INTERVIEW WITH ANNE EASTER SMITH ABOUT THIS SON OF YORK

Anne Easter Smith is the award-winning author of The King’s Grace and the best-selling A Rose for the Crown, Daughter of York, Queen By Right, and Royal Mistress.  She is an expert on Richard III, having studied the king and his times for five decades. Her sixth book, This Son of York, will be published soon. She grew up in England, Germany and Egypt, and has been a resident/citizen of the US since 1968. Anne was the Features Editor at a daily newpaper in northern New York State for ten years, and her writing has been published in several national magazines. She lives in Newburyport, MA with her husband, Scott.

Sharon: This Son of York is the sixth book in your series about the York family during the Wars of the Roses, Anne. I thought A Rose for the Crown was your Richard III book. Why have you chosen to write another about him?

Anne: As a matter of fact, Sharon, I thought Rose was my Richard book, too! I thought I had nicely tied up the series with Royal Mistress, and in fact had embarked upon a totally new project—a Portuguese prince and his lady-in-waiting lover—when Richard’s grave was uncovered in the car park in Leicester in 2012. It was then that my “first reader/editor” reminded me that Rose was Kate Haute’s book, not Richard’s and that this was the moment to retell Richard’s story. “But Sharon Kay Penman wrote the definitive Richard book, Sunne in Splendour,” I protested. She pointed out that with the discovery of Richard’s bones, surely there was now more to add to Richard’s story that Sharon couldn’t possibly have known in 1983. I knew she was right. And so poor Pedro was put aside, and I plunged back into the period I know better than my own in some ways. When I talked to you at the Denver Historical Novel Conference, Sharon, and you convinced me I was the right person to retell Richard’s story, it rekindled my passion for writing about this much maligned king.

Sharon: Were you as excited as I was when they found the grave after more than 500 years?

Anne:  OMG, I was thrilled! It so happened that I was visiting my sister in London when the news broke that August 25th. I had donated money along with hundreds of other Ricardians when the plea went out to the Richard III Society membership to help with the dig. Without that last fundraising push, the Leicester City Council would have been forced to hand over the car park property to the developers. So I felt like I’d had a vested interest in the dig! What was so exciting was that the August 25th discovery of his skeleton was most likely the same day Richard had been ignominiously buried in the shallow, too-short grave in 1485! What were the odds of that! I was on my winter break in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in February 2013 when the DNA study definitively identified the bones as Richard’s. I cried. Checking my in-box that morning, I saw dozens of emails from friends exclaiming they had seen it on TV and thought of me. Among them was one from PRI’s The World national radio news program that is based out of Boston’s WGBH (my local station). The host, Marco Werman, would like to interview you about Richard III and the discovery, the email informed me. So I Skyped with him an hour later and was excited to have been named as “a Richard III expert.”

Sharon: It looks like you have a new publisher for this book. Can you explain?

Anne: After Royal Mistress was published by Touchstone at Simon & Schuster, I was let go—as were several other historical fiction authors in their stable. Touchstone has now been absorbed by Atria at S&S. It took me a while to get over myself and continue writing, and despite being turned down by several other editors for the Portuguese Prince story, I thought it was the unknown historical figure that was the problem. But after finishing This Son of York, it seemed the market wasn’t right for a medieval male protagonist from any country, and so, after many rejections for Richard and my agent quitting the business, I found myself on my own after two years of trying. Enter two fellow authors who had also been let go by Harlequin after several books and who decided to combine their editing and business skills to start their own publishing house to help women authors like me floundering around in these new boggy publishing waters. I am delighted with the result, and thrilled that Richard’s book can now be “birthed.”

Sharon: What makes you think medieval Richard can buck the trend of female protagonists in World War II novels so popular right now?

Anne: Because Richard is a rock star! At least certainly in England he is ever since the bones were discovered. I was astonished that more than 20,000 people from all over the world crowded into Leicester for the reinterment. Leicester was gobsmacked too! I got up early that day as my husband had finagled a way to see the funeral on BBC-TV live. It was magnificent, and the slew of celebrities interviewed in the special glass booth on the cathedral grounds all day helped to put Richard’s name on everyone’s lips all over the world. I really think he is still a compelling historical figure for lovers of our genre, despite being medieval and male! I don’t think I, or anyone else, can eclipse the great Sharon Kay Penman’s take on this king but I think this new evidence is a wonderful opportunity to again bring his light out from behind Shakespeare’s monstrous depiction and try and restore his reputation, don’t you? I am hoping my book will help and that allowing me to guest post on your blog might start the ball rolling! Thank you so much.

Excerpt from This Son of York: https://anneeastersmith.com/excerpt

Buy books at: https://amzn.to/2IIMKNl

Sharon:    As my readers know, I never read another writer’s novel about a historical figure who has been featured in one of my books.  As Anne and my other writer friends can testify, we become emotionally invested in our characters, having spend years in their company while attempting to view the world through their eyes.  But I like to alert my readers to any book that is likely to appeal to them, and obviously This Son of York (clever title, by the way) falls in that category.  My readers share my fascination with Richard III and many of them are already fans of Anne’s earlier historical novels.   I am sorry I cannot add the photo of the book cover, a problem that will definitely be resolved with my new website, coming next month.  But you can see it for yourselves by clicking onto the Amazon link above.

Anne, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview about a man very close to both of our hearts.

January 29, 2020