Sharan Newman

Author profile

website

http://www.sharannewman.com

genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Historical Fiction, History

About this author

Sharan Newman is a medieval historian and author. She took her Master’s degree in Medieval Literature at Michigan State University and then did her doctoral work at the University of California at Santa Barbara in Medieval Studies, specializing in twelfth-century France. She is a member of the Medieval Academy and the Medieval Association of the Pacific.

Rather than teach, Newman chose to use her education to write novels set in the Middle Ages, including three Arthurian fantasies and ten mysteries set in twelfth-century France, featuring Catherine LeVendeur a one-time student of Heloise at the Paraclete, her husband, Edgar, an Anglo-Scot and Solomon, a Jewish merchant of Paris. The books focus on the life of the bourgeoisie and minor nobili...more Sharan Newman is a medieval historian and author. She took her Master’s degree in Medieval Literature at Michigan State University and then did her doctoral work at the University of California at Santa Barbara in Medieval Studies, specializing in twelfth-century France. She is a member of the Medieval Academy and the Medieval Association of the Pacific.

Rather than teach, Newman chose to use her education to write novels set in the Middle Ages, including three Arthurian fantasies and ten mysteries set in twelfth-century France, featuring Catherine LeVendeur a one-time student of Heloise at the Paraclete, her husband, Edgar, an Anglo-Scot and Solomon, a Jewish merchant of Paris. The books focus on the life of the bourgeoisie and minor nobility and also the uneasy relations between Christians and Jews at that time. They also incorporate events of the twelfth-century such as the Second Crusade and the rise of the Cathars.

For these books, Newman has done research at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France Méridionale et Espagne at the University of Toulouse and the Institute for Jewish History at the University of Trier, as well as many departmental archives.

The Catherine Levendeur mysteries have been nominated for many awards. Sharan won the Macavity Award for best first mystery for Death Comes As Epiphany and the Herodotus Award for best historical mystery of 1998 for Cursed in the Blood. The most recent book in the series The Witch in the Well won the Bruce Alexander award for best Historical mystery of 2004.

Just for a change, her next mystery, The Shanghai Tunnel is set in Portland in 1868.

The Shanghai Tunnel allowed Sharan Newman to explore the history of the city she grew up in. She found that the history she had been taught in school had been seriously whitewashed. Doing research in the city archives as well as the collections at Reed College and the Oregon Historical society was exciting and eye-opening. Many of the “founding fathers” of Portland turn out to have been unscrupulous financiers. Chinese workers were subject to discrimination and there was an active red light district.

On the other hand, Portland in the post-Civil War period also saw some amazingly liberal movements. Women’s rights were an important issue as was religious toleration. Even at that early date, preserving the natural environment was hotly debated.

This is the world in which Emily Stratton, the widow of a Portland merchant and the daughter of missionaries to China, finds herself.

Newman has written a non-fiction book, The Real History Behind the Da Vince Code Berkley 2005. It is in encyclopedia format and gives information on various topics mentioned in Dan Brown’s novel. Following on that she has just completed the Real History Behind the Templars published by Berkley in September of 2007.

She lives on a mountainside in Oregon.

(Text taken from: http://www.sharannewman.com/bio.html )(less)

combine editions
Books by Sharan Newman

Average rating: 3.69 · 6,242 ratings · 659 reviews · 42 distinct works

	Death Comes As Epiphany (Catherine LeVendeur, #1) 3.93 avg rating — 492 ratings — published 1993 — 7 editions	My rating:
	The Devil's Door (Catherine LeVendeur, #2) 3.90 avg rating — 268 ratings — published 1994 — 8 editions	My rating:
	Strong As Death (Catherine LeVendeur, #4) 3.97 avg rating — 186 ratings — published 1996 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Wandering Arm (Catherine LeVendeur, #3) 3.93 avg rating — 193 ratings — published 1995 — 3 editions	My rating:
	The Difficult Saint (Catherine LeVendeur, #6) 3.96 avg rating — 161 ratings — published 1999 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Guinevere (Guinevere, #1) 3.61 avg rating — 171 ratings — published 1980 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Cursed in the Blood (Catherine LeVendeur, #5) 3.90 avg rating — 147 ratings — published 1998 — 4 editions	My rating:
	To Wear The White Cloak (Catherine LeVendeur, #7) 3.76 avg rating — 140 ratings — published 2000 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Heresy (Catherine LeVendeur, #8) 3.91 avg rating — 124 ratings — published 2002 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Witch in the Well (Catherine LeVendeur, #10) 3.92 avg rating — 97 ratings — published 2004 — 4 editions	My rating:

More books by Sharan Newman…

Series by Sharan Newman

Catherine LeVendeur (10 books)
by Sharan Newman

3.91 avg rating — 1,896 ratings

Guinevere (3 books)
by Sharan Newman

3.53 avg rating — 323 ratings

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Quotes by Sharan Newman

“A piece of advice his father had given him surfaced in Edgar's mind. Sometimes, he had said, it's better just to keep quiet and think with your heart.”
― Sharan Newman, The Devil's Door

tags: marriage

3 people liked it

“Catherine Le Vendeur," he asked sententiously, "have you known this man carnally?"
"No father," Catherine answered. "But, with your kind permission, I would very much like to.”
― Sharan Newman, Death Comes As Epiphany

tags: carnal

2 people liked it

“Sister Bertrada should be grateful the pillows were so flimsy for Catherine was sorely tempted to smother her with one.”
― Sharan Newman, The Devil's Door

1 person liked it

See all Sharan Newman's quotes »

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