Author Interview: Susan Higginbotham

We are very excited to have an interview with Susan Higginbotham here. Susan's book, The Traitor's Wife, won the silver award for historical fiction in ForeWord Magazine's 2005 Book of the Year Awards, and she has an Amazon short available to those in the US called The Justiciar's Wife.

Susan is also a very active blogger, with four blogs on the go! She is part of a group of historical fiction authors who blog at Yesterday Revisited, and then she also blogs at Plenty About Plaidy (about Jean Plaidy), about Richard III at Unromantic Richard III and then there is her personal blog.




What attracted you to write about the particular characters or period of history featured in your book?


I had read Christopher Marlowe's play Edward the Second years ago in graduate school and had liked it well enough, but one day while surfing the Internet, I ran across an online version of the play and re-read it in one sitting. I became fascinated by the historical background to the story and started researching it. As my research became more in depth, I learned about Eleanor de Clare, Edward II's favorite niece and the wife of his very powerful and very hated favorite, Hugh le Despenser. Soon I was looking for everything I could find out about her, and as I did, I realized that her story was made for a novel. So I wrote it.

If you had to change from writing HF, what genre would you like to give a go?

Probably popular history. There are so many great stories out there that are waiting to be told, one way or another.

Are you working on another book now? Will you continue to write about this same period/character or a different period?

I'm working on a novel featuring Eleanor's oldest son, Hugh, and his wife. It's rather different from The Traitor's Wife, though—it focuses more on the love story between the two main characters than on the historical events of the time, since Hugh, very wisely in light of his family history, served his king on the battlefield rather than as a courtier. The Hundred Years War and the Black Death, however, do play an important role in the story. After that, I've been pondering the idea of a novel set during the Wars of the Roses. I've read so many historical novels where Richard III is a virtual saint, I'd love to write one where he isn't the good guy for a change--or at least where he isn't so romanticized.

How did you get into writing?

I've been writing since I was a small girl, beginning with stories about my kitty cats and never stopping except for a hiatus when I was in law school.

What comes first, the story idea or the characters?

The characters, for me—I find someone who intrigues me and who I want to write more about. Since I prefer to write about historical figures, the plot is pretty much ready-made, with just some gaps to be filled in.

What is the one thing that you couldn't live without while you were writing and why?

My computer. I can no longer write in longhand—it's as if my whole brain shuts down when I try.

Every review I have read is really positive about your book. How hard is it to drum up excitement and sales? How has self publishing benefited you and how has it hindered?

It's been a challenge! Since I knew that most of my sales would have to come from the Internet, one thing I did was to build a website that had a lot of historical information in it, one that would draw in people interested in fourteenth-century England. And Amazon, fortunately, has a lot of free features that help with marketing--Search Inside the book, Amazon lists, etc.

There's a misconception, one that's regularly repeated online, that people who self-publish do so only to see their name in print and to hold a printed book in their hands. That's nonsense. We self-publish for precisely the same reason that other authors publish--to get readers. Self-publishing got me readers where otherwise my manuscript might still be sitting in some agent's or publisher's slush pile, and I've been pleased with the results so far. There have been negatives, of course--most brick-and-mortar bookstores won't handle self-published books, and there are always going to be people who refuse to even look inside a self-published book because they "know" it's going to be bad--but they're outweighed by the knowledge that people are reading the book and enjoying it. So to you folks who have taken or will take a chance on a self-published book by an unknown author, thank you!

Will you go the self published route for your next book?

Probably, yes, because it's a little short for a straight historical novel. (I thought of changing the focus to add some word count, but wasn't happy with the direction in which that would have taken it.) Or I may just sell it in installments on Amazon Shorts. I think with the third novel I may try to go the traditional route, though.

And thank you, ladies, for the opportunity to appear here!

The Face of a Stranger - Anne Perry

This was my first read by Anne Perry. I had heard of her before but I only got really curious after Rosario started posting about her books and making them sound so interesting.

His name, they tell him, is William Monk, and he is a London police detective. His mirror reflects a face that women would like, but from the way people respond to him when he returns to the force, he senses that he has been more feared than loved.

The case Monk is given is particularly sensational one: the brutal murder of Major the Honourable Joscelin Grey, Crimean war hero and a popular man about town, in his rooms in fashionable Mecklenburg Square. It’s an assignment to make or break an investigator, for the exalted status of the victim puts any representative of the police in the precarious position of having to pry into a noble family’s secrets – and one made all the more difficult by the fact that Monk’s lost all his professional skills along with everything else. Suspecting that his superior, the wily Runcorn, hopes he will fail, he returns to a world where he cannot distinguish friend from foe, where he must grasp desperately for any clue to his own past and to the identity of the killer.

Slowly the darkness begins to lighten, as he recognizes traces of his forgotten life. The gentle beauty of a woman who seems to know him. The dangerous informers he tracks down in the city’s unsavory rookeries. The growing hostility from the dead man’s aristocratic family. The revulsion he feels when he enters the dead man’s rooms. And each new revelation lead’s Monk step by terrifying step to the answers he seeks but dreads to find.

The premise seemed a really interesting one, a man with amnesia tries to reconstruct his life and what he was without admitting to coworkers and family that he has lost his memory. Added to that is the fact that he is a police officer and is put in charge of a murder investigation as soon as he goes back to work.

It is as interesting to see Monk's investigation and it's development as it is to get to know him and his doubts about who he was before the accident. So there's quite a bit of introspection and self analisys in this book that I found very appealing as he tries to found out who he was by other people reactions.

The mystery is very well plotted and written. I would never have guessed what was behind it nor the murderer's motives. Rather than a general reason the murder is very much connected to the period of the time and Perry really brings to life that reality. It's fascinating to follow Monk through his investigation and uncover the clues that keep him, and us, guessing at the murder.

Another thing I greatly enjoyed was the set of secondary characters, especially Hester and Evans. I'm looking forward to start the next book in the series to see what awaits them in the future.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Lily is haunted by memories-of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower, and asks the gods for forgiveness.

In nineteenth-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound and lived in almost total seclusion, the women in one remote Hunan county developed their own secret code for communication: nu shu ("women's writing"). Some girls were paired with laotongs, "old sames," in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives.

They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.

With the arrival of a silk fan on which Snow Flower has composed for Lily a poem of introduction in nu shu, their friendship is sealed and they become "old sames" at the tender age of seven. As the years pass, through famine and rebellion, they reflect upon their arranged marriages, loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their lifelong friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a brilliantly realistic journey back to an era of Chinese history that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful.

With the period detail and deep resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha, this lyrical and emotionally charged novel delves into one of the most mysterious of human relationships: female friendship.

Marg Says:

I really enjoyed this read. Set in a remote corner of China in the 1800s, we are given a glimpse into the lives of several different stratas of society - the humble farmer, a comfortably well off family that rents out the fields to the farmers around him, the socially unacceptable life of a butcher and the fading and disgraced aristocrats.

At the age of 7 Lily and Snow Flower were deemed to be "old sames' - signing a contract that says that they will be the closest of friends for all their lives. For Lily, Snow Flower is an exotic young girl, coming from a wealthy family and always wearing beautiful clothes, and yet, when the customary times for visiting each other, Snow Flower always visits Lily's family, never the other way around. For Snow Flower, her time at Lily's house is a chance for her to learn some of the basics of running a home, in anticipation of her marriage.

Going into the details of the rituals relating to foot binding, to the friendship ceremonies, to the marriage ceremonies and the traditions surrounding the changes in a woman's life after she is married, there was plenty of scope for infodump in this book, and yet, the author manages to convey details regarding these events in such a way as to provide the information, but within the structure of the story.

Most of all, this book is a look at the changing nature of a friendship between two women, particularly during the later days of their lives as one of the women grows into a role of leadership in her family and the other gets closer and closer to the edges of society. There were many moving moments, particularly as one of the characters realises that she was the one with the issues, and not the other way around!

A moving and entertaining read, featuring a time and place that I know very little about.

Kailana Says:

I have been trying lately to read more books set in areas outside my normal area. While I like historical fiction about China and Japan, there is not enough time to read everything that I want to read. This room was really good for a move into Chinese historical fiction. Lily is the narrator, and in these pages she recaps her life and her friendship with Snow Flower. Joined together in childhood, they were to be close friends for life. Lily came from a lower social class than Snow Flower, but through this friendship great things happen for her. Snow Flower is not all she seems, but they are friends for over 27 years.

Lily was an interesting narrator. She speaks of her life growing up in her mother and fathers' home. We get to experience the foot-binding process which was horrifying to read about. I could not imagine going through that and having the use of my feet limited for the rest of my life. Men's affections do not mean more to me than being able to walk correctly. Lily's younger sister actually dies from the process, as the book says 1 in 10 women do. It made me think of school, I remember learning about a Native group that it was not their feet that they bound but their heads, and then there are the cultures that try and make their necks longer. People in so many cultures are not satisfied with the bodies they are born with, they always have to do something to alter it.

Lily goes through a lot in her life, she lives to be 80. We share her friendship with Snow Flower, her feelings of abandonment in her own home, her perfect feet that helped her have a better life, war, marriage, babies, and old age. In such few pages a lot happens to a very interesting woman. All in all, this was a very interesting read. Lisa See has another book out now that takes place in 17th-century China. I look forward to reading that soon.

A very recommended read!

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

I love historical fiction, bibliographies and history in general so when I heard of a book about the Dracula legend I immediately put it on my wish list.

I ended up never buying it but when I happened to come across a bookring at Bookcrossing I just couldn't resist signing up for it.


I really liked the story concept and the way she tells it - it has elements of mystery, thriller, romance - making it more easy to read than if it was just an account of the facts. There are 3 different stories in it, in 3 different periods (1930, 1959 and 1972). This way we are not only learning about Dracula and his time but of the reality of our world in those days, especially in the Eastern European countries in the 30s and 50s.

I must say I only know the basics about the Dracula legend but the book seemed to describe a lot of the popular beliefs regarding Vlad, the Impaler. Also all the historical information she provoded about the Ottoman Empire and it's influence in the neighbouring countries was really interesting.

I had just one main problem with the book, I think it is too long and in some parts there's too much information being described that could be cut and make for a more interesting story. This way I had to force myself to pick it up and read when I usually just can't put down this type of book.

Still it it makes for an entertaining read, just not as good as I thought it would be.

The End of Sorrows: A Novel of the Siege of Leningrad in WWII by JV Love

A love that would not die . . .
A city that would not surrender . . .
A war that knew no bounds . . .

The date is June 21st, 1941, and Adolf Hitler is about to lead Germany into what would become one the bloodiest, most barbaric wars the world would ever know. His invasion plan, Operation Barbarossa, calls for talking the northern Russian city of Leningrad in a matter of weeks, but as the troops reach the outside border of the city, the Soviet resistance stiffens and a stalemate ensues. Hitler calls for continual bombardment of the city and cutting of all outside supplies. He boasts that the city will starve to death an the German forces will march into a ghost town.

Follow a cast of memorable characters - some real-to-life - as they struggle through one of the most horrific human dramas ever created. For 900 days, the citizens and soldiers of Leningrad, Russia endured one of the worst sieges in the history of mankind. Some would find the inner strength that would make them a light unto the darkness. Others would descend into madness. Read their stories, and explore for yourself just what is The End of Sorrows.

I am sure that I should start every review about a book set in Leningrad during WWII with a disclaimer. I first became aware of the events that occurred in this city when I read the fabulous The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. Since then I have read another two books which were either partially or completely set in the besieged city, and whilst each of them have added something to my knowledge or my feeling for this terrifying time, none of them have come close to the magic of that book. This book adds yet more to my knowledge of these events.

The story follows several main characters as they try to live through the siege, either within the city, or fighting to try and save the city, and the story alternates between the various characters, giving us snapshots of their physical and mental states.

The most compelling of the stories is of the relationship between Katya and Felix. Katya is the daughter of a high ranking party official and Felix is a young Jewish man. Inseparable since meeting, Felix and Katya are determined to marry, not knowing that her father is making it difficult to do so because of the fact that Felix is Jewish. Felix's best mate is Dima, son of a decorated war hero - a man for whom the war is a chance to prove himself to himself, and his father, once and for all. Other characters include Katya's neighbour Petya who descends into madness as the city descends into starvation, her young cousin Igor whom she must try and keep alive, and a group of partisan fighters, and many others. There were, in my opinion, too many characters who took up too much of the narrative.

The author is not afraid of showing how desperate life became both on the front and in the city, and covers some of the events that I already knew about, such as the bombing of the trains that were carrying children out of the besieged city and the eating of wallpaper glue as food became incredibly scarce. This was, however, the first book which has included any episodes relating to the actions of the Russian partisans who helped the Soviet Army fight against the massive German army that was camped at the edge of Leningrad for so long. The time that Felix and Dima spent with the partisans was a very interesting section of the book.

At times the narrative is somewhat meandering and occasionally gets bogged down by religious contemplation about how could God desert the people of Leningrad, and indeed about His very existence. There is most certainly a place for such contemplation because of the very situation that they found themselves in, but particularly towards the end of the novel there was too much of it in my opinion.

I was interested to read at the end of the novel some choices that the author made for the story. I am not sure that they are the same choices I would have made were they my characters, but it did have the effect of making the story less romanticised than some of the other novels I have read on this setting.

One note to the publishers - there were numerous occasions during the book where the typing abruptly stopped and then started on a new line half way through a sentence, so perhaps some stricter editing would not have gone astray.

The stories themselves are interesting, but as I said before, needed to be somewhat streamlined, but at the nucleus of the book is a good story, with interesting characters, in an unbelievable, but true situation.

The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor by Sally Armstrong

Completion Date: July 31, 2007
Pages: 416
Publication Year: 2007
Received from Random House in 2007

Reason for Reading: The book takes place in Nova Scotia, in the area that is New Brunswick today and becomes New Brunswick during the course of the book. I live in the Maritimes, so I like books that take place in this period.

The epic true story of Charlotte Taylor, as told by her great-great-great-granddaughter, one of Canada’s foremost journalists.

In 1775, twenty-year-old Charlotte Taylor fled her English country house with her lover, the family’s black butler. To escape the fury of her father, they boarded a ship for the West Indies, but ten days after reaching shore, Charlotte’s lover died of yellow fever, leaving her alone and pregnant in Jamaica.

Undaunted, Charlotte swiftly made an alliance with a British naval commodore, who plied a trading route between the islands and British North America, and travelled north with him. She landed at the Baie de Chaleur, in what is present-day New Brunswick, where she found refuge with the Mi’kmaq and birthed her baby. In the sixty-six years that followed, she would have three husbands, nine more children and a lifelong relationship with an aboriginal man.

Charlotte Taylor lived in the front row of history, walking the same paths as the expelled Acadians, the privateers of the British-American War and the newly arriving Loyalists. In a rough and beautiful landscape, she struggled to clear and claim land, and battled the devastating epidemics that stalked her growing family. Using a seamless blend of fact and fiction, Charlotte Taylor’s great-great-great-granddaughter, Sally Armstrong, reclaims the life of a dauntless and unusual woman and delivers living history with all the drama and sweep of a novel.

When I saw this book at the store I originally thought it was non-fiction, but it turns out that she originally planned it to be non-fiction and could not find enough information, so it has correct details but she filled in the unknown facts with her own ideas. She has a rough idea of Charlotte's life, but she doesn't necessarily know the exact truth, so she researched the most logical choice.

I was really intrigued by this book because Charlotte Taylor is not the sort we learn about in school, and I think that is a real shame. She was the first female settler on the Mirimichi. The Mirimichi is a river, for those that do not know. How she ended up in the New World is not known, so that is one of the factors that Armstrong guessed how it happened by the details that she did have. The first child that Charlotte has is with the lover that meant her leaving her family home. When she gets to the New World she will have 3 husbands and several children. Upon her death she had over 70 grandchildren which is a rather staggering number, but make sense for the times.

She was a fantastic woman to read about. She forged a life for herself in the New World and did not bow down to the men that thought she was speaking outside her rights as a female. She owned her own land, defended her family, kept the family fed in the winter months, and had a spirit that was known throughout the land. She was simply a fascinating woman to read about and to hear about all the things that she did as a woman growing up in a very hostile and unsettled world, especially after living the first twenty years of her life in a very good home where she did not have to lift a finger.

I loved reading about this woman, and even if the geography does not interest you this woman's indomitable spirit is an inspiration for everyone. I strongly recommend this book about one of the most interesting Canadian women I have ever read about.

Ivy – Julie Hearn

Ivy has been spotted in a rough part of London by Oscar Arentino Fosdick, a rich Pre- Raphaelite painter. He needs a muse and Ivy is prefect – a stunner.

But Ivy is also a girl with a past. No amount of laudarum can block her memories of being used to lure wealthy children down alleys so that Carroty Kate the ‘skinner’ can strip them of their clothes and jewels.

Realising quickly that Oscar has more money then sense Ivy’s greedy cousins order to sit for him – and to do anything else he might ask. But their ‘nice little earner’ has sinister consequences.

Oscar’s jealous mother is determined to get rid of her son’s beautiful model
Oscar’s famous neighbour wants her all to himself
And Ivy’s strange and troubled past is about to catch up with her…

Ivy is an orphan being brought up by her uncle and aunty in Victorian London. But she is different and by the age of 5 knows that life is not fair. Ivy life is change for ever when she bumps into the Children welfare women and her cousin sees a chance to make a quick buck. The story quickly races through the next 10 years leaving you scratching your head but it is explained later.

Ivy is now 15 and has caught the eye of a Pre – Raphaelite painter and the painter must have her as his model. This is when things get interesting for young Ivy & while she may wish to just escape from her relatives, Oscar and her past she can’t.

This book has an interesting plot but it felt rushed to me. I would have like there to be more about her time with Carroty Kate but I can understand why it was left out it wasn’t really need to help the story progress but it would have help understand Ivy a little more. Ivy annoyed me at time but generally I felt sorry for her. She doesn’t really belong anywhere, when she does find a place that accepts her she quickly discover that while she can make her relatives money they won’t let her go.

Overall I was left feeling a little unsatisfied with this book. I didn’t like the ending but I like my stories to be all wrapped up by the end and this one wasn’t and then there is a little bit which is set in 2004 which just didn’t really fit. This book is targeted for Young Adults and maybe that is where my problem lies. I’m now 23 and maybe that is too old for YA books, so maybe good for either a quick read or someone who doesn’t read very much. This book does not focus on real people and is only loosely based on fact which may also be the reason it just never felt quite right.