- Romanticising Scotland: the impact of Historical Fiction on a Nation #historicalfiction #walterscott #outlanderCulross is a very pretty village set on the opposite of the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh and one of the locations used to film the Outlander series. Sitting in a café there I got chatting to a lovely American who was on an Outlander tour. ‘We did Edinburgh yesterday,’ …
- Stirling Castle and La Belle ÉcossaiseOn a recent visit to Stirling Castle I met La Belle Écossaise hovering in Queen Mary of Guise’s chambers. She was not as discrete as one would expect from a lady in waiting and even told me that the queen holds her most intimate audiences in her bed chamber, where …
- Murder at the Palace #Historical Fiction #Mary Queen of Scots #ReformationSited at the other end of the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle stands Holyrood Palace, built next to what was once an Augustinian monastery, and the site of one the most terrifying events of Mary Queen of Scots life, during her brief reign. In the 1500s, when my characters in …
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- What a good Editor doesMargaret Atwood describes a good copy editor as ‘the person who will save you from yourself,’ and I have to agree. I am fortunate to have Richard Sheehan as mine. After he emerged from editing my most recent in series The Familists I asked him if he would share some of his secrets in a guest post, which he generously agreed to do.
- Researching Constantinople of 1555A visit to Istanbul yielded a rich seam of research for my most recent in series The Familists. Here’s some highlights. Mehmet II besieged and conquered Constantinople in 1453 and simply moved into what the Byzantines had vacated, re-purposing and repairing as he went. The stunning Hagia Sofia, built nine …
- Venice: Secrets of the Doge’s Palace and Other TalesVisiting Venice last year I had the opportunity to delve into aspects of city life in the 1550s, all helpful research for the then work in progress, The Apostates. For instance, the current Rialto bridge wasn’t in existence when my characters were living there, in fact there was no bridge …
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- How do you dig a Siege Tunnel?If you’ve ever been to St Andrews you’ll know it’s not only the home of golf and site of Scotland’s oldest university but the town itself is steeped in history. Once a great centre of pilgrimage, the cathedral was left in ruins after the Scottish Reformation in 1560. Although I …
- Venice: A Sense of PlaceMy second book came out during the second year of lockdown. The Conversos is mainly set in Antwerp and there was no possibility of visiting the city in 2021 when all travel was forbidden. Several reviewers asked if I’d been to Antwerp for research, to the point I felt quite …
- Seven Ages of Man, Three Ages of WomanWriting historical fiction set in the early modern period in Europe ( characterised as roughly from the beginnings of the Renaissance and the invention of printing to the French Revolution and early Industrial Revolution), I have been endlessly curious about what it would be like to be a woman in …
- Magnificent PageantA coronation is one way of royals putting on great pageant to keep their subjects entertained and conscious of their king or queen’s magnificence, as we are fully aware of in the UK currently. Yet during their reign monarchs needed to remind their subjects periodically of the king’s overarching importance …
- Hidden Christians and JapanMy sister, who is the family genealogist, tells we have an ancestor who came to Kobe, Japan as a missionary from 1907 to 1920. Mostly our ancestors have been a rather dull lot – no marriage to a duke or duchess, Highland robber nor great inventor; only the odd child …
- Streets of St Andrews #scottish historical fiction #siege #pilgrimageA lovely reader writes asking if I can give more detail of the locations in my books. St Andrews, where my historical fiction novel based on real events, The Castilians, is set, is my home town so I had a very clear picture of the streets my characters would walk …
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- Slains Castle and DraculaIn my never-ending quest to feed my castle-visiting addiction I stumbled across Slains Castle in Aberdeenshire a few weeks ago and discovered Bram Stoker was said to have drawn inspiration from it for Dracula’s castle. Dracula, of course, was loosely based on a real prince connected with the Ottoman Empire, …
- Catholic or Protestant?The Impact of frequent changes of religion in Tudor England – Guest Post by Jonathan Posner. As a writer of historical fiction set in Tudor England, I recognise that religion was the key driver of almost every part of life – and therefore every story – set in the period. …
- How maps changed the worldColumbus, despite being unusually learned about cartography when he set sail for the Americas, was convinced he would arrive in Asia. And even after he’d made landfall in the Caribbean he still believed he was near India. ‘Ten journeys away is the river Ganges,’ he wrote in 1503 when he …
- Squire’s HazardGuest Post with Carolyn Hughes Carolyn Hughes’s next book in the Meonbridge Chronicles is out now. I dived right into Squire’s Hazard and was soon absorbed in the era, the characters and the intrigue: a most enjoyable read. Recently I met up with Carolyn to blether about her newest release, …
- How perilous was travelling in the Renaissance?In my most recent book, The Apostates , my characters Bethia, Will and Mainard are forced to flee across Europe. I was curious to uncover their likely means of travel and just how perilous the journey would be. Researching I came across a delightful book called Touring in the 1600s, …
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- No Such Thing as Goodbye – Guest Post by Karmen ŠpiljakKarmen and I had a great blether recently about her writing process and what made her choose Mexico as the setting for her gripping psychological spy thriller. This is obviously delving into a different genre from my usual historical fiction but No Such Thing as Goodbye is a cracking good …
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- Do animals have souls?In my current book The Apostates (due out early November), the reformer John Calvin features. My character Will is very happy to be learning at the feet of the great man, his sister Bethia, a Catholic, less so and her sister in law, who is determined to return to the …
- What would it be like to find yourself suddenly living in Tudor England? … Guest Post by Jonathan PosnerDelighted to have a blether with author of The Witchfinder’s Well Series, radio presenter, playwright and lyricist, Jonathan Posner, about his books, the setting and writing generally. Your books are set in the Tudor period. What draws you to that era? My original idea was to create a time-travel story …
- What did it mean to be ‘worth your salt’?In my saga The Seton Chronicles the family make their money through trade. I spent a fair amount of time trying to unpack just what Scotland would be trading across the North Sea (which was known as the German Ocean until just after WW1 ). In the 1500s hides, wool …
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- What is a comma splice… and how have I remained in happy ignorance of them for all these years? I’m sure Miss Redford never mentioned splicing when she was teaching us how to parse sentences in P6. But then the memory fades – I’ve just had to look up how to parse a sentence. …
- Wonderful insights into early 16th century Spain: Guest Post by M LynesI was delighted to have a blether with Michael Lynes, who writes The Isaac Alvarez Mysteries under the pen name M Lynes, about his inspiration for writing, and his next in series Heretic’s Daughter which is about to be released. Your novels are set in Spain. What drew you to …
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- Why did men wear codpieces?I went to see the rock group Jethro Tull perform on several occasions when I was a lot younger. The front man, Ian Anderson, would stand on one leg playing the flute, which was fairly impressive, but what really drew the eye was the glittering codpiece he wore while doing …
- Why is it called a Thunderbox?Recently we had the absolute pleasure of a few days stay for a family celebration at Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott – one of Scotland’s most famous writers. Among the many wondrous things of this wondrous house was the thunderbox, found amid the maze of corridors off the …
- The Perils of making an AudiobookMy good friend Marian is both a great hillwalker and a great lover of books – and manages to combine the two perfectly thanks to audiobooks. Indeed she’s such a big consumer of audio that she rarely reads. During lockdown when her walks were restricted to the local streets she …
- A Monk’s LifeIt’s been a good work year, despite all the global challenges. Great to get the second book The Conversos out and the audio version of The Castilians. We managed a wee trip to Yorkshire in October and I was in castle heaven. The most dramatic place we visited was Rievaulx Abbe I was aware that …
- Pit Prisons and the Bottle DungeonI always assumed that the dungeon at St Andrews Castle, carved out of rock and worn smooth by its many occupants, was unique. Named the bottle dungeon for reasons which are soon obvious to any visitor, it is indeed unique – in shape. But the principle of keeping prisoners in …
- The Sea Yett and the Perilous ClimbWhen I was plotting The Castilians I had to work out how I was going to sneak its heroine, Bethia, inside St Andrews Castle. The obvious way – through the gate in the curtain wall, and across the drawbridge — wasn’t going to work. Although around 2500 people lived in …
- Usurper King – Guest PostIt’s a great moment for a newbie author to have her first guest post and I’m delighted to welcome Mercedes Rochelle who has been kind enough to answer the three short questions I posed. Mercedes has recently published book three of her Plantagenet Series, Usurper King to add to what …
- CaitchpuleA reader writes to ask what is a caitchpule — and I realise I have made an assumption. In The Castilians I mention King James V’s fondness for the game of caitch, which he regularly played at Falkland Palace. Growing up nearby I was always aware of the famous tennis court at the Palace, …
- Speaking Properly!‘Speak properly,’ my mother was forever reminding me as a child. By which, of course, she meant don’t use Scots – either the words or the grammar. Fortunately my dad did use it, so I know and understand the language of my country. How much richer is: ‘See ye the …
VEH Masters – author of historical fiction
talking about sixteenth century historical fiction during Reformation, Renaissance, Counter Reformation, Tudor Period and Wars of Religion