Sharon Kay Penman's Blog, page 150

Really Random Thoughts

 

 

         I'm sorry for the delay in posting a new blog, but life in Outremer has gotten very busy lately.   Richard did something rather remarkable about two weeks ago.  Well, my Richard did; the real Richard did it in October of 1191.  After the battle of Arsuf, he sent the ineffectual King of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan (yes, one of those de Lusignans) back to Acre to collect their truant soldiers, who'd preferred to loiter in that sinful port city's taverns and brothels rather than take...

INTERVIEW WITH C.W. GORTNER

     So many of my readers have told me how much they enjoyed C.W. Gortner's The Last Queen.  I am very happy to report that he has a new novel out, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, one of history's most controversial and little-known queens.   I was fortunate enough to read this book in galley form and I am sure that fans of The Last Queen will find it as compelling and surprising as I did.  But before reading the new book, which will be published on May 25th, you'll want to read the ...

SHADOW, KEIKO, AND FAUVEL

     I would like to start with the good news; this past weekend, I adopted a shepherd from the Burlington County Animal Alliance.  Shadow is a beautiful boy, looks like a white wolf, but he has a very sad history of abuse; he came into the shelter half-starved and terrified.  Susan, his foster "mom," told me that there were strong indications he'd been kicked as well as beaten, and he wasn't housebroken even though he is about three years old; that means he was an outside dog, chained up in...

INTERVIEW WITH MARY SHARRATT

     I am very pleased to welcome Mary Sharratt.  Mary is an American writer now living in Lancashire, England, the author of three acclaimed novels, including The Vanishing Point.  Her new novel, Daughters of the Witching Hill, is a dramatic, compelling, true story of the Pendle Witches, nine villagers accused of witchcraft in 1612 Lancashire.  

How did you come to write a novel about the Pendle Witches of 1612?

 

In 2002, I moved to the Pendle region of Lancashire, England—the rugged Pennine...

INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH CHADWICK

INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH CHADWICK

 

     I am very pleased to have a special guest on my blog today, one of my favorite historical novelists, Elizabeth Chadwick.  Elizabeth and I share the same passion for the past in general and the MA in particular, and we have been blessed in that we've been able to make a living doing work that we love, both the writing and the researching.  I'd like to begin by asking a few basic questions.  What first drew you to the MA?  Sometimes writers say a...

CODY

     His name was Dakota, but we always called him Cody.  Because I'd adopted him from a Jersey shelter, his past remained shrouded in mystery.  We knew the people who dumped him had gotten him at the Philadelphia SPCA, so he'd already been abandoned twice in his young life.  I use a harsh word—dumped—to describe their action because they had not done right by Cody.  They'd kept him chained up in their yard 24-7 by their own admission, and then took him to the shelter because they "could not...

So Many Books, So Little Time

     Well, it looks as if we're going to survive the little ice age masquerading as winter.  I'll resist the temptation to tell the old joke about seeing the first robin of spring, frozen to death.  Ken, you'd asked if we have daffodils in the US.  We do, but mine are just starting to poke their little green stems up, under-standably wary.  Back in Outremer, it is hot and dry, with one more chapter at Acre before Richard leads his army south to the famous battle at Arsuf.  The crusaders, not...

Berengaria's Turn

     Well, being snowbound did produce some benefits.  I was able to finish a key chapter at the siege of Acre.  This was when Richard made his worst mistake, needlessly antagonizing the Duke of Austria, who had a personality just as prickly as Richard's.  I tried to warn him—Richard, you do not want to do this!  But just as the teenagers in those horror films always insist upon going down alone into the basement, Lionheart forged ahead, paying no heed to me, a woman and a lowly scribe.  ...

The Surprising Lionheart

It is a snowy, bitterly-cold day, and this seems like a good time to do some blogging before I have to get back to the siege of Acre, where the city has finally fallen to the crusaders.  It is a relief to be able to use that term.  It was not known during the MA; they called it "taking the cross" or "pilgrimage," the latter term certainly at odds with the modern understanding of pilgrimages!  But as I discovered when I sought to avoid it in dialogue, it is such a convenient shorthand, much...

Proving Matilda

My senior thesis at Harvard (1967) was a study of the brief career of Geoffrey, duke of Brittany from 1181 to 1186.  He ruled Brittany iure uxoris, through his marriage to Duchess Constance, heiress of Duke Conan IV.  Two children of Geoffrey by Constance are well known.  Arthur, Geoffrey's posthumous son, was captured by his uncle, King John, at Mirebeau in August 1202.  Arthur never emerged from captivity, and he was probably murdered at the beginning of April 1203, aged 16.  His sister...