Tanya
asked
Sharon Kay Penman:
I just finished A King's Ransom, and have read every one of your books, starting with Here Be Dragons almost 30 years ago. It was fun to feel like we've come full circle, back to King John. In the author's note at the end you mentioned the title and setting of your new book, but I was wondering - what historical figures are you focusing on?
Sharon Kay Penman
Hi, Tanya,
Like most of my books, Outremer; the Land Beyond the Sea will feature an ensemble cast--Baldwin, the young Leper King, his sisters, Sybilla and Isabella, his controversial mother, Agnes de Courtenay, William, Archbishop of Tyre and the best historian in the MA, Saladin and his brother al-Malik al-Adil, Maria Comnena, the Byzantine princess who was Baldwin's stepmother, and the d'Ibelins, who would become one of the most powerful families in Outremer and Cyprus. And this just names some of the better known ones! But if I had to pick one focal point for the book, I would say it would be Balian d'Ibelin, who seemed at times to be the only one in the kingdom with any common sense. Since I'll be covering the years 1172-1194, there will be some overlap with a few of the characters in Lionheart, but not much of it. I was able to make a research trip to Israel last month, and I am so glad I had the opportunity, for it was a remarkable experience to be able to walk the streets of Jerusalem's Old City and to climb the hill to the Horns of Hattin, where one of the most significant battles of the MA was fought.
Like most of my books, Outremer; the Land Beyond the Sea will feature an ensemble cast--Baldwin, the young Leper King, his sisters, Sybilla and Isabella, his controversial mother, Agnes de Courtenay, William, Archbishop of Tyre and the best historian in the MA, Saladin and his brother al-Malik al-Adil, Maria Comnena, the Byzantine princess who was Baldwin's stepmother, and the d'Ibelins, who would become one of the most powerful families in Outremer and Cyprus. And this just names some of the better known ones! But if I had to pick one focal point for the book, I would say it would be Balian d'Ibelin, who seemed at times to be the only one in the kingdom with any common sense. Since I'll be covering the years 1172-1194, there will be some overlap with a few of the characters in Lionheart, but not much of it. I was able to make a research trip to Israel last month, and I am so glad I had the opportunity, for it was a remarkable experience to be able to walk the streets of Jerusalem's Old City and to climb the hill to the Horns of Hattin, where one of the most significant battles of the MA was fought.
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