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A Writer's Retreat

~ Author Candace Robb chatting about York, medieval history, and the writing life.

A Writer's Retreat

Tag Archives: The Apothecary Rose

The Gift of a Talented Narrator

20 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by Candace Robb in Owen Archer and Lucie Wilton

≈ Comments Off on The Gift of a Talented Narrator

Tags

Audible, Christmas gifts, Derek Perkins, Owen Archer, Tantor Audio, The Apothecary Rose, The Lady Chapel, The Nun's Tale

Both The Apothecary Rose and The Lady Chapel are now available from Tantor Audio in the US, with The Nun’s Tale coming in December!

When Tantor Audio offered an audiobook contract for the first three Owen Archer mysteries, I scoured their list of narrators for the one I thought might be the best match for the series, and proposed the award-winning Derek Perkins. I am so pleased with the results. Derek not only creates distinct voices for each character, but he gives a deeply nuanced reading that never strays from my intention. What a gift!

Publisher’s Weekly reviewed the recording of The Apothecary Rose: “Set in the 14th century, Robb’s historical detective stories about Owen Archer, a spy working for the influential John Thoresby, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of York, currently runs to 10 volumes. This new audio edition of the first in the series is the obvious starting place for both curious newcomers and a treat for fans of the shrewd one-eyed Archer and his beautiful pharmacist wife Lucie, who may appreciate a reminder of how the two first met: over a pair of corpses possibly killed by a concoction mixed by Lucie’s first husband, master apothecary Nicholas Wilton. Reader Perkins gives Archer a confident-sounding British voice, with the requisite uncertainty about his trial employment by the demanding archbishop and feelings for a married woman. Perkins also presents thoughtful interpretations of the series’ continuing characters, like the warm-hearted midwife, Magda Digby; the rowdy, humorous tavern proprietress Bess Merchet; and the enigmatic Thoresby, whose voice changes according to the situation. His clerical delivery is sharper, higher pitched, while his personal conversation, which Archer prefers, is more relaxed, down-to-earth, and uncritical. Adeptly capturing the voices of the series’ recurring characters, Perkins delivers a promising start to the audio edition of this beloved series.”

Perfect for holiday gifts! And downloadable on Audible.

 

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Medieval York, Again?!

06 Sunday Aug 2017

Posted by Candace Robb in Kate Clifford, Owen Archer and Lucie Wilton

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

A Twisted Vengeance, Kate Clifford, King's Square, Lady Peckett's Yard, Murdered Peace, Owen Archer, The Apothecary Rose, The Service of the Dead, the Shambles, York

As promised, here is the third post I wrote for the Kate Clifford series blog tour in July. Enjoy!

The What that’s begged the Why: I set my popular Owen Archer crime series in medieval York, the first book beginning just past the middle of the 14th century, and now I’ve set the Kate Clifford crime series in the same city at the beginning of the 15th century. Why late medieval York again? Well might you ask. As Kate would say, it’s complicated.

Answer #1:  I have loved York from the moment I set foot in the city years ago while I was a grad student studying medieval literature. I felt the ghosts of the middle ages in the narrow streets and snickleways, and atop the medieval walls that still largely enclose the central part of the city. There is so much to explore there, and researchers are always digging up (literally and figuratively) more historical data. It was an important city in the late middle ages, with a powerful archbishop and a wealthy merchant population, so although some of the city archives for the 14th century were lost, events in York appear in other archives. Every time I visit I learn more. I never tire of it. It’s a joy to write about both York and Yorkshire.

Louise Hampson giving me a tour of Lady Peckett’s Yard (York)

Fair enough, but why not just keep going with one series? Answer #2:  When I set the first Owen Archer mystery (The Apothecary Rose) in the early 1360s, I was not aware of York’s involvement in the Lancastrian seizure of the Plantagenet crown in 1399 and the early years of Henry IV’s reign. Later, I groaned when I realized what opportunities for political skullduggery I’d missed. I didn’t like the idea of skipping ahead so many years to get to that period. There’s still so much in between to explore. And, to be honest, although Owen Archer could still be actively sleuthing in his 70s, it felt like a stretch.

But as I just couldn’t let go of the opportunity to write about Henry’s haunted reign, I chose to start afresh with a new sleuth in 1399. The first Kate Clifford mystery (The Service of the Dead) takes place just as King Richard II refuses to life his cousin Henry of Lancaster’s exile upon the death of his father, and, in fact, declares that he has forfeited his inheritance of the duchy of Lancaster. No one expects Henry to ignore this challenge. Kate Clifford’s connection to this? It’s possible that a man murdered in Kate’s guesthouse was a political spy. In the second book, A Twisted Vengeance, as Henry lands in Yorkshire, in defiance of his cousin, the city of York prepares for a siege. Kate Clifford is not directly involved in the fighting, but her mother’s sudden return from the continent and an attack on one of the religious women who accompanied her brings suspicion on her family. And in the third book, Murdered Peace, Henry wears the crown, but he is far from secure.

In King’s Square near the Shambles, taking notes as Louise (just off camera) tells me about the church that once stood there

Has York changed in the gap between the two series?  Answer #3:  Enough has changed in York, including the structure of its government, that it feels fresh to me. And I’ve learned so much more from recent publications about medieval York that I can vary locations. For instance, I placed Kate’s home in the first two books in an area of medieval York that new information transformed for me. I had not known that the wealthy Thomas Holme had gardens extending from his home on Castlegate to the River Foss. He referred to it as his “urban manor.” Kate lives next door.

Answer #4:  To answer the “late medieval” part of the question, the first response would be, it’s the period I’ve studied in depth and want to write about. But another reason arose as I began to work on the second Kate Clifford book. The gap in time between the most recent Owen Archer (1373) and the first Kate Clifford (1399) is short enough that the two series could share characters. Now Owen Archer characters are popping up in casting calls for the Kate Clifford novels. Only one was cast in the second book, but two more, with meatier roles, grace the third. Connected series. Why not?

Thanks for asking.

[Photos are by Charlie Robb, taken in June 2017]

The Subject Is Roses

01 Saturday Jul 2017

Posted by Candace Robb in The Writing Life, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Derek Perkins, Minster Rose, The Apothecary Rose

First, an exciting announcement for readers in the US who have wished for Owen Archer audiobooks: The Apothecary Rose is available now, in a new Tantor audiobook narrated by the award winning Derek Perkins. (The Lady Chapel will be available in November, The Nun’s Tale in December.)

https://tantor.com/the-apothecary-rose-candace-robb.html

 

The second rose is this gorgeous one, which Jane Hibbert brought me, fresh from her garden, as she arrived for my talk in the Festival of Ideas in York last month. Called Minster Rose, it has the most exquisite scent. Thank you, Jane!

I believe this is the York Minster Rose bred especially for a minster fundraiser, or so I was told by Richard Shephard as I set it out on his kitchen table. Perfect!

I just wish I might have brought it home. But I’m going to hunt it down. It will look beautiful beside my apothecary rose and in front of my climbing City of York, a white rose (of course!).

The third rose is a rosewood fountain pen made from the remnants of some old rosewood furniture by Bob Newman, a thank you for the Owen Archer books, particularly The Apothecary Rose. This will have pride of place on my desk. Isn’t it beautiful?!

Thank you, Bob!

More about my trip coming soon…

My Unruly Characters

28 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by Candace Robb in The Writing Life

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

A Gift of Sanctuary, A Triple Knot, A Trust Betrayed, A Vigil of Spies, Brother Michaelo, creating characters, Earl of Westmorland, Kate Clifford, Lucie Wilton, Margaret Kerr, Owen Archer, The Apothecary Rose, The Service of the Dead, writing

At first it surprised me that the characters I created in my books chatted and interacted with each other even when I stepped away from my desk. While I weeded the garden, walked with friends, washed dishes, fell asleep, I eavesdropped on Owen Archer, Lucie Wilton, Bess and Tom Merchet, Archbishop Thoresby, Magda Digby… . Occasionally I woke in the morning recalling entire scenes played out in my dreams—some useful, some not. I had never imagined such strangeness when I first tried writing fiction, but I welcomed it with open arms—what writer wouldn’t?! The continuous exposure deepens the characters for me. It’s especially helpful when writing a series in which many characters appear in each book, and some return after long absences. It’s invaluable to me to imagine these people’s lives between their appearances, to glimpse what’s going on behind the scenes.

The Apothecary Rose (Small)As the characters settled in and began to feel as if they were part of my family, they developed autonomy. My first experience with this involved Potter Digby in The Apothecary Rose. He was a fishy smelling weasel of a character in the outline; but Owen listened to him, giving him the chance to reveal his individual moral code. This wasn’t planned. Owen Archer, my creation, took the time to talk to Potter, allowing him to reveal his humanity. I wound up deeply regretting how things were going to turn out for him.

Brother Michaelo, definitely not one of the good guys in The Apothecary Rose, alsoA Gift of Sanctuary (Small) changed my mind. John Thoresby, Archbishop of York, made him his personal secretary in an act symbolic of donning a hair shirt. But, in the course of ten novels, Michaelo developed a respect for the archbishop and a desire to redeem himself. He was a good friend to Lucie Wilton’s father, Sir Robert D’Arby, in his last days (A Gift of Sanctuary). By the tenth book, A Vigil of Spies, Brother Michaelo became a tragic figure—deeply flawed, but honorable and admirable. Just this week a reader messaged me on Facebook urging me to stop Michaelo from leaving York and returning to Normandy.

How does this happen? How did Geoffrey Chaucer, a man who annoys Owen, become his friend? How is it that Owen deeply mourns—well, best not say who, in case you’ve not reached book 10.

A Trust Betrayed (Small) - CopyThis isn’t just about flawed characters becoming lovable. Many of my characters aren’t planned, but arise in a scene and take on an unexpected significance. In A Trust Betrayed, when Margaret Kerr met her uncle’s groom, Hal, he was meant to be part of the scenery, needed for a few scenes but expendable. But Maggie and Hal formed a bond, and he kept stepping up to help her. In A Triple Knot (one of my non-series novels), Joan revised Triple Knot_cvrof Kent’s childhood nurse, Efa, was meant to appear only in memory; but she was just the person to step back into Joan’s life and help her cope with her unhappiness.

Most recently, Sir Elric, a knight in the service of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, popped up in a scene in The Service of the Dead. Kate Clifford was meeting her loathsome brother-in-law Lionel Neville and found he was not alone—not planned, Service of the Dead KD2b REVbut I found myself adding that detail. It occurred to me that it would be fun if Lionel were accompanied by someone who sees right through him, someone he’s desperate to impress. Sir Elric’s was to be brief walk-on role. But the chemistry between Elric and Kate—well, I couldn’t waste that. He’s back in the second book, and the third.

The eeriest one of all happened late one afternoon, just around quitting time. In the midst of an action scene late in The Service of the Dead, Kate pauses at the edge of the road, uncertain which way to go, and a little hand takes hers. I remember lifting my own hands off the keyboard and looking around my office asking, Who is this? It didn’t take me long to figure it out, but, as with Efa, this character was to be someone mentioned, but never met. Now I cannot imagine the series without her.

This is one of the joys of the writing life—I never know who will stride into the scene, or defy me.

Embodying Medieval Women

25 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by Candace Robb in Writing Women's Lives

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

A Triple Knot, A Vigil of Spies, Alice Perrers, Joan of Kent, The Apothecary Rose, The King's Bishop, The King's Mistress, The Lady Chapel, Women's Literary Culture and the Medieval Canon

I think you will enjoy a post I wrote for the Women’s Literary Culture and the Medieval Canon network, an international network funded by the Leverhulme Trust and centered at the University of Surrey. I feel it a great honor to be invited to contribute to their blog. My post is about how I embody my characters. You can read it here.

 

York as Muse

24 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by Candace Robb in Kate Clifford, Owen Archer and Lucie Wilton

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

St Helen's Square, St. Mary's Abbey, Stonegate, The Apothecary Rose, The Lady Chapel, The Service of the Dead, the Shambles, York, York Minster

Here’s a link to a guest post I wrote for the blog, Raven-Haired Girl. I reused a title from a talk I gave at York St. John University six years ago, but that’s where the similarity ends. I had fun with it!

http://ravenhairedgirl.com/2015/11/22/guest-post-candace-robb-author-of-owen-archer-mystery-series/

St Mary's mortar & me 001I mention the mortar from St. Mary’s Abbey. Here’s a photo–the beautiful pattern isn’t as clear as I’d like, but you can see the size of it.

Sadly, I didn’t copy edit the post as carefully as I should have. Two typos jumped out at me as I read it the morning it was posted. Can you spot them?

Countdown to Owen Archer E-books in the US & Canada

26 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by Candace Robb in Owen Archer and Lucie Wilton

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

A Gift of Sanctuary, A Spy for the Redeemer, A Vigil of Spies, Diversion Books, e-books, The Apothecary Rose, The Guilt of Innocents, The King's Bishop, The Lady Chapel, The Nun's Tale, The Riddle of St Leonard's

It’s Sunday afternoon. In two days Diversion Books will release e-books editions of Owen Archer 1-7, 9 & 10 in the US and Canada. I can think of little else (though I’m doing my best to mark up the York map for the first Kate Clifford mystery–Charlie is waiting to work his magic on the map).

It seems only fair that you, my readers, should be the first to see the beautiful covers the team at Diversion Books created for these–they’ll also grace the trade paperbacks, which should be available by late August.

So here they are, in order!

The Apothecary Rose (Small)The Lady Chapel (Small) (2)The Nuns Tale (Small)The Kings Bishop (Small)The Riddle of St (Small)

A Gift of Sanctuary (Small)

A Spy for the Redeemer (Small)The Guilt of Innocents (Small)A Vigil of Spies (Small)

And the two most recent, The Guilt of Innocents and A Vigil of Spies, are published in the US and Canada for the first time this week, in any format. So those of you who thought there were only 8 Owen Archers, surprise! The series didn’t end with The Cross-legged Knight after all.

Aha. I hear the whispers, But where IS The Cross-legged Knight? Aren’t there 10 books in the series? Yes, but #8 is still available in trade paperback by my original publisher, so it couldn’t be part of this package.

I’ll post links to special offers here this week, and a link to Patricia Bracewell’s blog–she cooked up a Q&A for the launches of both the Owen Archer and the Margaret Kerr e-books (Maggie, 11 August) that we both think you will enjoy! You’ll learn how I worked with the team at Diversion to create the fresh look, along with many other fun facts Pat teased out of me.

A Visit with Old Friends

15 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Candace Robb in Owen Archer and Lucie Wilton, The Writing Life

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

A Gift of Sanctuary, A Vigil of Spies, Archbishop John Thoresby, Brother Michaelo, Brother Wulfstan, Dafydd ap Gwilym, Magda Digby, The Apothecary Rose, The Lady Chapel

I’ve spent a few weeks working with the Owen Archer novels to be re-released in eBook 28 July, and in trade paperback a month later. The tasks have seemed endless—writing fresh “flap copy” for each book (what do you call it when it’s also used to describe e-books, which, of course, have no “flaps’?), spot checking the text files to make certain that I’d updated my own files with the copyedit and final proofreading corrections—in some cases trying to reconstruct this from years ago, finding old errors that can now (happily!) be fixed, suggesting major symbols from each book for cover copy. A busy time, and, although I’ve been surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed going back over the books, I’ve felt overwhelmed. Until a friend’s comment helped me shift my attitude.

She thought it an incredible opportunity that few people have, to read back over my career, appreciate what I’ve accomplished, see where I’ve been. Few people have careers that are, essentially, written down and saved.

She’s right. Along with the work, I’ve been visiting old friends, some I’ve not encountered in a long while.

“Wulfstan believed that if he obeyed and did his best, he could not fail to win a place, though humble, in the heavenly chorus. To be at peace in the arms of the Lord for all eternity. He could imagine no better fate. And rules showed him the way to that eternal contentment.” Brother Wulfstan, infirmarian at St Mary’s Abbey, The Apothecary Rose

“A woman loves a poet’s praises, the promise of fame and immortality in his songs. But she lusts for a soldier and marries a man of property.” Dafydd ap Gwilym, bard, A Gift of Sanctuary

Others who continue to be much on my mind.

“I see. Either way, I am to lose you. Pity. I liked that you hated the work. It is what keeps a man honest.” Archbishop Thoresby to Owen Archer, The Apothecary Rose

“I have spies all over France and Brittany. And spies spying on the spies.” Archbishop Thoresby, The Lady Chapel

“All our mortal lives we totter at the edge of a bog, Archer. The higher we sit, the deeper we sink when we lose our footing.” John Thoresby The Lady Chapel

“Magda Digby once forgot that her gift as a healer was for all folk, not only those she thought worthy folk. She forgot that her opinion must count as naught, that she must step aside from herself. I is not for a healer.” Magda Digby to Archbishop Thoresby in A Vigil of Spies

And characters about whom I’d completely forgotten, such as Brother Florian, Thoresby’s chief clerk who’d expected to replace Jehannes as Thoresby’s secretary when Jehannes is promoted to Archdeacon of York. Florian resents Brother Michaelo for this.

Brother Florian arrived at Windsor on the third afternoon of Thoresby’s visit. He was soaked through, having shared a barge with a group of jongleurs who had contrived to fill the enclosed area with their gear and persons before the clerk boarded, forcing him to make the trip as unprotected as the bargeman. Fortunately the sleet of the previous few days had subsided to a chill mist and occasional drizzle, but it was enough moisture to weigh down Florian’s cloak and his mood.

   “Might one ask, Your Grace, why these papers could not be entrusted to Brother Michaelo, your secretary, who sits so cozily in your chambers in London? Can he really have so much to do with the ordering and shipping of supplies to York that he could not be spared for this journey?” Brother Florian, white-haired and confident from years of experience, was not one to mince words.

   “You have asked, Brother Florian, and I am happy to answer.” Thoresby smiled. “I do not entrust the papers to Brother Michaelo because I cannot be certain that he will not trade their contents for some of the luxuries he finds irresistible. Whereas Michaelo is very good at the tasks to which I have set him because he knows that he will share in the enjoyment of these items if they reach my houses in Yorkshire. It is all actually quite tidy. Do you not enjoy being indispensable?”

   Brother Florian snorted. “Had I been truly indispensable, you would not have passed me over when looking for a secretary to replace Jehannes, Your Grace. It is no doubt Brother Michaelo’s Norman wealth that is truly indispensable.” Florian raised his cup to his lips, discovered it was empty, and thumped it down with a growl.

And then Florian seems to vanish from the books. Hm… I wonder what he’s been up to?

Owen Archer’s men Alfred and Colin first appear in The Lady Chapel—I thought their debut was in The Nun’s Tale. My, how Alfred changes over the years.

At some point I stopped Magda’s amusing practice of referring to people as the animals they resemble, except for a few—Thoresby is Old Crow, Owen is Bird-eye.

When I was experimenting with a new book last year I wondered whether Brother Michaelo had ever been on horseback in the books. I’d forgotten all about his playing messenger between Windsor and York in The King’s Bishop. And, of course, his journey to St. David’s on the west coast of Wales is largely on horseback.

Yes, I’ve been far busier than I’d imagined I’d be in high summer, but how can I resent spending time with such dear old friends?

Little, Big: the Royal Court vs. Owen Archer’s York

01 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by Candace Robb in Shop Talk, The Writing Life

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

A Rumor of Wolves, A Triple Knot, Alice Perrers, ICMS, Joan of Kent, Little Big, longreads, Lucie Wilton, Owen Archer, Tales After Tolkien, The Apothecary Rose, The Joy of Writing, The King's Bishop, The Lady Chapel, The Nun's Tale, The Riddle of St Leonard's, Wislawa Szymborska

While you await the publication day of A Triple Knot, I thought I’d share with you the paper I presented at the most recent International Congress on Medieval Studies. The session was The Real Generic Middle Ages, sponsored by the Tales After Tolkien Society. It’s long, but if you’re curious why I move back and forth between genres, well, here’s the inside scoop.

Even before I read John Crowley’s magnificent novel, Little, Big, or the Fairies Parliament, I understood the concept evoked in the title, or, at least, one of the concepts, because of Dr. Who’s TARDIS. As doubtless most of you know, the TARDIS, or Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, is the Doctor’s, and all Gallifreyan Time Lords’ method of traveling from then to now. Dr. Who’s TARDIS appears as an English police box on the outside, thanks to its chameleon circuit having been jammed on earth in 1963, but within, it’s an enormous ship with many rooms. Rather like the house in Edgewood in Crowley’s novel, a pentagon with five individual façades, so that from each front one has the impression of a much smaller, far more organized interior than exists. The illusion of the outer shell hiding a vastness within. Or how it really is. By which I mean, the depths we discover when we delve beneath a façade. Which is what I’m after in recreating the 14th century, what I seek in research. My books are my TARDIS, my method of traveling from now to then.

The HarperPerennial Modern Classics edition of Little, Big includes in the back a reprint of Roz Kaveney’s review of the book[1] in which she talks about the importance of the comma in the title. “Little, Big is a formula cognate with Hermes Trismegistus’s ‘As above, so below.’ The comma can also imply a simple listing—Little and Big; given the frequency with which Dr. Johnson occurs in the chapter epigraphs, this can be taken as a self-mocking reference to the lexicographer’s remark a propos of Swift that once you had thought of the little men and the big men the rest was easy.”

Let this introduction serve as a caution about creative titles—they take on a life of their own. The very thing that happened once I settled on a title for the Owen Archer novel I’m writing, A Rumor of Wolves—which suddenly had me pulling books off the shelves relating to wolves, werewolves, and The Master of Game, Edward of Norwich’s book based on Livre de chasse by Gaston Febus, Count of Foix. But it all began with a pack of dogs baying in the night.

And that, in a remarkably roundabout way, brings me to what this paper is actually about—the contrast between writing historical crime and mainstream historical, as I experience it. When I proposed this paper I thought my point would be best illustrated by listing what books I pull off the shelves while working on a manuscript.

I’d start with the different piles for my forthcoming book, A Triple Knot, about Joan of Kent’s early marriages, and my current work- in-progress, the Owen Archer mystery, A Rumor of Wolves.

9780300119107For A Triple Knot, the reading list included: the first two volumes of Jonathan Sumption’s The Hundred Years War, Mark Ormrod’s Edward III, Juliet Vale’s Edward III and Chivalry, Malcolm Vale’s The Princely Court, two Clifford Rogers volumes—War Cruel and Sharp and The Wars of Edward III, Munby, Barber and Brown’s Edward III’s Round Table at Windsor, Caroline Dunn’s Stolen Women in Medieval England, Michael Sheehan’s Marriage, Family, and Law in Medieval Europe, Francis Ingledew’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Order of the Garter, Juliet Vale’s and Mark Ormrod’s articles in St George’s Chapel Windsor in the Fourteenth Century, Hugh Collins’ The Order of the Garter 1348-1461, and unpublished dissertations on Joan of Kent, the Holland family and the Montagus. As you can see, mostly about Edward III’s court, his wars, his Order of the Garter, the key noble families in Joan’s life, and what makes a legitimate marriage in the 14th century. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but gives the flavor of my pile.

For A Rumor of Wolves, the reading list includes (so far) The Master of Game, as I noted, Wolves and the Wilderness in the Middle Ages by Aleksander Pluskowski, Matthew Beresford’s The White Devil: the Werewolf in European Culture, George Bensen’s Later Medieval York (great maps), Angelo 51Gk+uzPUPLRaine’s Medieval York, R.F. Hunnisett’s The Medieval Coroner, Jenny Kermode’s Medieval Merchants: York, Beverley and Hull in the Later Middle Ages, Anne Van Arsdall’s Medieval Herbal Remedies, Stephen Pollington’s Leechcraft, and Healing and Society in Medieval England by Faye Marie Getz—again, just a sampling. I know it’s difficult to hear such lists and organize them in your mind, but let me point out that nothing that even remotely smacks of nobility or the court shows up on this second list. It’s all about dogs, healing (especially of dog bites but also other complaints), merchants, York, wolves, and superstitions about wolves.

But the difference in research is not just what sources I use, but how I use them. Of course I share research between the two genres. Why would I need to pull out books about the royal family when I’ve been living in their midst for 3 years writing A Triple Knot? But what I need to know can be quite different for the two genres. The early years of the Hundred Years War are always in the background in the Owen Archer novels. It was in Normandy that he lost the sight in his left eye. He’d fought under Henry, Duke of Lancaster, and was proud of that. But when I approached those years to write about Thomas Holland and the ransom that provides the money to go to Avignon and petition the pope to honor his vows with Joan, I needed to know far more about the battles and the politics behind them. Hence reading Sumption’s books.

I don’t mind more research. I love the research! It was great fun to explore Antwerp, Ghent, and the politics of the Low Countries, as they were called. Quite an eye-opener for me. But in writing the novels about Alice Perrers and Joan of Kent I quickly came up against limitations I hadn’t prepared myself for, which, with a little mindfulness, would have been clear from the start: when the central character is someone who actually lived, I’m not nearly as free to choose the direction of the story and with whom my characters can interact than I am with my fictional detectives. This takes me back to what felt like dismal advice in 1988, but turned out to be a gift.

When I began the story that eventually became my first published book, The Apothecary Rose, it wasn’t a crime novel. There was no Owen Archer in my plan. I meant to begin with an apothecary’s wife in 14th century York and then expand out into a big fat saga about the Hundred Years War and the siege of Calais. But as I wrote I became so interested in portraying the lives of everyday people in York that the Calais story receded into the background. I felt as if I were, in a small way, recreating what it was like to live a simple life more than 6 centuries ago, like Tolkien’s vivid depiction of wayfaring life in the middle ages. An agent’s reader advised me that it was a period piece, and would be a tough sell unless it was a romance or a mystery. Eventually I took her advice and rewrote it as a crime novel. Reluctantly, because I expected to feel constricted by the format. But I discovered that within the general outline of crime-investigation-solution I was quite free. With each novel I explored topics in 14th century England that interested me, something fresh for each book. In The Lady Chapel it was the mystery plays, town waits, and King Edward’s manipulation of the wool trade to fund his war. In The Nun’s Tale I used a true story from a history of St Clement’s nunnery to explore faith, relics, and the slow descent into madness. In The King’s Bishop I visited the Cistercian abbeys in Yorkshire and King Edward’s battle with the Pope over the bishopric of Winchester. The Riddle of St Leonard’s involved the plague, medieval hospitals and the concept of corrodians. With each book I learned more about the culture. It felt rather like a virtual reality tour of 14th century Yorkshire and England at large.

But I was still convinced that I was missing something in focusing on crime novels.

So after 13 novels in the genre I decided to try my hand at historical novels about women of King Edward III’s court, women with whom I’d become familiar by casting them in a few of my mysteries. I would first work with Alice Perrers, whom I felt I’d lazily used in the clichéd manner in which she most often appears. I meant to redeem myself. And then I would tackle Joan of Kent, whose complicated marital history baffled me. I imagined myself painting on an oversized, quite grand canvas, after working on miniatures for years.

At first I did feel deliciously free—Alice’s story could take whatever shape I liked. But that sense of freedom quickly died. Because we do have some information about her, and even more about King Edward, Queen Philippa, and the court in which Alice moved, so it became a matter of connecting the dots, finding plausible and satisfying paths by which her life moved from one piece of evidence to the next. This was even more the case with Joan of Kent.

Much to my surprise, my experience is that the members of the royal court led far more insular lives than the commoners in the Owen Archer mysteries. Though the influence of Edward’s court extended throughout the medieval west, the women of the court were largely restricted to interacting with courtiers, prominent members of the Church, and wealthy merchants. And their concerns, and therefore their stories, were centered in the court and the family. In my crime series, Owen Archer and the central characters, many of them women, interact with all levels of society, from archbishops and the royal family to alewives, bakers, merchants, and the hungry who gather at the gate of St Mary’s Abbey for alms, and in the course of an investigation Owen and those assisting him necessarily delve into detail of the everyday lives of this wide variety of people.

And I’m the one who chooses with whom they interact. This reminds me of one of my favorite poems, which I have posted near my desk. The Joy of Writing by Wislawa Szymborska.

Why does this written doe bound through these written woods?
For a drink of written water from a spring
whose surface will xerox her soft muzzle?
Why does she lift her head; does she hear something?
Perched on four slim legs borrowed from the truth,
she pricks up her ears beneath my fingertips.
Silence–this word also rustles across the page
and parts the boughs
that have sprouted from the word “woods.”

Lying in wait, set to pounce on the blank page,
are letters up to no good,
clutches of clauses so subordinate
they’ll never let her get away.

Each drop of ink contains a fair supply
of hunters, equipped with squinting eyes behind their sights,
prepared to swarm the sloping pen at any moment,
surround the doe, and slowly aim their guns.

They forget that what’s here isn’t life.white hart
Other laws, black on white, obtain.
The twinkling of an eye will take as long as I say,
and will, if I wish, divide into tiny eternities,
full of bullets stopped in mid-flight.
Not a thing will ever happen unless I say so.
Without my blessing, not a leaf will fall,
not a blade of grass will bend beneath that little hoof’s full stop.

Is there then a world
where I rule absolutely on fate?
A time I bind with chains of signs?
An existence become endless at my bidding?

The joy of writing.
The power of preserving.
Revenge of a mortal hand.

I’d fallen in love with a world where I rule absolutely on fate. But I couldn’t change either Alice’s or Joan’s fates; well, I suppose I could, but that would defeat the very reason I’d chosen them—I wanted to better understand how they’d wound up as they had. Fortunately, before despair brought on writer’s block, I found a compromise. The parts of Alice’s and Joan’s lives that had made it into the record were, particularly for Joan, those that involved the powerful men in their lives. I wince in saying it, but it’s true. However—there were the quiet parts of their lives in which I had some leeway. I couldn’t stray too far. But I could explore plausible interactions outside the court.

Why am I so obsessed with this—besides enjoying ruling absolutely on fate? Why can’t I be satisfied with tournaments, castles, battles, feasts, power plays amongst the nobles? Remember the phrase Kaveney invoked in her review of Little, Big, Dr Johnson’s comment on Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels: “When once you have thought of big men and little men, it is very easy to do all the rest.” Is it possible that Johnson didn’t see the social satire and political commentary in Swift’s last chapters? Showing the big men and the little men (or women) is how a writer provides social and political commentary within the story. I wanted Joan and Alice to interact with all levels of society—because how they interact in such situations reveals so much about them, their ethics, and, often, their status, both 51NKukcYzzL._SL500_AA300_real and perceived. For Alice I was curious about how a merchant’s daughter and widow, wealthy or no, would adjust to living among courtiers, waiting upon the Queen. And how would she have been received? I could show Alice in her native setting—merchant society in London—early in the book, then begin to blend the two. That contented me. Joan was a bit trickier. She’s a member of the royal family. I took advantage of Tony Goodman’s suggestion that Joan was with the royal family in the Low Countries in the late 1330’s, so that I could explore how she would react to the counts and dukes who, though not kings in their own right, were in most ways as powerful as her cousin the king of England. Even more interesting, I could play with what she would make of the captains of the Flemish cities, particularly Jacob Van Artevelde. I had fun with that.

But the possibilities are limited. Consider all this research I’m doing about the keeping of dogs for the hunt; in a book about the royal court the kennels might be mentioned in passing, the dogs might interact with the characters on the hunt, one might even be a favorite companion. But in a crime novel I can spend time with the kennel workers, with the dog trainers, they can be main characters. And I can play with the common man’s attitudes about such pastimes—hunting that is more for sport than for sustenance. That books must be written to explain to the nobles the habits of the game animals because they live so apart from the natural world.

I’ve found a comfortable solution for myself—I’ll alternate genres, as much as possible. For I’ve discovered my own prejudices in writing about nobles and royals—I find their attitudes much more difficult to internalize than the attitudes of the common folk. Who knew I’d hate being a princess? But this discomfort has taught me a lot, has forced me to think harder about why they behaved as they did, why they so protected their status, and what they found threatening about free-thinkers amongst the rabble. It’s broadening my horizons, and enriching my virtual reality experience of 14th century Western culture. Little, Big. Those seemingly small-minded nobles have depths I’ve yet to sound. And Owen Archer will still prefer sitting in the York Tavern drinking ale with Tom and Bess to hobnobbing with his friend Chaucer’s masters.

There and Back Again.

 

[1] “Wit and Terror: A Little, Big Review”, Books and Bookmen 1982.

Talking Shop with Chris Nickson

01 Thursday May 2014

Posted by Candace Robb in Shop Talk, The Writing Life

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Chris Nickson, Emerald City, Gods of Gold, Leeds (UK), Richard Nottingham, The Apothecary Rose, The Broken Token, The Crooked Spire

It’s my great pleasure to welcome my friend Chris Nickson, author of the critically acclaimed Richard Nottingham series set in 18th century Leeds that began with The Broken Token and holds the honor of having received a starred review in Publishers Weekly for all six volumes. He also writes a contemporary series set in Seattle (Emerald City, West Seattle Blues), a (so far standalone) medieval mystery The Crooked Spire set in Chesterfield, and a new series set in 19th century Leeds–Gods of Gold will be released in late August. As you’ll learn in the following conversation, Chris started out in journalism. Chris and I have lived in the same cities twice, but we haven’t yet met. Our friendship has grown as we’ve read each other’s books and communicated online. I now count him as one of my closest confidants about the writing life. And you’ll see how much we enjoy talking shop with each other. What began as a simple Q & A, with me the questioner and Chris the respondent became a true conversation, which we’re sharing between our blogs.

broken-token-02   emerald-city_final  the-crooked-spire-fcp   gog-finalx

Q: What draws you to the mystery genre?
A–Candace: I love how the investigation of a crime takes me deep into the daily lives of the people, how they interact, and with whom, which provides a glimpse into how the community works. So it’s a cultural exploration. It’s pushed me to imagine in detail how a medieval community worked. I also love exploring the secrets we all hold close, how an investigation threatens these secrets.
A–Chris: I think that for me, it’s the ideal of this moral framework to the story. In many ways, it’s simple: there’s a crime and it has to be solved. But within that, there are all sorts of complexities, and the choice between moral absolutes and all the shades of grey between black and white. Conflict is the essence of any book, of course, but this superimposes something on that and gives parameters in which to work. And yes, you can have the community as a very vital part, because crime is social – or anti-social, so it functions within that society, and we need to know that the society/community operates – and different levels and classes operate in different ways. So what seems constricting actually opens so many possibilities.
A—Candace again, in response: You’ve touched on something in your response that I appreciate more than ever about the crime genre after writing two non-crime novels back to back, and that is the simplicity of the form: there is a crime and it must be solved. Yet there is immense freedom within that form. The central conflict is clear, a guiding principle, but each person brings his or her unique combination of ethics and self-interest to the investigation.

Q: In the Richard Nottingham series you vividly portrayed Leeds in the 18th century. You were raised in Leeds, and now, after completing the Nottingham series, you’ve come full circle and are living there once more. And writing about it. What is it about Leeds that inspires you–and called you back? I know this is a very open-ended question, so just take it where you’d like to go with it.

A—Chris: For me, since I was born and raised here, it seemed that I know Leeds in my bones, in a way I’ll never know anywhere else, even Seattle where I lived for 20 years (and have written about). I could feel it and understand how the people would act. And I’d become a student of Leeds history, I’d grown to love it and acquired a decent library about the place. The Broken Token, my first novel, was a sort of love letter to Leeds (curiously, I feel the same way about Emerald City, my first Seattle book), and it grew from there. It remains an inspiration, especially now I’m back here; I realized last week that I’ve written two books set in Leeds since we moved back here last September, and I’m working on a third. I’ve covered the 1730s, now another series set in the 1890s, a standalone set in 1954 and another work in progress in 1971. It’s a chance to explore the way a city changes and grows, really, and how the people who inhabit the place change – or in many cases, don’t.

As to what called me back…I moved back to the UK in 2005, but chose not to live in Leeds then, although I was here regularly to see my mother. Since the first novel was published I’ve come back regularly, just to walk around and feel the place, or to do events. When my partner said she was taking early retirement, as a joke I suggested we move to Leeds. Her daughter went to university here and stayed, and suddenly it seemed like a good idea to her. And now we’re living a mile from where I grew up, literally next to a 700-acre park, across the fields from where I went to school. It was odd at first. I know this area so well that I often seemed to be walking with the ghost of my teenage self. But I’ve sloughed that off, and I love living here. I never expected to come full circle, but it’s one of the best things I’ve done (and my partner loves it here, too).

Q: I am in awe of your productivity. The fastest I’ve ever written a book is 9 months, but you write three or four books a year–am I right with that number? I know you began as a journalist. Is that the secret–the habit of working toward a deadline? Do you set yourself a word count each day or week, or a certain number of hours? I’m so curious about this because your books have such wonderful focus, an organic unity. You never go off on a tangent. I feel confident as I read that everything is important. And I wonder whether this is connected to the speed with which you write, the intense focus that requires. (I’ll rewrite this question however you like–you get the gist–I’d love to hear how you discipline yourself!)

A—Chris: I’ve been a music journalist for 20 years, and for several of those I had to produce a lot of work. I also wrote quickie unauthorised bios, which had to be researched and written in a month. So there was the habit of getting it right – or close – first time as there wasn’t time to be artistic. I suppose I brought that to my novels without thinking. As to the focus, that might just be the way I think, I’m not sure. I write every single day, no days off at all, generally 1,000 words, starting at 5.30-ish in the morning, so I have time for my paying work. If I have more time I’ll do a little more. Currently I’m going back over a book, suggestions from my agent and editor before it goes on to my publisher, so I find time to cover 30 pages of that a day, too. All I do in a book is write down the movie in my head, that’s it. These people, the places, are utterly alive to me. I’m there with them and just taking it all down.

Response—Candace: Now, even more in awe of your productivity, I’ve been inspired. For the past two days I’ve ignored email and all other tasks until writing 1000 words. Looks as if I should dedicate the 11th Owen Archer to you!

Response –Chris: Now that would be an honour!
Q—from Chris: You’ve been an influence on my writing. I first discovered your Owen Archer books in the Seattle Public Library, originally not knowing you lived there. And I felt certain you were English, you captured the speech patterns perfectly. But the thing that really caught my attention was the fact that the personal lives and relationships of the characters were as important as the mystery itself. Was that a deliberate decision on your part, or did it just happen. I love the lives and loves of my characters, and even their losses, because it makes them more human. And while most detectives are loners, the reality is that most people have families of one sort or another. The only rule I made for myself was that anyone could die, even a major character – just like life.

A—Candace: That I’ve been an influence on your writing is something I treasure. And on top of that to say that I capture British speech patterns so well. Thank you!

As to whether it was a deliberate decision on my part to develop the personal lives and relationships of the characters, the answer is no, but only because it never occurred to me to do otherwise. In fact, the crime in the first “Owen Archer,” The Apothecary Rose, is all about Lucie’s past, and throughout the book Owen is brooding on his own past and his need to start over. The relationships are what intrigue me and keep me engaged. They add texture to the story. The interactions among the characters are not only fun for me—Owen and Thoresby sparring, Alisoun pursuing Magda Digby, Jasper’s attachment to Brother Wulfstan, the developing affection between Michaelo and Thoresby, Lucie’s softening toward Sir Robert—but also, I use the relationships to show the effect that crime has on the investigators as well as the victims. You do that so well in your books. As for your rule that anyone can die, even a major character, I appreciate that in your books. I once proposed a plot down the line in which someone very central to the series dies and my British editor choked on her espresso and asked me to swear I would never, ever kill that character. Oh, wait, she’s no longer my editor….

Response – Chris: It can be heartbreaking to kill of a central character, and it’s given me real pain, true emotional pain. But I think it’s a better reflection of real life, and it can come as a jolt to readers, which isn’t a bad thing.
Q: When you’d finished your first book, were you already thinking it could be a series?

A—Chris: I never gave it a thought. It simply was there, a book, and I was happy. Then, when my publisher said, what next, I didn’t know, and the idea of a series began to form. An event kick-started my second book, and from there I was off and running. With mistakes, of course. In my third book I took Richard out of Leeds a little more into the surrounding townships, and I don’t think it worked as well. It diffused the focus.

A—Candace: Short answer, Yes. Some background: In the early 90’s an agent told me that standalone crime novels were very difficult to sell to publishers. They wanted series. So when I decided to rewrite The Apothecary Rose as a crime novel, I created a sleuth I could imagine happily working with over time—actually a pair of sleuths, Owen and Lucie. And when St Martin’s made an offer on Rose, they stipulated that they wanted a series.

Our conversation continues on Chris’s blog–go to http://chrisnickson.co.uk/2014/05/01/a-conversation-with-candace-robb/   See you there! Please join in the conversation in comments.

 

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