Diana talks to Carol McGrath, author of one of my top three books for 2017, Woman in the Shadows

Hi Carol, good to talk to you.

First things first I am sure there is a question that you have always longed to be asked. Now is the chance. Ask your own question and answer it!

Do you want publishers to pigeon hole you into a particular historical era as an author?

Absolutely not. I shall be writing a novel set in the seventeenth century after I complete the Rose novels of which I currently plan two. They are set during the ‘magnificent thirteenth century’.

What is the genre you are best known for?

Historical Fiction.

If your latest book The Woman in the Shadows was adapted into a TV show or a film, who would you like to play the lead role?

Carey Mulligan would make a lovely Elizabeth Cromwell. However, Elizabeth does have silvery hair! Will Carey dye hers?

What made you choose this genre?

I am passionate about History and always have been. I always have read Historical novels, growing up on a diet of Jean Plaidy and Ayna Seton.

 How do you get ideas for plots and characters?

Historical Research and paintings. It is good to read contemporary novels as they can provide universal themes and plots.

Favourite picture or work of art?

The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck 1434. The colours are vivid, the portrait has depth and there’s a story there.

If, as a one off, (and you could guarantee publication!)  you could write anything you wanted, is there another genre you would love to work with and do you already have a budding plot line in mind?

I would like to write a contemporary woman’s story with a political edge, possibly with a photo journalist as my heroine and set in one of the countries I visit such as India or Japan.

Was becoming a writer a conscious decision or something that you drifted into (or even something so compelling that it could not be denied?) How old were you when you first started to write seriously.

I have always loved writing. I love poetry and used to write it. I began to write seriously in my forties but was not published for another decade. I took an MA in Creative Writing at Queens Belfast and an MPhil at Royal Holloway. This involved thesis work and that held me up but was fulfilling.

Marmite? Love it or hate it? Hate it. Too salty.

Do you have any rituals and routines when writing? Your favourite cup for example or ‘that’ piece of music...??

I listen to Classical, Jazz and interesting Folk. I love piano music especially Satie’s Trois Gymnopedies.

I promise I won’t tell them the answer to this, but when you are writing, who is more important, your family or your characters?

My characters but I absolutely would leave them to resolve a family crisis.

Other than writing full time, what would be your dream job?

Foreign Correspondent.

Coffee or tea? Red or white?

Tea and with a dash of milk. White wine is my tipple.

How much of your work is planned before you start? Do you have a full draft or let it find its way?

I plan characters carefully and use an overall three part structure to design a novel’s narrative. I write into it and plan further. I make lists for each section and use spider diagrams a lot as I write. It still can take its own life.

If you had free choice over the font your book is printed in, what font/fonts would you choose?

Times New Roman. Clarity rules for me.

Imagine that you could get hold of any original source document. What would it be?

I would like to see the original inventory for Cromwell’s house, Austin Friars. Possessions can reveal so much about a character. (Gosh!Yes! How I would love to see that too!|D)

Have any of your characters ever shocked you and gone off on their own adventure leaving you scratching your head??? If so how did you cope with that!?

Elditha from The Handfasted Wife sadly refused the happy ending I had planned for her. I cannot say more as it would be a reveal.

How much research do you do and do you ever go on research trips?

I endlessly research but all this must be seamlessly incorporated into the fabric of the novel. I aim to recreate the atmosphere of a period and the trappings of that particular Historical world. I do go on research trips and unfortunately was unable to visit Kiev as planned when writing The Betrothed Sister. The Ukraine became dangerous. However, I have a working knowledge of Russia. That helped. I visited Dublin to research the Irish Viking period whilst writing The Handfasted Wife. I had to visit Exeter to get the siege section right as well. I used Tudor maps of London when writing The Woman in the Shadows and visited The Museum of London as well as The British Museum and many Renaissance art works in various galleries.

Fiction authors have to contend with real characters invading our stories. Are there any ‘real’ characters you have been tempted to prematurely kill off or ignore because you just don’t like them or they spoil the plot?

Oh yes. Padar had to be contained as he was upstaging Elditha and thus distancing her for a reader. I realised I could not use his POV when she was present in a scene. Rosalind, an embroiderer, is in danger of stealing the show from Queen Ailenor in The Silken Rose. She is currently banished to a convent but she will emerge and her story line will conclude. (Big smile)

Are you prepared to go away from the known facts for the sake of the story and if so how do you get around this?

Generally I do not deviate but I invent extras to full in the dots and particularly to create interesting stories. I invented a fire in The Woman in the Shadows and the outcome of that to build tension, provide a story and highlight known aspects of character as regards Thomas Cromwell. I always try to be plausible.

Do you find that the lines between fact and fiction sometimes become blurred?

Yes, of course, but for me keeping to known facts matter. I invent around these and create hypotheses. I guess this is blurring!

Have you ever totally hated or fallen in love with one of your characters?

I am still  utterly in love with Padar and I am rather fond of Thomas Cromwell as he was before The King’s Great Matter. I do admire his wife, Elizabeth who tells the story. (I am rather infatuated with the early Thomas Cromwell myself... D)

What do you enjoy reading for pleasure?

I read widely. I currently am reading Anne Cleeves and highly recommend The Crow Trap. It helps me understand plotting.

What drink would you recommend drinking whilst reading your latest book?

You would want a delicious posset with beaten egg, milk, honey and spices whilst reading The Woman in the Shadows. Keep it warm by an open fire and curl up in your favourite armchair. Follow it with a shot of Benedictine.

Last but not least... favourite author?I love and re read Charlotte Bronte, especially Jane Eyre. I think EM Foster is my joint favourite author. I adore his work, especially A Passage to India. 

About The Woman in the Shadows:

A powerful, evocative new novel by the critically acclaimed author of The Handfasted Wife, The Woman in the Shadows tells the rise of Thomas Cromwell, Tudor England's most powerful statesman, through the eyes of his wife Elizabeth.

When beautiful cloth merchant’s daughter Elizabeth Williams is widowed at the age of twenty-two, she is determined to make herself a success in the business she has learned from her father. But there are those who oppose a woman making her own way in the world, and soon Elizabeth realises she may have some powerful enemies – enemies who also know the truth about her late husband.

Security – and happiness – comes when Elizabeth is introduced to kindly, ambitious merchant turned lawyer, Thomas Cromwell. Their marriage is one based on mutual love and respect…but it isn’t always easy being the wife of an influential, headstrong man in Henry VIII’s London.

The city is filled with ruthless people and strange delights – and Elizabeth realises she must adjust to the life she has chosen…or risk losing everything.

Read more about Carol McGrath here

© Diana Milne January 2018 © Carol McGrath, 1/1/18

Sharon Reviews: The Woman in the Shadows by Carol McGrath

Today Sharon Bennett Connolly has the unique opportunity to review a book that has only come out this week. The Woman in the Shadows by Carol McGrath is a fascinating historical novel set in Tudor England. The author has kindly offered a paperback copy as a giveaway. To be in with a chance of winning this fabulous story, simply leave a comment below of on our Facebook Page.

The winner will be drawn on 9th August 2017. Good luck! 

A powerful, evocative new novel by the critically acclaimed author of The Handfasted Wife, The Woman in the Shadows tells the rise of Thomas Cromwell, Tudor England's most powerful statesman, through the eyes of his wife Elizabeth.

When beautiful cloth merchant’s daughter Elizabeth Williams is widowed at the age of twenty-two, she is determined to make herself a success in the business she has learned from her father. But there are those who oppose a woman making her own way in the world, and soon Elizabeth realises she may have some powerful enemies – enemies who also know the truth about her late husband.

Security – and happiness – comes when Elizabeth is introduced to kindly, ambitious merchant turned lawyer, Thomas Cromwell. Their marriage is one based on mutual love and respect…but it isn’t always easy being the wife of an influential, headstrong man in Henry VIII’s London.

The city is filled with ruthless people and strange delights – and Elizabeth realises she must adjust to the life she has chosen…or risk losing everything.

What a treat! 

Carol McGrath's latest book, The Woman in the Shadows is a fabulous fictional account of the life and times of Elizabeth Cromwell, wife of Henry VIII's famous - some would say notorious - adviser.  It is an enjoyable, thoughtful story which gives the reader an insight into life in Tudor London, in general, and in a Tudor household in particular. Following Elizabeth from the funeral of her first husband, through her widowhood and new love and marriage with Thomas Cromwell, this is not the story of Henry VIII and the Tudor court, but of the 'ordinary' people without whom the Tudors would not have been able to sustain their glamorous court.

Written in colourful, vivid language that draws you in from the first page, The Woman in the Shadows is a wonderful novel, full of life and imagery. And, of course, the fact I could find no picture of Elizabeth Cromwell - only ones of Thomas - serves to highlight how little information we have about the ordinary Tudor woman. Carol McGrath's novel gives us a rarely seen insight into everyday life of the non-aristocratic family in Tudor London. However, if you were expecting melodrama, this book is not it; adventure and mystery are given equal billing, with murder, arson and secrets, ambushes in dark corners and some strange, scary personalities making this an exciting story which is not to be missed.

Cromwell's rise to power at the Tudor court runs parallel with his family concerns, with the arrival of children and Elizabeth's own business adventures. His mysterious past - as a soldier and adventurer in Italy - is alluded to and even comes in useful. Carol McGrath does an excellent job of portraying the enigma that is Thomas Cromwell; the courtier, soldier and statesman who is also merchant, husband and father. The characters are brought to life in vivid, vibrant detail, creating a tableau that is hard to forget even once the last page has been read.

For several hours, I spoke little and ate sparingly. Father went about the hall speaking with merchants. I wondered how I would manage but knew I must and would. A chair scraped beside me, jolting me out of my thoughts. I felt a light touch on my elbow and glanced up. The feast was ending. My merchant had left his place. Gone to the privy, no doubt. Instead, Father stood by my chair, with Master Cromwell by his side.

'Lizzy, Master Cromwell is my new cloth middle-man. He would like you to show him your bombazine cloth. He has admired your mourning gown.'

I started. This was nothing new. Father always employed different cloth middlemen to sell his fabrics to Flanders, thinking each one better than the last but today, at my husband's funeral it was not seemly. Master Cromwell was watching me through eyes of an unusual shade, not quite blue or grey.

He bowed and said, 'Forgive me for staring, Mistress Williams, but you see I knew you as a child. Your father used our fulling mill in Putney.' He smiled at Father.

That was why he was familiar. I stared back, and in a moment or two I had recollected a tough, wicked little boy, some years older than I, who taught me to fish in the river with a string and a hook with a wriggling worm at the end of it.

'I do recollect you, Master Cromwell. We played together as children,' I said, feeling my mouth widen into a smile. 'Father sent your father our cloth to be washed, beaten, prepared and softened for sale. I remember climbing trees and stealing apples. You led me astray.'

Elizabeth Cromwell herself is a wonderful, strong character, facing the prejudices of the merchant class and her own family in order to take some control over her life. And The Woman in the Shadows will make you want to know more Although a history buff would know what is to become of Cromwell and Elizabeth, the author cleverly manages to avoid inserting any hindsight into the story. If you don't know what becomes of the characters, you will soon be scouring the history books for the true story.

Carol McGrath's wonderful novel transports you through time and space to the streets of London and Northampton at the height of Henry VIII's magnificent reign. With colourful, vivid imagery she recreates a world and its people which has been otherwise lost through the centuries. The city, the characters and the lifestyle have been brought back to life, recreating the vibrant world in which Thomas Cromwell would eventually rise to be the king's chief statesman. The story follows Elizabeth's life; her family, her business and her husband, cleverly demonstrating how these are affected and changed by her husband's inexorable rise to power.

The attention to detail is phenomenal, showing many of the social conventions of the time, while not detracting from the story, nor making the reader feel like they're in a lecture on social history. It paints a fascinating tableau of merchant life in Tudor London, portraying the struggles and successes facing a widow trying to keep her business going in a man's world. Rich in detail in every aspect, Carol McGrath's meticulous research has produced a novel which plunges the reader into the middle of Elizabeth's household in Tudor London. From funeral and marriage arrangements, births and christenings, to the contents of a Tudor garden and the conduct of the cloth trade, The Woman in the Shadows acts as a window into Tudor merchant society.

If you liked Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall you will love The Woman in the Shadows by Carol McGrath.. It shows the human side of the Cromwell family and is a treat for any lover of historical fiction, and especially for a fan of Tudor history. It is a novel not to be missed, and which must be devoured for both the meticulous detail and the wonderful story - especially the story.






About the author: Carol McGrath has an MA in Creative Writing from The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University Belfast, followed by an MPhil in Creative Writing from University of London. The Handfasted Wife, first in a trilogy about the royal women of 1066 was shortlisted for the RoNAs in 2014. The Swan-Daughter and The Betrothed Sister complete this best-selling trilogy. The Woman in the Shadows, a novel that considers Henry VIII’s statesman, Thomas Cromwell, through the eyes of Elizabeth his wife, will be published on August 4^th, 2017. Carol is working on a new medieval Trilogy, The Rose Trilogy, set in the High Middle Ages.  It subject matter is three linked medieval queens, sometimes considered ‘She Wolves’. She speaks at events and conferences on the subject of medieval women, writing Historical Fiction, The Bayeux Tapestry, and Fabrics, Tapestry and Embroidery as incorporated into fiction. Carol was the co-ordinator of the Historical Novels Association Conference, Oxford in September 2016 and reviews for the HNS.  Find Carol on her website: www.carolcmcgrath.co.uk. The Woman in the Shadows is available to purchase at http://tinyurl.com/yd3ylc2b  

About the The Reviewer: Sharon Bennett Connolly has been fascinated by history for over 30 years.

She has studied history at university and worked as a tour guide at several historic sites. She has lived in Paris and London before settling down back in a little village in her native Yorkshire, with husband James and their soon-to-be-teenage son.

Sharon has been writing a blog entitled 'History...the Interesting Bits' for a little over 2 years and has just finished her first non-fiction work, 'Heroines of the Medieval World'. The book looks at the lives of the women – some well known and some almost forgotten to history – who broke the mould; those who defied social norms and made their own future, consequently changing lives, society and even the course of history. It is due to be published by Amberley on 15th September 2017. It is now available for pre-order from Amberley, Book Depository and  Amazon.

Sharon can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Louise E. Rule Interviews Carol McGrath

First of all I would like to welcome Carol McGrath, author of The Handfasted Wife, The Swan-Daughter, and soon to be released, The Betrothed Sister.

Carol McGrath

A big welcome to The Review, Carol, thank you for joining me for this interview about your book, The Swan-Daughter.

How important was it for you, Carol, to have The Swan-Daughter, a stand-alone novel, considering that it is the middle book of a trilogy, the first book being The Handfasted Wife, and the last being The Betrothed Daughter?

The books are stand alone because they each tell individual stories concerning three different noble women. The novels have different focuses. The Handfasted Wife is about what happened to Harold’s wife and children during and after 1066. The Swan-Daughter is a true story of elopement and its consequences. The Betrothed Sister is about exile and a glittering marriage for King Harold’s elder daughter, Gita (Thea) with a great Kiev prince – a few battles too. They can indeed be read as individual stories although they possess an over-arching theme – a particular family’s destiny – that of the Godwins. They were a family which had either hoped to be or were chosen to form a new ruling dynasty after the death of Edward the Confessor. The stories in this series are told from the perspectives of three women, Harold’s handfasted wife and two daughters’ perspectives. How did they survive the regime change in 1066? What happened next? These were questions I answered in the context of three novels. Each is a different and thrilling survival story.

Gunnhild Godwinsdatter, as a woman, and from a woman’s perspective, comes across as having an extremely strong character once her husband, Count Alan of Richmond, is not around. How easy or difficult was it for you to create her, bring her to life, as you have done, given that there is so little that is actually known about her?

I think the events of 1066 threw many English women on their own resources. Gunnhild was King Harold’s younger daughter. Research indicated that she was nine at the time of the Norman Conquest and at the time she was a royal inmate of Wilton Abbey, there to be educated as had many other royal women before her. It is fact that Gunnhild eloped (there are letters from the Archbishop of Canterbury and Gunnhild surviving that indicate the elopement and a later relationship with his brother). Therefore, I considered that it is possible to portray her as a strong, independent personality, thrown on her own resources, particularly by 1075 when the novel opens, because her aunt had died. I knew also that she would be constricted in how her emotions could play out because of the religious and social conventions of the period. Gunnhild could have inherited her mother’s lands. Certainly, Alan, as recorded history indicates, acquired most of these. I portrayed her as naïve to begin with, a noble girl, deprived of and longing for lovely things to the extent that she will thwart convention and suffer for her actions. I portrayed her as maturing through the story. I have no idea what the real Gunnhild was like but I tried to make her plausible.

You say, Carol, in your Author Notes, that you had imagined that Gunnhild favoured calligraphy and drawing, rather than embroidery. That is extremely interesting, more especially as all three require a particular dexterity to perform, and a good eye for detail. So please could you tell our readers why you think she preferred these particular pastimes over embroidery?

I thought rather than Gunnhild being depicted as an embroiderer I would make her artistic and interested in writing. Women in earlier centuries had been monastery (nunnery) calligraphers so I revisited this notion. As a consequence, the Gunnhild I have imagined is artistic. She has a highly educated aunt in the widow of Edward the Confessor, the patron of Wilton Abbey, a woman revered for her intellect at the time. This is recorded fact. Aunt Edith was a renowned embroiderer. There was an embroidery school at Wilton; both Wilton and Winchester were noted for their calligraphy also. In fact there is an overlap in the two because the Bayeux Tapestry designs owe much to 11^th century English manuscript work. Now, Gunnhild would be overshadowed by Aunt Edith’s stunning legacy as the best embroiderer in England if she was an embroiderer as well! Thus my Gunnhild has a latent talent of her own which is, of course, calligraphy. I do not suggest this was the real Gunnhild, but then, how would we actually know how the real Gunnhild passed her time, what she really thought or said?

Research is both an important and an absorbing part of writing an historical novel. How do you go about your research, Carol? Do you, for example, gather all your research together before you begin writing, or do you research as you go?

The historical world the Godwin women inhabit needs to be based in sound historical research in both primary and secondary sources. By this I mean archaeology, chronicle, books, museums, as well as art and poetry from that era. 

I conduct most of my research in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, in museums of all kinds, at re-enactments, in poetry from the period, stories rooted in the period, before I begin the novel. I have different notebooks for different aspects of research. I log every source’s details carefully, including page numbers as well in case I need to revisit them. It is an academic approach and disciplined. After a few months I have dropped into my novel’s world. Only then can I inhabit my characters. By the time I begin to write, I have absorbed the story’s alien landscape and its real and invented people. I have another A4 notebook in which I plan the novel. I also record character information, both invented and researched, in a notebook or two. I jot down phrases and relevant ideas for scenes, as they come to me. And I am old-fashioned as I do enjoy a mix of pencil and paper and computer files for information.

I can see that your cover design is very important to you, Carol. The Swan-Daughter has a beautiful resonance for me. There is a symbolism with the bulrushes, and with the two swans. The bulrushes are symbolic of how to live a humble life and about obeying the Church, as mentioned in Job 8:11: Can the rush be green without moisture. The swans are symbolic of love and loyalty, strength, grace and beauty. The colour of the font exactly matches the colour of the bills of the swans, and it creates a cohesiveness that can only draw the eye. Could you explain to our readers, therefore, how you went about designing your cover, and what it was you wanted to convey with just the viewing of it?

The cover is an illustration that can be viewed in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is The Swans and the Irises by Walter Crane. I loved the illustration and suggested it for the cover. I agree with the symbolism suggested in the question. When I discovered this picture, it was only the swans and what they stand for that occurred to me. Accent, my publisher, acquired the right to use it and designed the cover.

Questions that I always like to ask, Carol, are about an author’s writing routine. Could you tell us a little about your writing routine, please? For example, do you write at a particular time of the day, in a particular place? Do you work in a library, or at home, or both? Also, the editing, and proofreading processes are as equally important as the actual writing. How, then, do you go about these tasks, Carol?

I work best in the mornings and try to write most days. I write a scene and revisit it the next day before I write the next scene. It is good for continuity. There is a narrative plan to it, but this develops as I write. I have the novel’s beginning, middle and end before I start. I write chronologically through from beginning to end. Editing is absolutely crucial. It takes months. I go through the first draft three times thoroughly editing, thinking does the scene matter, is the character consistent, is each word the right word, or does a sentence, or even paragraph, sit in the right place within a chapter? Then, groan and joy both, there are three more edits with my editor, the manuscript going back and forth. It is wonderful to see it improve through this process to become the swan rather than the ugly duckling.

Is there anything else that you would like to add, Carol?

At the end of it all I do hope readers enjoy these stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them. And now they can listen to the first novel in the series as well, as it is available on audio. Hopefully The Swan-Daughter will follow. 

And finally, thank you, Paula and Louise for reading and reviewing my novels and for this interview.

 It's been a real pleasure chatting with you, Carol, and thank you for joining me for this interview.

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Other books in the Daughters of  Hastings Trilogy by Carol McGrath

 

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Carol can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and on her website you will find many more social media links to Carol.

Carol Reviews: The Tiger and The Dove trilogy (books one and two)

Please be sure to see giveaway information below!

The Tiger and the Dove trilogy by Rebecca Hazell

Book One: The Grip of God

The Grip of God

Set in the 13th century as the Mongols sweep across the Russian steppe and beyond, The Grip of God, the first novel in a brilliant epic trilogy, is one of the most interesting historical novels I have read in 2014.

Princess Sophia is placed in danger when the invaders threaten Kiev, the greatest Rus stronghold and cultural Mecca as The Rus Golden Age fades. The reason for this is internal division amongst Rus princes and the Mongol threat as this very united disciplined warrior people sweep across Asia into 13th century Europe.

Once Kiev is threatened Sophia’s merchant prince father sends her to safety in Constantinople. When her party is attacked by Mongol raiders she is spared because of a strange prophecy. She becomes a slave and concubine to Argamon, the teenage warrior son of a great leader. She will bring good fortune according to legend. This is the fabled princess with golden red hair. But hers is no fairy tale. Only twelve years old, she is thrust into a violent world always on the move and as a consequence she and the reader are hurtled breathlessly through events and episodes of exceptional physical and emotional danger.

Sophia's character is very well developed as the story progresses and she matures and importantly survives. She is mentally older than her twelve years as the story opens and she must grow up even more quickly if she is to negotiate the rules of this very unique, different and violent culture where clan ties are everything. It is a rich culture and fascinating to discover. Above all Sophia must survive, and at times it does seem that it is impossible. She must get to her uncle in Constantinople.

As with all good quest novels there are enemies and helpmates. All of the secondary characters are exquisitely portrayed. The reader will meet and like Dorje, the captive Buddhist priest and Sophia's mentor; Selim the Arab trader and spy; and the lovely Lady Quin'ling, Argamon's mother, a wise lady who is herself in great danger from a rival. The novel is laced with jealousy, conflict, humanity and wisdom. I particularly appreciated aspects of the alien Mongol culture Sophia must come to understand. For example the Mongols tolerated other religions as long as there were no infringements on their own. They used translators and were expert at diplomacy. I also found myself liking Sophia more and more throughout the three-year period of her incarceration, caring for her through her mistakes and her courage.

As a consequence, I left this novel with a deeper understanding of a rich and unusual culture. Importantly, I came to recognise how they were so successful. At a time when Rus princes were squabbling in internecine power struggles Rebecca Hazell shows her readers how totally united the Mongol invaders were. She deftly integrates this history and its contrasting cultures into a fabulously engaging page-turning novel. No spoilers. I have now read part two of this trilogy. Sophia still has far to go and I for one shall be following the rest of her journey.

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Book Two 

Solomon's Bride

The second novel in Rebecca Hazell's trilogy, The Tiger and the Dove, set in the thirteenth century, fulfils its promise of great characterisation and a wonderful historical adventure. Helped by Arab merchant trader, Selim, Sophia has escaped her Mongol captors along with her handmaiden Anna. This time there is a third important female character, Maryam, significant too symbolically since she is a Jewess living in a Muslim world. All three women are beautifully developed rounded characters with their own narratives.

The story opens evocatively with the words, 'One morning I woke to the muezzin's call and began to steel myself for another long day of questioning.' Instantly the reader is drawn to the excitement of a distant world and an exciting journey. Initially Sophia educates us about this world enclosed within an Iranian palace. We learn that there are internal conflicts within the Islamic world. Sophia introduces the reader to the world of women within the harem and to a society of educators who exist within this society. As before she is a steely character determined to learn and to cherish her independence in a patriarchal world. Her ultimate goal to reach Constantinople is threatened by many thrilling advances and delays.

Sophia must escape the beautiful Iranian palace if she is to accomplish her goal to find her Rus uncle in Constantinople. Bear in mind that we are still in the period of Crusades in the Middle East, a time of Hospitallers, Knights Templar and Chivalry, never mind internal issues facing the Islamic world. All the time Sophia is regarded as an infidel even when she is offered kindness. She is challenged over and over and meets these challenges with integrity and intelligence. The novel is fat with page turning events and a beautiful, yet very sad, yet realistic love story. Sophia's physical journey becomes her emotional story. Yet love is not without its dangers, obstacles and delays. The love story’s thread is beautifully integrated into the story of French knights, the concept of chivalry and the world of crusades. It remains for me to say that this summer I look forward with huge anticipation to the concluding novel in Rebecca Hazell’s exotic and fabulous trilogy. As Sophia matures so, too, does this story.

Rebecca Hazell can be found at www.rebeccahazell.com.

Carol McGrath is the author of The Handfasted Wife, 2013, and The Swan-Daughter, to be published by Accent Press on 18th September 2014.

Rebecca is generously giving away a kindle gift copy of The Grip of God. For your chance to win, simply comment below or at this review's associated Facebook thread.

Sunday Wrap Up: Week ending June 15, 2014

Thank you for joining us once again for the Sunday Wrap Up, a feature whereby you the reader get to catch up with what's been going on in the week that was. This week, as is typical, we've got a giveaway, so be sure to follow the link to comment on the review and get your name in the hat!

Welcome to The Review's Author Interview

Joining me today is Andrew Latham. Welcome Andrew, and thank you for taking part in The Review's Author Interview.

An excerpt from Andrew Latham's Goodreads Page by way of an introduction:

Andrew Latham

K]nox Robinson author Andrew A. Latham is an award-winning professor of International Relations who regularly teaches courses in medieval political thought, international relations, and war. Trained as a political scientist, Latham has spent the last decade-and-a-half researching political violence in the Middle Ages. He has written scholarly articles on medieval war, the crusades, jihad, and the political thought of Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquina[s.]...


Welcome Andrew, and thank you for taking part in The Review's Author Interview.

Your book Quest for the Holy Lance (English Templars #1) is your first historical novel, said to be published in 2015. What was your driving force that moved you to write this book?

Well to be honest, until about three years ago I never dreamed I'd write a work of historical fiction. I'd always loved reading historical military adventures, but it simply never occurred to me that I might write one someday. Scholarly books, yes - that's what scholars do. But a novel? I have to confess that the thought never even crossed my mind.

Theorizing Medieval Geopolitics

All that changed, though, as I was nearing completion of my recently published non-fiction book Theorizing Medieval Geopolitics. In preparation for writing that book, I'd been reading pretty widely about war and political violence in later medieval Europe and had just begun to get a handle on the crusades. Then one day I encountered the Templar knights. Like most people, I thought I knew what these guys were all about: either odious religious fanatics or cynical secular thugs using religion to camouflage their all-too-worldly motives. Like most people, though, I was wrong. Turns out, there was much more to these warrior-monks than I had initially thought or than is commonly supposed. The more I read, the more I became fascinated by these "new knights", the Templars in particular - not by the caricature of them that is so prevalent in contemporary popular culture, but by the historical reality of them.

A cerebral and fascinating interview that you will definitely wish to finish reading!

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Carol McGrath is the author of The Handfasted Wife and the soon-to-be-published The Swan Daughter. Here as a guest on Paula's People, she chooses her five favourite ill-fated marriages in fiction and shares her love of them.

As I researched life for women during the 11^th century whilst working on The Handfasted Wife, I reflected on the many works of literature that include ill-fated marriages and relationships. Edith Swan-Neck was set aside by King Harold II when he was crowned king in 1066. In the context of The Handfasted Wife, Edith retains her love for King Harold long after his death at the Battle of Hastings. Whether a marriage was a love-match or was arranged, ill-fated matches in literature often reflect the realities of life past and present. An old adage bears the truth that the course of love is rarely smooth. Here are a few of my favourite novels that contain ill-fated relationships.  

Dorethea Brooke and Edward Casaubon from Middlemarch by George Eliot        

Middlemarch is one of my favourite classics. Although it is not a romantic novel it is a passionate one. Dorothea Brooke, idealistic, young and beautiful, orphaned and intent on making something of her life weds the idealistic, stuffy clergyman Edward Casaubon. She wants to dedicate herself to the great man who spends his time writing a Key to All Mythologies. That they are ill fated is illustrated by their honeymoon in Italy when Dorothea expected to be overcome by emotion for all she sees in Rome and is tearful. Casaubon, on the other hand, has the sense that his new wife is not a protection against his sense of inadequacy but rather a perpetual threat and reproach. This novel endures for me because the central relationship is subtly recounted with humanity as are the other pairings that its pages contain, all filled with traps like a spider’s web.

Lara and Yuri from Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

I read this novel over and over for my finals in Russian Studies and I still love it. This epic story setting spans the early decades of 20th century Russia in turmoil. Its unfortunate marriages are those between Lara and Pasha and Yuri and Tonya. However, Lara and Yuri love each other passionately from their earliest encounters. They are separated by class, by their marriages, by war. As the couple finally come together in a country retreat in the Urals, personal and political events that frame this sweeping novel overtake them. Yet it is war-torn Russia that adds to the intensity of their love.The relationship is all the more poignant because their time together is brief.  It is a beautifully written novel and well translated twice, one that brilliantly incorporates a personal story with a thrilling political background. It has influenced my interest in how love survives through war-torn situations, a story with depth on many levels and I discover more emotional truths every time I re-read it.

Feel the rest of the love right here.

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Rain on Your Wedding Day

by Curtis Edmonds

When I picked this book up, I was expecting a formulaic romance novel, having not read anything about it beforehand except for a brief description. I was gladly mistaken; it is a unique story. It is described somewhere as a ‘modern Southern Gothic’ novel. It is modern, and wonderfully descriptive of the South, but is certainly not a Gothic novel. That is not to say that I don’t recommend it: I wholeheartedly do.

Rain on Your Wedding Day is a well-written and presented book. The story is constructed well and flowed. I was engaged from the start and did not want to put it down.

For me, the sign of a good book is if the reader stops ‘reading the words on the page’, and just gets drawn into the story, like an invisible observer. This definitely happened to me with this book. The writer is very descriptive when it comes to setting the scene, but I did find it harder to picture what the central characters looked like. 

The story is written in the first person, from the point of view of Will Morse.  This is interspersed with occasional conversations that he has in his head with his two daughters who have died.  These were particularly effective and emotive dialogues. One daughter, Trixie, veers between resentfulness, rage and love in her dialogue with Will, giving the reader an idea of just how hard it must have been to live with her when she was alive. 

This book shows an incredible insight into living with mental illness, from the depression and grief Will is plagued with, to managing the severe bipolar episodes that Trixie suffered from when alive.  I particularly liked the truthfulness about this book – that people don’t always magically get better; it can be a long, slow painful road with lots of relapses. For some, recovery may not even be possible. This was brave. 

For me, the novel also opened a thought-provoking debate about self-harm. Just how should a parent handle it?  Cosset and suffocate their child, or allow them freedom at the risk of tragic consequences? I thought the writer had a refreshing perspective on this issue.

As time goes on, the reader discovers more about the deaths of Will’s daughters.  The truth about Trixie’s in particular is heart wrenching, when it is revealed what part Will played in this.

This review also carries with it a giveaway. If you'd like to get your name in the hat, please comment at the review itself. There also is a link to its associated FB page readers may comment at. 

For last week's Wrap Up, please click this link.

PAULA'S PEOPLE: CAROL McGRATH TELLS US OF HER FAVOURITE LOVE STORIES

Carol McGrath is the author of The Handfasted Wife and the soon-to-be-published The Swan Daughter. Here as a guest on Paula's People, she chooses her five favourite ill-fated marriages in fiction and shares her love of them.

As I researched life for women during the 11^th century whilst working on The Handfasted Wife, I reflected on the many works of literature that include ill-fated marriages and relationships. Edith Swan-Neck was set aside by King Harold II when he was crowned king in 1066. In the context of The Handfasted Wife, Edith retains her love for King Harold long after his death at the Battle of Hastings. Whether a marriage was a love-match or was arranged, ill-fated matches in literature often reflect the realities of life past and present. An old adage bears the truth that the course of love is rarely smooth. Here are a few of my favourite novels that contain ill-fated relationships.  

 

Dorethea Brooke and Edward Casaubon from Middlemarch by George Eliot        

Middlemarch is one of my favourite classics. Although it is not a romantic novel it is a passionate one. Dorothea Brooke, idealistic, young and beautiful, orphaned and intent on making something of her life weds the idealistic, stuffy clergyman Edward Casaubon. She wants to dedicate herself to the great man who spends his time writing a Key to All Mythologies. That they are ill fated is illustrated by their honeymoon in Italy when Dorothea expected to be overcome by emotion for all she sees in Rome and is tearful. Casaubon, on the other hand, has the sense that his new wife is not a protection against his sense of inadequacy but rather a perpetual threat and reproach. This novel endures for me because the central relationship is subtly recounted with humanity as are the other pairings that its pages contain, all filled with traps like a spider’s web.

Lara and Yuri from Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

I read this novel over and over for my finals in Russian Studies and I still love it. This epic story setting spans the early decades of 20th century Russia in turmoil. Its unfortunate marriages are those between Lara and Pasha and Yuri and Tonya. However, Lara and Yuri love each other passionately from their earliest encounters. They are separated by class, by their marriages, by war. As the couple finally come together in a country retreat in the Urals, personal and political events that frame this sweeping novel overtake them. Yet it is war-torn Russia that adds to the intensity of their love.The relationship is all the more poignant because their time together is brief.  It is a beautifully written novel and well translated twice, one that brilliantly incorporates a personal story with a thrilling political background. It has influenced my interest in how love survives through war-torn situations, a story with depth on many levels and I discover more emotional truths every time I re-read it.

Henry and Claire from The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Having met first in a Chicago library, Claire and Henry finally marry but he is suddenly whisked way just before the ceremony. An older Henry falls through the years to take his place, an episode full of comedy as many guests do not recognise this is an older Henry. The author cleverly relates levels of intimacy and family life through the medium of time travel back and forward through a marriage. Niffenegger uses time travel to illustrate a sense of slippage that happens in long-term relationships. Each partner sees the life of their

marriage differently. In the story there is a sense that the protagonists’ lives are mapped out for them and that their deaths are foretold. It is an uplifting story, one in which the partners are not separated by the death of one partner in the marriage. I related to this poignant theme when writing The Handfasted Wife. The Time Traveller’s Wife is an intriguing funny, sad, happy and delicious read.

Caroline and Faraday in The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Faraday, a country doctor, is called to Hundred’s Hall, a faded 18^th century estate. He strikes up a friendship with Caroline Ayres, the unmarried daughter of the family. What a family they turn out to be. After a child is killed, mauled by Caroline’s previously gentle labrador, all is not as seems. The house has a malevolent energy that ultimately affects the emerging romance between the protagonists.They plan to marry. On the night of their wedding further disaster strikes them. The constant tension Waters develops within the book’s narrative marks out the relationship between Caroline and Faraday as doomed.  I admired the way Waters developed the ill-fated romance as one haunted by a sense of creepily impending dread.

Tristan and Isolde from Peter Ackroyd’s Death of King Arthur

Tristan and Isolde is a classic love triangle. The knight Tristan fetches Iseult from Ireland as wife to King Mark but the couple fall in love because they mistakenly drink a magic potion that was intended for King Mark on his wedding night. Many adventures occur as a result of their love for each other. Tristan, banned from Cornwall, moves to King Arthur’s court and then to Brittany.

There he meets another Isolde whom he marries but he cannot consummate the marriage because of his love for the true Isolde. He falls ill and sends for his love hoping that she can cure him. Sadly, he dies of grief before Isolde can reach him and she dies soon afterwards of a broken heart.  It is a classic story of ill-fated relationships that is often retold beautifully and with humanity. For this and its stories within stories, I love re-reading Tristan and Isolde in all of its retellings.

Carol McGrath

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