Goodreads asked Sharon Kay Penman:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Sharon Kay Penman It came to me gradually, back when I was writing my novel about the Third Crusade, Lionheart. I realized that I wanted to write about the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the tragic young Baldwin IV, the Leper King, and his two sisters, Sybilla and Isabella. And since I was unable to bring Saladin on center stage in Lionheart since he and Richard I never met--rather like Elizabeth Tudor and Mary, Queen of Scots--I realized that I could bring Saladin into the action in Outremer, the working title of the new book.

flag