Brought To Book
Interview
THE CONSTANT QUEEN BY JOANNA COURTNEY, PAN PB £7.99 in The Chosen queen, we met aedyth, wife of harold godwinson, his stalwart companion in his battle to retain the throne of england. now meet Princess elizaveta of Kiev, fiery, feisty and fiercely loyal, a worthy match for viking warrior harald hardrada, godwinson’s deadly enemy. Together they plan to take the english crown. once again, the author brings this exciting period to life with a passionate love story, wonderfully real, empathetic characters and rich, descriptive writing that immerses you wholly in another time.
WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE THE 1066 STORY? i discovered this period when i was researching a local history book. The more i looked into the Saxons – and then the vikings and normans – the more i was gripped. Saxons are the new Tudors!
ANY CHALLENGES IN WRITING HISTORICAL NOVELS? one of the biggest challenges is keeping women true to their place in time. Someone who just sits around embroidering and waiting for men to sort her life out for her is not very engaging to the modern woman. on the other hand, creating a rampant feminist would be anachronistic so it’s a matter of finding the right balance and understanding your character. There is no way, whatever period she grew up in, that elizaveta – and others like her – would have sat quietly in the background. i do believe the wives of great men would have been big influencers behind the scenes.
AEDYTH OR ELIZAVETA? aedyth is quite like me in that she’s impetuous and determined but also quite dutiful. elizaveta is more mercurial and has a real temper. although it gets her into all sorts of hot water, i admire that in elizaveta and would like to be more that way myself – though it would help to also be beautiful enough to get away with it!
HAROLD, HARALD OR WILLIAM? i tend to think of harold of wessex as the boy-next-door, handsome in an accessible way and very approachable. harald hardrada is out-andout sexy and william is more of a cute geek – earnest and serious but loyal. Clearly these ideas are something of a nonsense as they were all ruthless warrior rulers!
WHO’S NEXT IN THE TRILOGY? The final novel, The Conqueror’s queen, follows mathilda of Flanders as she travels very reluctantly to marry william of upstart little normandy. This novel explores the “other side” of the 1066 story to show the conquest from the norman point of view.