. Mary Villiers and her husband were members of the inner circle around the royal family, and pamphlets distributed by supporters of Parliament accused her and Prince Rupert of carrying on an affair. Jan 27, 2010, Interview with author Lindsey Davis
Actually I always wanted to write about the Civil War but changed to the Romans years ago to try and woo publishers. So for me this was the book I had always wanted to write - and I really enjoyed doing it too. I am very much intrigued by the important ideas that were under debate, and for a novelist a period of conflict is rewarding to write about because it automatically throws up characters with different opinions and attitudes - plus there is a dramatic sequence of real events to frame your story.
Well, in some ways we do have physical scars - ruined castles and such that were never rebuilt. There are still many people who 'support' one side or the other; in fact, although it seems unbelievable, I had a slight problem with readers saying they were nervous about reading a book that might take the opposite point of view from theirs. Politically, the Civil War led eventually to democratic changes, from which I would say we still benefit. Self-determination certainly became a right for the body of the population from then on, and you wouldn't say that was a scar.
I see a direct line from the English Civil War to both the French and American Revolutions. ('We hold these truths to be self-evident' is a quotation from the English radicals.) An aspect I didn't have space to explore in what was anyway a very long book was the intricate relationship between England and the New World at the time. People hoping for a better life with freedom of conscience had gone from England to America - and many came back during the War to take part in the fight for freedom here. After the English Commonwealth failed and the monarchy was restored, many must have sought refuge from their disappointment in America, taking with them once again the idea that individuals should have a voice in their government and not just serve to be plundered via taxation!
Jan 26, 2010, New review of Rebels and TraitorsA new review of Rebels and Traitors, Lindsey's Davis's massive novel of the English Civil War has been posted. It's about a Royalist woman and a man who fights for Parliament. First published in the U.K. last year, it came out in a new U.S. edition this month. The publisher's description is a bit misleading, as this is really not a historical romance but a detailed study of the war from the perspective of the common people and the lesser nobility. Jan 25, 2010, New Listings on YA Renaissance PageNovels for young adults set in Renaissance Italy and elsewhere on the European Continent during the Renaissance have been added to the new YA Renaissance page. Several are about young people who get to know the Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci. Others are about a boy who sails with Magellan's crew, the French queen Catherine de Medici and members of her court, and Jews during the Spanish Inquisition. Jan 23, 2010, Review of The Stolen One; New YA Renaissance PageA new review of The Stolen One, a novel for young adults by Suzanne Crowley, has been posted. It's about a teenaged girl with exquisite embroidery skills who lives with her guardian in the country. Mysterious hints suggest her mother may have been someone in the royal court. The Stolen One is listed on the new page for Young Adult Historical Novels set during the Renaissance. Other young adult pages can be found via the new yellow navigation button on the left-hand side of the screen for YA Novels. Pages also exist for YA novels set in ancient history and in medieval times. The Renaissance page currently lists novels set in the British Isles during Tudor times. It will soon be expanded to include novels set in Renaissance Italy and elsewhere on the European Continent. Jan 22, 2010, Review of YA novel Catherine, Called BirdyA new review of Catherine, Called Birdy, a young adult novel by Karen Cushman, has been posted. It's about the everyday life of a girl in thirteenth century England and her efforts to avoid getting married. A Newbery Honor Book, its major charm is its spunky and outspoken young narrator. Jan 21, 2010, Review of Sally HemingsA new review of Sally Hemings by Barbara Chase-Riboud has been posted. This 1979 novel, written before DNA evidence conclusively showed that a son of Thomas Jefferson's slave Sally Hemings was fathered by a man in the Jefferson family (most likely Thomas Jefferson himself), was reprinted in 2009 in a trade paperback edition from Chicago Review Press. It's a beautiful, unexpectedly subtle novel whose portrait of Thomas Jefferson is as complex and compassionate as its portrait of Sally Hemings. I loved it. Jan 18, 2010, Historical BestsellersThe year has begun with a number of historical novels on the New York Times bestseller list. On the hardcover list, Michael Crichton's posthumous seafaring adventure, Pirate Latitudes, is spirited, death-defying entertainment. (See review.) On the trade paperback list are a number of wildly popular novels lingering from last year. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, about resistance to the Nazis on Guernsey Island, has been on the list for 36 weeks now (see review). Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, another World War II story, this time set in France, has been on for 48 weeks. Seth Grahame-Smith's send-up of Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, has been 41 weeks on the list (see review). New on the trade paperback list this week at #2 is Robert Goolrick's A Reliable Wife about a mail-order bride in 1907 Wisconsin who is no innocent. Jan 17, 2010, Historical Fiction and "Edutainment"Journalist Malcolm Jack interviewed me for his interesting article "Edutainment: Is there a role for popular culture in education?" which has just appeared in The Independent and at the Heritage Key website. Jack was intrigued by the mismatch between the strong popular interest in historical fiction, films and games and the waning interest - at least in England - of history as a subject of academic study. Thus his question: Can the interest in history as entertainment be leveraged to increase students' interest in history as a subject? Jan 16, 2010, A Blog Post for Struggling WritersI stumbled across a funny, honest, wise (controversial, even, judging from the comments!) blog post from a struggling writer today, "Novels and Unicycles: Writing for Attention." This blogger reveals something I suspect most successful writers have struggled with at some time or other, to some degree or another.
Meanwhile more reviews and author interviews are in the pipeline. Coming up in the next week or so are reviews of Lindsey Davis's massive novel of the English Civil War, Rebels and Traitors, and Alan Gordon's medieval mystery The Parisian Prodigal, #7 in the "Fool's Guild" series. Reviews of Jan 15, 2010, The HebridesThe January 2010 issue of National Geographic magazine includes a lavishly illustrated article, "Edge of the World" by Lynne Warren, about the Hebrides, a cluster of rocky, isolated and forbiddingly beautiful islands off the western Scottish coast. One of the islands, St. Kilda, was inhabited for some 4,000 years until 1930, when the last 36 residents left to settle on the mainland. Few historical novelists have chosen to write about the Hebrides, but Jen Black's historical romance Far After Gold is about a medieval Hebridean girl captured by Vikings. Jan 14, 2010, Review of Pagan's Crusade; New YA PageA new review of Pagan's Crusade, a novel for young adults by Catherine Jinks, has been posted. Lots of older adults have enjoyed this novel tremendously, including me. It's about a boy of the Jerusalem streets who, for protection, decides to ask for a job with the Knights Templar and finds himself the squire of a Crusader. Pagan's Crusade is listed on the new page for Young Adult Historical Novels set in Medieval times. You may notice a new yellow navigation button on the left-hand side of the screen for YA Novels. This new feature is still in the early stages of development, but pages now exist for YA novels set in ancient history and in medieval times. Next to come will the Renaissance YA page.
Coming Soon: a review of the historical mystery Requiem in Vienna by Jan 11, 2010, Review of Murder on the CliffsA new review of Murder on the Cliffs by Joanna Challis has been posted. A novel featuring first-person narrative in the voice of author Daphne du Maurier is an ambitious project. Challis imagines du Maurier first got the idea for her masterpiece Rebecca when she was inspired to act as an amateur sleuth while staying in a village on the coast of Cornwall. Jan 10, 2010, Book Lovers of the Feline Persuasion
Jan 8, 2010, Review of David Malouf's RansomA new review of Ransom, David Malouf's poetic literary novel about Achilles and Priam, two central figures in Homer's tale of the Trojan War, has been posted. It's quite a beautiful novel. Jan 5, 2010, Review of Ben Kane's The Forgotten LegionA new review of The Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane, about the doomed Parthian campaign of Marcus Crassus, has been posted. This novel spends a good deal of time in Rome before the campaign gets off the ground, unabashedly championing the city's underdogs, including a descendant of the vanquished Etruscans, a Gaul, and a twin brother and sister born to a slave mother. It's the first in a planned series. Jan 4, 2010, Reflections on Hilary Mantel's Wolf HallOne scene in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall provoked deeply personal reflections for reader Erwin Biener, who has contributed an excellent article on the scene about the old "Loller" woman's execution. As a boy in Budapest at the end of World War II, he was present at an execution of two Arrow Cross party members who had murdered Jews during the war. Read his thoughts about the young Cromwell's experiences in Wolf Hall and his own experiences in 1945 in his article "The Old Loller Woman: Violence and Death in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall." Jan 3, 2010, Review of The Key by Benita Kane JaroA new review of The Key, a novel about the Roman poet Catullus by Benita Kane Jaro, has been posted. Catullus died young, probably at age thirty, and his poems reflect his youth. Many of them deal with his love affair with "Lesbia," which most historians believe was the name he used in his poems for the beautiful and notorious Clodia. The novel, too, is about their tempestuous affair. Jan 2, 2010, The Best Book of the DecadeCan you decide which of the books you read in the last ten years was the very best? I had trouble narrowing things down to the best 20 I read just this year, but maybe you can do better. If you can, you might just win $250 in credit by commenting on your nominee for best book for the Puddly Awards contest at Powell's Books. (It rains a lot here in Portland, and we're rather fond of our puddles, especially if we had to abandon our car in the snow downtown the other night. Fortunately, it was still where we left it by morning, and it's now safe at home in the garage.) You need not love the rain to win, but you must enter before the end of January. Good luck! Dec 31, 2009, The Best Historical Novels I Read in 2009This was a great year for readers who love historical novels. For this year's list of the very best that I read, I wasn't able to limit myself to ten, but selected fifteen historical novels and five historical mysteries that I especially enjoyed. The list includes some literary novels adored by critics, some beautifully written novels that seem to have slipped through the cracks unnoticed, and some without a great deal of deeper meaning that are just for fun but deliver that fun by the truckload. Not all were published in 2009, but most appeared within the last few years, while a couple are recent reprint editions of novels that had gone out of print. I hope you'll enjoy some of them as much as I did. Best wishes for a very happy New Year. May your reading in 2010 be inspiring, fulfilling and pleasurable, and may your real-life experiences be the same! Dec 30, 2009, Review of Angel Time, Anne Rice's newest novelA review of Angel Time, the first novel in a new series, "The Songs of the Seraphim," by Anne Rice has been posted. Readers who appreciate Anne Rice's lush, evocative prose and a strong religious message are likely to enjoy this one. Dec 29, 2009, Review of Pirate LatitudesA new review of Pirate Latitudes, Michael Crichton's last novel, has been posted. While some writers leave unfinished manuscripts or first drafts behind when they die which do not live up to the standards of their other work, Pirate Latitudes is a completed, polished novel which many readers will consider his best work. It's a bloody, death-defying tale of seafaring derring-do against impossible odds. The only disappointment is that Crichton is no longer with us to write more of these ripping tales. Dec 27, 2009, New ListingsGore Vidal has written some excellent historical novels, but I was surprised to discover that one of his early novels is about Blondel, the minstrel who, according to legend, searched for and finally found Richard the Lionheart after he had been taken captive and imprisoned in Austria. A Search for the King was published in 1950. Newspapers of the time refused to review it because one of Vidal's previous novels, The City and the Pillar (a contemporary novel set at the close of World War II and published in 1948), dealt openly with homosexuality. Historical novels published in December have been added to the listings. Some that look especially interesting include Julianne Lee's sympathetic novel about Queen Mary I of England, Her Mother's Daughter; Sheila Kohler's Becoming Jane Eyre, a biographical novel about Charlotte Bronte; and Matthew Flaming's The Kingdom of Ohio, about a present-day antiques dealer and the two New Yorkers in a photograph he finds, a worker building the subway system in 1901 and a woman who may have time-traveled into 1901 from the "Lost Kingdom of Ohio." Dec 24, 2009, "Sherlock Holmes' London" in the Smithsonian magazineA delightful article on "Sherlock Holmes' London" by Joshua Hammer appears in the latest Smithsonian magazine (January 2010). Did you know that the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, met Oscar Wilde and may have been influenced by the meeting to add more depth to the character of Sherlock Holmes in his second novel The Sign of Four? Or that more than one London museum is devoted to Sherlock Holmes?
Arthur Conan Doyle's original Sherlock Holmes novels (including, besides The Sign of Four, A Study in Scarlet, and The Hound of the Baskervilles) were set in his own time, so are not historical fiction. But numerous modern writers have sensed a demand for more Sherlock Holmes stories, producing novels and short stories based on historical research that are indeed historical fiction. The most recent is Lyndsay Faye's 2009 thriller Dust and Shadow, which pits Holmes against the historical killer Jack the Ripper. An early one was The Seven-Per-Cent Solution Holmes's creator also features in historical fiction. Gyles Brandreth's mystery series featuring Oscar Wilde as sleuth teams him with Arthur Conan Doyle in the novel launching the series, Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance. One of Robin Paige's "Charles Sheridan" mysteries imagines her sleuth collaborating with Doyle to solve a moorland mystery in Death at Dartmoor. Julian Barnes spun his critically acclaimed 2006 novel Arthur and George around an actual case in which Doyle used the skills he developed in creating Sherlock Holmes to try to help the victim of a terrible miscarriage of justice. For a nonfiction book about Arthur Conan Doyle, try Daniel Stashower's 1999 biography Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle (see the Smithsonian review). Dec 21, 2009, The Novels of Rosemary Sutcliff; New YA PageAnnis has contributed "Rosemary Sutcliff," an article about Rosemary Sutcliff and her novels for young people and adults, especially those set in Roman and post-Roman Britain. It's a great overview of this acclaimed author's finest works. To go along with the article, the website now includes a page of listings of novels for young people, YA Historical Novels: Ancient History. Website visitors have been asking for listings of YA historical novels, and this is the first of the new YA pages to go up. Dec 20, 2009, There's Gold in Them Thar BonesFrench scientists have recently dug up and analyzed the bones of Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of the sixteenth-century king of France, Henri II. They found gold in the bones, according to a report at Mail Online. It seems she drank an elixir containing liquid gold to preserve her remarkably youthful appearance - and it probably killed her. Surprisingly, relatively few novels have been written about the fascinating Diane de Poitiers, who captivated a king twenty years younger than herself. One is Diane Haeger's Courtesan. You can read about Diane de Poitiers online at Wikipedia Dec 18, 2009, Review of The Fire of OriginsA new review of The Fire of Origins by African-born author Emmanuel Dongala has been posted. Both realistic and surrealistic, this relatively short (248 pages), poetic novel insightfully covers the history of Africa from before European colonization to the present day. The author was a professor of chemistry at Brazzaville University in the Congo Republic until 1997 (ten years after the novel was published in French), when civil war broke out and he fled to safety in the U.S. I found The Fire of Origins a pleasure to read, both informative and inspiring. Dec 14, 2009, Review of Jacqueline Winspear's WWI mystery Among the MadA new review of Among the Mad, #6 in Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs mystery series, has been posted. A trade paperback edition was released last month, just in time for readers who prefer serious subjects to jingling bells at this time of year. Winspear's fictional heroine Maisie Dobbs is a former World War I nurse with training in psychology who works as an independent private eye. In this novel, Scotland Yard commandeers her services on Christmas Eve after a destitute veteran blows himself up and Maisie's name is mentioned in a threatening letter to the British government. Dec 13, 2009, New ListingsNew novels published in November and set in the first half of the 20th century have been added to the website. Of special note are two World War II novels: the final novel in Jeff Shaara's Second World War trilogy, No Less than Victory, which covers the Battle of the Bulge and the final years of the war; and a novel based on the real-life mission in 1945 to rescue inmates of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp south of Manila in the Philippines, The Broken Jewel by David L. Robbins. Another new series novel is #32 in Cynthia Harrod-Eagles's monumental Morland Dynasty series, The Fallen Kings, which takes her fictional Morland family to the final year of World War I. The five Morland novels set during the World War I period appear together on the World War I Europe: The Home Front page, but these novels cover both home front and warfare experiences of the characters. A new mystery novel by Joanna Challis which promises to be especially atmospheric is Murder on the Cliffs, which features a young Daphne du Maurier as the sleuth. Finally, for those who enjoy Clive Cussler's violence-drenched thrillers, there is a new one out, The Wrecker (written with co-author Justin Scott), about mayhem on the Southern Pacific Railway in 1907. Dec 10, 2009, Review of Norah Lofts's classic The Lute PlayerA new review of The Lute Player by Norah Lofts has been posted. It's an imaginative story of Berengaria, who would become the wife of Richard the Lionheart, and Blondel, the minstrel who accompanied Richard on the Third Crusade. First published in 1951 and long out of print, this classic novel has just appeared in a new edition by Touchstone, which also recently published new editions of several other Lofts novels: The King's Pleasure, about Katharine of Aragon; The Concubine, about Anne Boleyn; and Here Was a Man, about Elizabeth I and Walter Raleigh. Dec 8, 2009, Interview with India Edghill, Author of Delilah
I found the Samson the Bible portrays to be a less than sympathetic character - frankly, I couldn't deal at all with a "hero" who burned 300 foxes to death (you know there HAS to be a more efficient way to burn your enemies' fields). I wanted a hero who was strong and good; a man who followed his heart. Samson was also supposed to be one of the judges in Israel, so he can't have been a bonehead, either. So I went "Looking for a Hero" and found him in Kevin Sorbo's portrayal of Hercules. I studied that characterization closely (SUCH a hardship - NOT!) and tried to create a man who was both strong and gentle, a man who could love and be loved. Strong doesn't have to mean bully; nice doesn't have to mean dull.
If there really was a Delilah, there's no way for us to know what she was like. I created a character that fit my version of the story: a passionate woman ruled by her heart. Another author could, with equal validity, give us a greedy Delilah, or a patriotic Delilah - one of the wonderful things about Biblical fiction is seeing the many versions of the Bible stories and people created by different writers. My Michal (in Queenmaker) and Jill Eileen Smith's Michal (in Michal) are based on the same person, but are totally different in mind, heart, and spirit. That's one of the reasons I love reading Biblical historical novels; it's like a bunch of Biblical parallel universes.
Thank you so much for the compliment! The truth is that I've read so many history books and so many historical novels over the past fifty years that I sort of rummaged around in my mind and pulled up the facts and images I needed. I also used books, including-but-not-limited-to Ancient Near Eastern Texts, Everyday Life in Ancient Times, The Dictionary of Ancient Deities and The Collapse of the Bronze Age. Of course I used the Internet (it's not surfing, it's researching, honest!). I based some of the Temple organization on the large medieval convents: there's a lot more to convent life than kneeling around praying. Basically, a major Temple would have been almost a small city in itself, and I tried to convey that when writing about the Great Temple of Atargatis.
Read our review of Delilah or the listings at Powell's or Amazon.com. Dec 4, 2009, New Review of Pride and Prejudice Sequel Postscript from PemberleyA new review of Postscript from Pemberley by Rebecca Ann Collins has been posted. This is #7 in Collins's "Pemberley Chronicles" series, which imagines the further lives of various characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and their descendants. While not the most exciting of the genre of Jane Austen sequels, it would make a nice Christmas gift for someone who enjoys and has collected novels #1-6 in the series. Dec 3, 2009, New Review: The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale; New ListingsAnnis has contributed a new review of The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale, a novel about a young woman in eighteenth-century England who becomes a firework-maker's apprentice. Annis treats us to some beautiful quotes from the novel. New listings of November 2009 novels added recently include: David Malouf's Ransom, a literary retelling of the Iliad; Juliet Marillier's Heart's Blood, romantic historical fantasy set in medieval Ireland; Anne Rice's Angel Time, about a modern criminal sent back to thirteenth-century England to redeem himself; and Diane Haeger's The Queen's Mistake, about Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard. Dec 2, 2009, New Review of Devil's Cub by Georgette HeyerA new review of Devil's Cub, one of Georgette Heyer's early Georgian romances, has been posted. It's classic Heyer, a comedy of manners that's well-researched - and sexy in an old-fashioned way that hints at the risque without following any characters into the bedroom. Dec 1, 2009, New Review: Gifts of War by Mackenzie FordA new review of Gifts of War by Mackenzie Ford has been posted. Highly recommended by a website visitor, it's a poignant novel about love and deception in wartime. It also has seasonal interest: it opens amid the eerie atmosphere of the World War I Christmas Truce. Nov 30, 2009, Christmas Mysteries; Giveaway WinnersA new mystery series on the 19th Century Europe page is Emily Brightwell's "Mrs. Jeffries" series about a Victorian police inspector's clever housekeeper. The latest, Mrs. Jeffries and the Yuletide Weddings (number 26!), is set in the Christmas season. Another mystery series featuring Christmas themes is Kate Kingsbury's "Pennyfoot Hotel" series, set in England before World War I (see the 20th Century Prewar Europe page for the whole series). Decked With Folly is the latest, about a hapless hotelier whose cozy establishment seems to be a particular target of mayhem at Christmastime.
A couple of contest entrants mentioned they would like more news on forthcoming historical novels. The Historical Novel Society is a great source. It's a paid membership organization, but their list of forthcoming historical novels is available free on their website for both members and casual visitors alike. Coming tomorrow: A review of Gifts of War by Mackenzie Ford, a novel recommended by a website visitor. Nov 26, 2009, Gifts for Historical Fiction FansWould you give a copy of Jack the Ripper Returns to the reader who devotedly rushes out every six months for the latest installment in Honey B. Sweet's "Beloved Bunny" series? Maybe not, but what will you choose for the historical fiction fan in your life? If you're looking for inspiration, check out our article Gifts for Historical Fiction Fans. It includes suggestions on how to figure out your giftee's specific taste in historical fiction, as well as ideas for gifts to evoke that delighted smile we all love to see. We'll be drawing names of winners of the Thanksgiving Giveaway contest today, and will notify you by email within the next few days. Thanks for entering - and whether you entered or not, thanks for helping to make this website a success! Nov 24, 2009, New Review of Delilah by India EdghillThe tale of Samson and Delilah is one of the most dramatic in an Old Testament full of dramatic stories, and I've just posted a review of Delilah, India Edghill's new novel which will arrive in stores on Thanksgiving Day (November 26). An extra feature following the review is a link to a National Geographic article about Ashkelon, the Philistine city where much of Edghill's novel is lavishly set. Nov 23, 2009, First map to use the name "America" featured in Smithsonian articleThe December issue of Smithsonian magazine includes a fascinating article by Toby Lester, "Putting America on the Map," about two German map-makers, Matthias Ringmann and Martin Waldseemuller, who in 1507 published the first map to show North and South America surrounded by water and labeled "America." If I'm not mistaken, no one has ever written a novel about Ringmann and Waldseemuller. There are several novels about Columbus and his voyages, though, beginning with Washington Irving's influential, if misleading, 1828 novel The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, which portrays Columbus as the man who convinced Europeans that the earth was not flat but round (educated Europeans already knew this). More recent Columbus fiction includes Adam Schell's 2009 comic novel Tomato Rhapsody, about an Italian tomato grower who sailed with Columbus, and Stephen Marlowe's also-humorous 1987 novel The Memoirs of Christopher Columbus. On a more somber note, Ridley Scott's 1992 movie 1492: Conquest of Paradise, starring Gerard Depardieu as Columbus, portrays the discovery of the New World as a tragedy. It's not too late to enter the Thanksgiving Book Giveaway contest. See the November 20 post below. Coming tomorrow: A review of Delilah by India Edghill
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It's a pleasure to have author J. Sydney Jones visiting the blog today to talk about his new mystery Requiem in Vienna, which features composer Gustav Mahler. Welcome, Syd!
Visiting the blog today is Alan Gordon, author of eight "Fools' Guild" mystery novels, including the latest, The Parisian Prodigal (see 
It's great to have Lindsey Davis visiting the blog to talk about her novel of the English Civil War, Rebels and Traitors. Welcome, Lindsey!
Author Susanne Alleyn sent me this photo of her friend's cat Frimousse guarding a galley of her novel 
, Nicholas Meyer's 1974 novel that has Holmes teaming up with fellow cocaine user Sigmund Freud. Caleb Carr's 2005 novel 
; while Michael Hardwick's series puts him in the midst of real events, such as the Dreyfus Affair in 
. It seems there's a Holmes novel to suit just about everyone's taste. Sena Jeter Naslund infuriated some Holmes purists but delighted more romantically inclined readers by portraying him in love in 
Today we're interviewing India Edghill, author of Delilah. Welcome, India!
And speaking of holidays, the winners of the Thanksgiving Giveaway contest have been selected and notified by email. My husband helped me pick them the old-fashioned way by drawing names out of a hat. It was lots of fun, so I'm planning to do this again sometime. If you didn't win this time, maybe you'll have better luck next time!