Interview with Susan Fraser King, author of Queen Hereafter + GIVEAWAY!

Passages to the Past is thrilled to bring you an interview with the lovely Susan Fraser King, author of Queen Hereafter, which is being released today!!  

Make sure you scroll to the bottom of the post to enter the 3 copy giveaway!

A big thanks to Susan for taking time to answer a few questions and cheers to a fabulous release day!

Both of your hardcover novels have been set in Scotland and I see that you are a frequent visitor there. What is your connection with Scotland; do you have Scottish ancestors or is it simply a personal connection? 

I've loved Scotland as long as I can remember; it’s partly family ties and partly just that inexplicable mystery that draws us to certain places. I'm part Scottish, descended from Frasers who immigrated to upstate NY in the late 19th century. My grandmother was born in Scotland, and married an Irish doctor here. She had red hair and a dimpled smile - I got the auburn tones, but the Fraser dimples went to my cousins! And we have wonderful Scottish friends who help keep the ties fresh too.

I've been to Scotland several times, and have written several novels set there as Susan King, Sarah Gabriel, and Susan Fraser King. So the settings and history in my hardcover releases are cumulative from studying history in graduate school, writing several previous novels, and traveling in Scotland.

Were there any lessons that you took away from the writing of Lady Macbeth that assisted you with writing Queen Hereafter?

Lady Macbeth was the most challenging book I had written so far in scope and depth of research, and the first where I needed to rely on a complex chronology of historical events. With Queen Hereafter, a good deal of the research groundwork was done in terms of historical time, setting, social and cultural details, which helped the process for the second book. There are some continuing characters too. Lady Macbeth returns in Queen Hereafter, and Malcolm Canmore, who was a shadowy villainous guy in the first book, had to be fleshed out as a protagonist in the second. Some settings are the same, and that helped as well. For Queen Hereafter, the research and stringing together of the chronology was as challenging, but different. For Lady Macbeth, there was one document regarding her, so the whole thing had to be figured out based on the history and the actions of the people around her. For Margaret, there is a contemporary biography and lots more information in the historical record. The process of figuring out her story was different in that regard.

What inspired you to tell the story of Margaret of Scotland?

She's fascinating! Margaret is one of the most interesting women in medieval history, particularly because we know so much about her personally and historically. She was a Saxon princess raised in Hungary and then England, was shipwrecked in Scotland while fleeing from the Normans, and she married King Malcolm of Scotland, who evidently fell in love with her on sight--though political advantage weighed heavily too. She resisted the marriage, but later their match was regarded by their own contemporaries to be one of love and respect. Her personal confessor, Bishop Turgot, wrote her biography, so we learn about her from a friend. Turgot (an Anglo-Dane who escaped from the Normans) depicted her in glowing medieval terms, but he gave exciting hints of the real Margaret. Peeling away the ideal layers, we can see her temper, her flaws, her kindnesses, her opinions. She was a determined young woman who pressured herself to be perfect, who was very aware of her responsibilities and critical of her shortcomings. His book about Margaret is a gold mine for historians as well as for a novelist.

How do you think Margaret would feel about being canonized as a saint after her death?

She would have thought herself not worthy. Margaret was devout and devoted to her causes, and did her utmost to help others from her position of privilege, but she also diminished herself through humble comments and excessive fasting, according to Turgot. She felt that charitable deeds were more essential even than demonstrating faith. Her Hungarian great-grandfather (or great-uncle), King Stephen, became a saint--she would have been more proud of that than for herself, I think!

Her sons, as kings and an archbishop in Scotland, initiated her sainthood and she was canonized almost 60 years after her death, so that isn’t part of the novel, which covers the early years of her marriage. I wanted to depict a young woman who had the potential to become the gentle, troubled mature queen who starved herself, who died of heartbreak days after her husband’s death, and whose later canonization was urged by those who loved her.

Writing about a pious medieval woman was not the easiest part of creating her story, and so the story brings out her temperamental and mischievous side too. Anyone who had eight healthy babies and cuddled orphans in her lap, and who stole gold from her husband's treasury and released his ransomed prisoners on her own was not only about saintliness!

What are you currently reading?

Currently I'm totally absorbed in The Hunger Game novels, and I'm reading Kathryn Johnson's wonderful The Gentleman Poet. And I like to keep up with the latest historical novels of my sister Word Wenches http://wordwenches.typepad.com too!

What is your favorite part of the writing process?

I love the excitement of the beginning, all those fresh ideas, the research, the characters and situations and possibilities coming to life. And I love the mad pace and exhilaration of finishing a book, when I'm immersed and won't come up for air until it's done. It's the middle I'm not too crazy about, when all the puzzles pieces are scattered in disarray and I'm wondering what I'm doing, until it takes shape.

Lastly, do you have any advice for aspiring historical fiction writers?

Read, read, read and write, write, write, and make sure that your understanding of the history is a good, solid foundation, no matter how far your imagination flies at the same time. The writing and storytelling is just as important, even more so, than the history, another thing to keep in mind. Work on stories that could bring something new to the field of historical fiction. Readers love fresh stuff, publishers love it too. And best of luck to you!

Susan, thanks again for agreeing to be on Passages to the Past, I really enjoyed Queen Hereafter and wish you all the best for the release!!

Thank you, Amy, it's really fun to visit here. I love your website and have lurked here many times. And I hope Queen Hereafter finds a place in many TBR piles and in many hearts!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

SUSAN FRASER KING is a multi-published, bestselling, award-winning author and a former art history lecturer. She holds a B.A. in art and an M.A. and most of a Ph.D. in art history, with postgraduate work in medieval studies. Her books are widely praised for historical detail and a lyrical writing style, and she has won multiple honors and awards for her novels w/a Susan King and Sarah Gabriel. Queen Hereafter, is Susan's latest novel. Lady Macbeth: A Novel (Crown Publishing, February 2008) was her first hardcover mainstream novel. Susan visits Scotland as often as possible for research and relaxation, and lives in Maryland with her family.

For more information, please visit Susan's WEBSITE.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland

by Susan Fraser King

Publication Date:  December 7, 2010

Crown Publishing

352p

SYNOPSIS:  Refugee. Queen. Saint. In eleventh-century Scotland, a young woman strives to fulfill her destiny despite the risks . . .

Shipwrecked on the Scottish coast, a young Saxon princess and her family—including the outlawed Edgar of England—ask sanctuary of the warrior-king Malcolm Canmore, who shrewdly sees the political advantage. He promises to aid Edgar and the Saxon cause in return for the hand of Edgar’s sister, Margaret, in marriage.

A foreign queen in a strange land, Margaret adapts to life among the barbarian Scots, bears princes, and shapes the fierce warrior Malcolm into a sophisticated ruler. Yet even as the king and queen build a passionate and tempestuous partnership, the Scots distrust her. 

When her husband brings Eva, a Celtic bard, to court as a hostage for the good behavior of the formidable Lady Macbeth, Margaret expects trouble. Instead, an unlikely friendship grows between the queen and her bard, though one has a wild Celtic nature and the other follows the demanding path of obligation.

Torn between old and new loyalties, Eva is bound by a vow to betray the king and his Saxon queen. Soon imprisoned and charged with witchcraft and treason, Eva learns that Queen Margaret—counseled by the furious king and his powerful priests—will decide her fate and that of her kinswoman Lady Macbeth. But can the proud queen forgive such deep treachery?

Impeccably researched, a dramatic page-turner, Queen Hereafter is an unforgettable story of shifting alliances and the tension between fear and trust as a young woman finds her way in a dangerous world.

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

Passages to the Past has 3 copies of Queen Hereafter up for grabs!  One copy from the publisher, one from myself (I received an extra) and a signed one from Susan herself!

- To enter, please leave a comment below and include your email address.

- Giveaway is open to US and Canada residents ONLY.

- For +1 additional entry each, please help spread the word by blogging, posting on sidebar, tweeting or posting on Facebook.  You can use the SHARE buttons below and please include the info in the comment section below.

- Giveaway ends on December 17th.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!!