Anne's Blog

  A s many of you who prefer listening to a reading have probably noticed, the narrator can make or break a book. The narrator for my first books was the award-winning former actor Rosalyn Landor. She made my characters come alive so well that I was pleased and proud of her work.  The same cannot be said for Royal Mistress! Despite my agent's insistence that the contract with Audible included hiring Roz Landor again, they ignored her and me and the result was not as pleasing IMHO. When it came to This Son of York 's publishing process, as many of you know, I was on my own; like so many of my fellow writers subject to the vagaries of traditional publishers, I was left out to dry. The result was contracting with Bellastoria Press , a small independent publisher, who did a beautiful job on creating and distributing the print and ebook versions, albeit leaving me alone to do marketing. But when it came to an audiobook, my husband and I thought long and hard as to whether to invest...

This Son of York is finally audible! I am delighted to announce that the most talented author/actor Chris (C.C.) Humphreys http://www.authorchrishumphreys.com/ has finished laying down the tracks--all 19 hours--of what I believe is my most important book. And I couldn't be happier with the result. Chris and I met at a Historical Novel Society conference when we were asked by Diana Gabaldon to read sex scenes from our books. What I loved about Chris's scene was the humor he brought to his reading, and together with obvious stage experience and a rich resonant voice, I think I must have known one day he would be my narrator: he is a native Brit, trained for the stage at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and--he admitted sheepishly--has been a Ricardian (Richard III fan!) since the age of seventeen. How perfect was that? We have kept in touch over the years, even visiting each other's homes once, and he gave me a quote for the back jacket of This Son ...

  I have somehow never been invited to join a book club, although I have spoken at many across the country. Perhaps having an author in their midst would make members nervous? I don't know why; I am a lover of books every bit as much as they are. I am thus not used to deconstructing books with others on a regular basis, and only leave reviews on my Goodreads account on occasion. It was with trepidation that I agreed to be part of this podcast discussion about the legendary, double Booker prize-winning Hilary Mantel's third book of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, The Mirror and The Light. But I could not resist Susanne Dunlap's offer, because she and Patricia Bracewell are respected colleagues and good friends. You could say I was "shamed" into reading at least this one of the trilogy as my enthusiasm to participate overcame my worry about tackling the tome (it's 759 pages, in case you hadn't heard!).  I needn't have worried about the discussion; it was mo...

Which of these doctors would you prefer to come to your bedside as you writhe around in pain, the one in 21st century PPE or the 17th century masked man? Why the beak, you ask? It was both a way to identify him as a plague doctor and into which he could cram the herbs that were supposed to ward off the poisonous miasma people believed carried the disease. Surprisingly, his historical garb, a gown of waxed leather and a long stick with which to social distance himself, isn't that different from today's! How are you coping with the strangeness of our new pandemic normal? I would argue that it is tougher for us now to take all these weeks of trying to avoid COVID-19 than it was for those who went through the Black Death in 1340s and the Great Plague in London in 1665. Here are my theories, whacky though they may be! Disease was a way of life back then, and it was why when you look at the statistics of life expectancy in, say, medieval times, it is much lower than today...

I was lucky enough to be on a panel with Margaret George and Sharon Kay Penman at the 2015 Historical Novel Society Conference in Denver when we discussed writing about the "bad boys" of history!) The great Sharon Kay Penman has graciously posted a Q&A with me on her blog! You have no idea how special it is to have the author of one of my favorite books give "This Son of York" such support. http://sharonkaypenman.com/ blog/?p=709 Sharon's own new book "The Land Beyond the Sea" comes out in March, so be sure to check out your favorite bookstore or library!

It's at about this time of every year that I get nostalgic for an Easter-family Christmas. (Yes, I have heard all the Easter/Christmas jokes!) One of my first Christmas memories was at five years old during our three years in Germany. Our German nanny, Anneliese, taught my mother how to make an adventscrantz to hang in the hallway at the bottom of the wide staircase in our rented house in Hamburg. (My father was a British Army colonel and Port Commandant of the port just after WWII.) We learned the tradition of singing carols and lighting one of the candles each Sunday of the four weeks before Christmas. There were a few celebrations where we were not altogether as a family, while my parents lived in Egypt and we three kids were farmed out to grandparents, godparents or aged great-aunts--and sometimes not together. But when we were back as a family in England, music played a big part in the festivities--my father being a trained singer and a self-taught pianist, and all ...

Anne signing after the Jabberwocky launch on Nov. 15th. "But surely this isn't right?" I told the bellman of the brand new Trump Hotel in Chicago (yes, I know!). "I am just a lowly novelist." "I assure you this is your suite, madam," he replied, grinning and opening the door wider into two enormous rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows and a marble bathroom with a bath I could swim laps in. I squeaked a "thank you," and he retired with a paltry tip in his hand. That was then --2009 to be exact--on one of the stops on my third book tour across the country in support of The King's Grace .. I'd made enough of a name for myself as a Simon & Schuster author to warrant them sending me to Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Memphis, St. Louis, Portland OR, and Seattle. Now, it's couch-surfing with friends and Holiday Inns at our own expense. Then : At each airport I was met by an escort who drove me to the hotel and checked ...