Review: Son of Prophecy by Nathen Amin

 I've been so busy being part of the judging panel for the Historical Writers' Association Crown Nonfiction Award that I've fallen behind with my usual reading, and the review copy of Nathen Amin's Son of Prophecy has been sitting for too long on my shelf. Luckily there's been a pause in the judging as we've now decided on our longlist, and I've been able to get round to reading this wonderful book. 

Yes, this is a book about the rise of Henry Tudor but it begins with his forebear, Ednyved Fychan, the right-hand-man of Llewelyn Fawr (of whom readers of Sharon Penman or Edith Pargeter will be familiar).

What we have here is a well-constructed, impeccably researched book which charts the fates and fortunes of the members of the family which came to be known as the Tudors, and it is a fascinating read. I am familiar with the Welsh names, and the pronunciations thereof, but if you're not, don't worry. Amin has a knack of introducing the characters so deftly that at no point do the names become confusing.

So much has been written about the Tudors and yet this book adds to our understanding and needed to be written. It is a rarity - perhaps unique - in that it focuses on the history of the Welsh, through their battles with King John, Henry III, Edward I and into the period known as the Wars of the Roses. It is refreshing to read about history from the other side of the border, as it were, and yet Amin tells the story with an even hand, never shying away from pointing out where either side behaved badly, or even abominably.

That said, whether it was his intention or not, Jasper Tudor, for me anyway, emerges as a true hero - seemingly almost alone in being able to remain true to his allegiance throughout a period where so many changed their loyalties as often as political expediency dictated.

Amin also remains true to the title of his book: in showing us the history of a frankly beleaguered Wales he makes it clear why it was so important to have faith, a belief that one day the son of prophecy would rise up to reverse Welsh fortunes, even if a few along the way showed promise, only ultimately to fail. 

Learning so much about Henry Tudor's upbringing gives insight into the man he became, whereas so often we only read about him as he emerges victorious from the field at Bosworth. Additionally, by doing nothing more than laying out the bare bones of Margaret Beaufort's story, he elicits our sympathies without overtly directing us. 

Often books which focus on this period of history tend to concentrate on the Yorkist rule, their fallings out with Warwick and each other, and the scramble for the throne when Richard of Gloucester took charge of his young nephews and the crown. It's sometimes as if Henry Tudor then appeared from nowhere, to seize that crown on the field at Bosworth. Amin's book gives us the background to Henry's life, from his birth and his formative years in Wales, and his exile on the Continent until the moment came for him to take what he and his supporters believed was his crown by right. Yet the nuances are there; the very fact that Henry did not initially aim to be king shows how much more there is to this story, and Amin serves us the details which really round out his character. We even learn why he garnered a reputation in later life of being punctilious with his finances. We also see how his mother, Margaret, sought always to do right by her son, further his career, but not necessarily at any expense and she is seen here showing political astuteness and an ability to read the situation realistically.

Just as we should not forget how much of a Welsh story this was, neither did Henry. No, he didn't have buckets of Welsh blood, but he never forgot those in Wales who supported him and the book ends with the details of how Henry rewarded the Welshmen who had championed him, helping him to become that Son of Prophecy.

This is powerful story-telling and a riveting read and deepened my understanding of the period. I highly recommend it. 

Interview: Author Karen Heenan

 A few months ago I had the pleasure of reading Karen Heenan's new novel, A Wider World, and reviewing it for Discovering Diamonds.

"Memories are all he has… Now they could save his life. Returning to England after almost five years in exile, Robin Lewis is arrested and charged with heresy by the dying Queen Mary. As he is escorted to the Tower of London, Robin spins a tale for his captor, revisiting his life under three Tudor monarchs and wondering how he will be judged—not just by the queen, but by the God he stopped serving long ago. When every moment counts, will his stories last long enough for him to be saved by Mary's heir, the young Queen Elizabeth?"

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Karen to the blog, to talk a little more about this wonderful book.

AW: Congratulations on the release of A Wider World. Having read Songbird (Karen's debut novel), I knew of Robin as a character. Did you know when you were writing Songbird that Robin would have his own book?

KH: I had no idea that Robin would have his own book. Actually, I thought Songbird was a standalone book, and had a completely different project in mind once it was published. I didn’t find Robin particularly likeable in Songbird, even when he improved (somewhat), and so between that and thinking I was done with Tudor England, it really surprised me one day when a little voice in my head said, “They said I would not end well.” I immediately said, “Who said? And did you?” and off we went. That’s still the first sentence of A Wider World, because Robin insisted that it stay. 

AW: Robin weaves a Scheherazade-type tale, giving us two timelines throughout the book. How did this idea come about? Were you ever planning on telling the story chronologically? 

KH: I always knew I wanted him to tell the tale to stall his captor, but I hadn’t actually planned on using the structure of alternating chapters. I was going to divide the book into sections and have an introductory “present” chapter at the head of each, but that just didn’t work, and I realized that Robin’s present-day journey is as important as the stories he’s telling to Will Hawkins, his captor.

In the beginning, I didn’t want to make it too obvious, but as I researched books available in the period I was writing about (Robin being a collector of books made for some fun research), I learned that while 1001 Nights / Scheherazade wasn’t known in Europe at that point, there is documentation of at least a partial collection in Syrian from the late 1400s. Since Robin spent some of his exile in Venice, I gave him a friend in Piero Grimano, a merchant who’d traveled the region and brought home a copy which he translated into Italian for his own amusement. Robin is intrigued and borrows it to translate into English, and the idea is fresh in his mind when he’s arrested and faces a swift journey toward execution. 

It’s not 100% possible, but it’s 110% plausible.

AW: I love this attention to detail! What comes across for me in your books is the realistic feel for time and place. You've mentioned researching 1001 Nights; what are your methods of research and have you been able to travel to any of the locations mentioned in A Wider World?

KH: This period of history has fascinated me since I was little and my mother and I watched the BBC’s Six Wives of Henry VIII on TV. Fifty years later, it still has its hooks in me. I’ve read – a lot – and researched more, but if it comes through as realistic, I think it’s because I’ve absorbed so much that I try to write as if the reader knows the same information. My first drafts generally have far too many facts, especially since I don’t always write in order and so I don’t know when, or even if, I’m going to introduce a particular person or event.

I love to travel, and I’ve been to quite a few places that I’ve mentioned in A Wider World – England, several times, but Hampton Court in particular. I wish Greenwich Palace still existed, since it was an even more important location in Songbird. Robin’s travels were enjoyable for me, because I’ve been to Bruges (and loved it, and sat and ate mussels by a canal just like he did) and Venice is one of my favorite places on earth. My husband and I traveled there a few years ago, and Bianca’s house is actually on the same small canal as our AirBnB was. The hole-in-the-wall tavern that Robin and Seb visit also exists. It’s called Cantina do Mori, and it opened for business in the 1460s. 

AW: I had no idea when I was reading that part of the book that they were sitting in a tavern that can still be visited today! What I do know is that there will be a Book Three. Are you able to tell readers anything about it?

KH: Book three is called Lady, in Waiting. The comma is a crucial part of the title. It features a character named Margaery Preston, who was introduced near the end of A Wider World. This is my workaround because I never wanted to write a series, to take a character who interests me in one book and let them have their own story in the next. I’ve already written the blurb for Lady, because it helps me believe that the book exists and I’ll actually finish it.

"She serves the queen. Her husband serves the court. 

How can they be so far apart?

Margaery Preston is newly married to a man she barely knows. Proposing to Robin Lewis may have been impulsive, but she wants their marriage to work - she just doesn't know how to be married, and it seems her husband hasn't a clue, either.

Treated like a child by everyone from her husband to the queen, lost in the unfamiliar world of the Elizabethan court, Margaery will have to learn quickly or lose any chance at the life she wants.

Can a marriage for all the wrong reasons make it to happily ever after?"

AW: I'm really looking forward to this one - Margaery has already revealed herself to be an interesting and well-rounded character. Was it always inevitable, as far as you are concerned, that you would become a writer of Tudor fiction? 

KH: I always wanted to become a writer, but I got a job straight out of high school and was more concerned, for many years, with paying the bills and keeping my head above water. I still wrote, almost constantly. It was a form of therapy because I hated office work as much as I was good at it. I thought off and on about publication, but the whole getting-an-agent process just seemed like a nightmarish yet impersonal way to be rejected over and over. 

I did try, eventually, and I was rejected, over and over. Mostly by agents who thought the book was good, but that the Tudors were overdone, and that no one wanted to read another book about Henry VIII. (I didn’t bother to respond that the book wasn’t about Henry, because it was obvious that their mind was made up). 

Songbird’s publication came about because I participated in a pitch contest on Twitter, and got interest from two agents and a small publisher. The first agent still hasn’t gotten back to me. The second wanted me to rewrite the book with a more Philippa Gregory tone, and I said no. Nothing against Philippa Gregory, her books, or her readers, that’s just not the story I was telling and it’s not my voice. The publisher liked the story as it was, with normal edits, and it’s a fairly collaborative process since there’s no agent/intermediary.

I started writing Songbird before self-publishing was a thing, and before I knew any self-published authors. Overall my experience with my publisher has been positive, and I’ve learned a lot, but I’m a bit of a control freak (they’re nice, they just say I’m “hands on”) and I’m looking forward to publishing my next book on my own. 

It’s called My Sister’s Child, and it’s the book I started writing when Robin chimed in, and it’s set in Pennsylvania in the 1930s. I’ll get to explore my own city, and there are tons of resources and historical societies close at hand to completely change up my research experience.

But that’s not to say that I’m done with the Tudors, or they’re done with me. There’s always this quiet conversation going on in the back of my head, behind a heavy wooden door. If one of them finds the key, I’m done for. 

AW: Karen, it's been as much of a pleasure talking to you as it is to read your books. Thanks for such interesting answers; I love the image of those characters searching for that key!

Connect with Karen:

karenheenan.com

facebook.com/karenheenanwriter

twitter.com/karen_heenan

instagram.com/karen.heenan

And find A Wider World:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Amazon CA

Amazon AU

Goodreads

Tudors Vs Stuarts, with Elizabeth St John & Janet Wertman

Well here's a bit of fun. I've read two each of the novels by these brilliant authors and can highly recommend them all. But here's the burning question: Which are best, Tudors or Stuarts?

I asked Janet and Elizabeth to slug it out:

AW: Can you sum up in a sentence (or two) why you are drawn to the era?

JW: As a reader and writer, I am captivated by the stories. Huge reversals – people soaring high then brought low and (usually) executed (Wolsey, Anne Boleyn, Cromwell, Norfolk, Margaret Pole, both Seymour brothers, Northumberland, Essex….) And symmetry in the smallest details and the biggest arcs: Catherine of Aragon spent seven years waiting for Henry to make her his bride, then seven years waiting for him to fall out of love with Anne Boleyn; Anne Boleyn used the promise of a son from a God-approved marriage to unseat Catherine, then was unseated herself by Jane Seymour using the same playbook; Henry falsely accused one wife of adultery, then had her cousin actually do the deed; Thomas Cromwell turned the attainder procedure into an easy way to bring down pretty much anyone – then was felled himself by that same method. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

ESJ: The era chose me. I’ve always loved researching my ancestors, and I was quite happily digging around in Medieval and Tudor times. And then I discovered the English Civil War diary of Lucy Hutchinson, daughter of Lucy St.John. I became hooked on the Stuarts and all that befell them.

AW: Following on from that, what drew you to your particular characters?

JW: Originally I chose the Seymours because they were central to the Tudor era – and therefore provide the ultimate vantage point from which to recount events. They also happen to have amazing stories of their own.

Jane Seymour was in the middle of Anne Boleyn’s fall – the seminal event of Henry’s reign; hers is a story about morality. Edward Seymour was front and center during the second triad of Henry’s wives; his story is about power. And Edward Tudor…the poor boy king who had to execute two uncles… his is a story of betrayal.

ESJ: The story of my family was intriguing – especially when I found the memoirs of the first early modern women diarist that directly spoke of my ancestress. Then to find that Lucy St.John lived in the Tower of London for 13 years, had a secret lover, and raised two children who fought on opposing sides of the Civil War was a story that had to be told. Add to that a wicked stepmother and a hateful sister who was the grandmother of THE Barbara Villiers, mistress to Charles II, and I knew I could keep myself – and readers – entertained for years.

My characters lived on the edge of court life. As I researched the lives of James I, Charles I and Charles II, as well as Oliver Cromwell and nobility and generals, these personalities came alive. Their experiences presented a parallel in so many struggles for power and political freedom we are experiencing today. Many times, in reading letters and diary entries, especially of the emerging women’s voices, the distance between the centuries disappeared.

AW: You both live some distance from your locations - does that present additional research challenges, and if so, how do you get round those?

JW: Thank heavens for the internet! There are so many primary resources available – state papers through British History Online, chronicles and histories, letter collections – not to mention the other wildly cool stuff out there (Ordinances of the Royal Household, Cobbett’s State Trials, The Good Housewife’s Jewel, Privy Purses expenses, Anne Askew’s examinations…I keep a list of my favorites and send it to people when they subscribe to my blog). My latest obsession is The Private Life of an Elizabethan Lady: The Diary of Lady Margaret Hoby (1599-1605).

Still, there are some serious limitations to these resources – they don’t really give the true feel of the place. Like when characters were inside a castle, looking out, what did they see? That’s not the kind of thing you can get from photos – photographers aim at the castles, not away. For that, I am profoundly grateful for the trips I have taken to England and Scotland, visiting castles and churches, walking the streets and the countryside, looking out over the Solent and sniffing the sea air….Those details make all the difference.

ESJ: I’m really fortunate that my family lives in England, and I have the opportunity to spend a lot of my time there. So, whether researching the archives at Lydiard House, the setting for my stories, or exploring locations such as the Tower of London or Nottingham Castle, I always combine research with family time. Fortunately, they are all as equally historically obsessed as I am, so they never need a reason to pile in the car and go “St.John-hunting”, explore a castle ruin or crawl around on their hands and knees deciphering ancient gravestones. 

For the time I need to read primary documents and accounts, I access digital records by the National Archives, and British-History Online, as well as the History of Parliament. I use their document ordering services for copies of original wills, letters and court hearings. And then the Bodleian has a wonderful online library. Oh, and the Calendar of State Papers…and on, and on down the rabbit holes!

AW: What would you say was the most far-reaching event of the Tudor/Stuart period, and why?

JW: Anne Boleyn’s refusal to become Henry’s mistress – one of the seminal events of the Early Modern Era. It was wild enough for a maid of honor to refuse a king, but that simple “no” toppled an entrenched power structure, leading to a new church, a new way of governing, and a new morality. It created the world as we know it.

ESJ: Probably the English Civil Wars, for the complete shift in transitioning power to the people and challenging the previous divine right to rule, initiating an open debate about personal and religious freedoms, limiting the power of the monarchy, creating liberty of the press, and forming the foundation for ideas that developed the American political and constitutional thought.

AW: In a sentence, (or two!) why is your period the best?

JW: I always go back to the stories – there are just so many of them, and more specifically so many that we all know. I see a parallel here with the Beatles: they put out so many songs, and almost any person you ask can actually sing along to more than forty of them (seriously – try it). What other period/band could you say that about?

ESJ: Fabulous clothes, brilliant thinking and the epic struggle between the Cavaliers ("Wrong but Wromantic") and Roundheads ( "Right but Repulsive") (thanks to 1066 and All That).

AW:Finally - and on a lighter note - who has the best costumes, and why?

JW: Tudors! They just feel more accessible: you can look at the pictures and understand all the elements that go into the outfits, the layers that create the looks. And you can actually imagine yourself wearing them as you go through life – which is hard to say that about the farthingales and ruffs that came later (admittedly even during the Elizabethan era). Plus, as a woman with short hair I adore the headgear – the gable hoods and French hoods! The thought of having to create elaborate “dos” every day just makes me roll my eyes…

ESJ: Really? Men in tights with codpieces, or a dashing Cavalier. Is there a competition?

 

Thank you so much Ladies! I shall remain totally impartial but I think you both stated your case really well.

Find out more about these wonderful authors:

http://www.elizabethjstjohn.com/

https://janetwertman.com/