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 The
Silver Bride
England
1482. It seems the Wars of the Roses are not yet over.
Only the powerful rule of Edward IV prevents old enmities
from tumbling the kingdom into civil strife. In Wales, Sir
Miles Rushden, adviser to Harry, Duke of Buckingham,
awaits the chance to thrust his friend towards the crown.
And in the north, Richard, Duke of Gloucester is becoming
increasingly isolated from the growing intrigue in the
south.
But
the threat to Miles's ambitions, when it comes, is from a
completely unexpected source. A land dispute sees him
forced into a marriage at swordpoint with Heloise, a girl
whose clairvoyancy terrifies people. He thinks himself rid
of her but Heloise seeks out her reluctant husband after
being cruelly cast out by her father. Miles must tread
carefully as his unwanted ife is a former maid of honour
in Gloucester's household and has powerful allies.
With
the sudden death of the king, Miles and Heloise find
themselves at the heart of a power struggle as the mighty
dukes of Gloucester and Buckingham manoeuvre ruthlessly to
seize the crown. In a conspiracy that could have a lethal
ending, can loyalty, that most elusive, fragile
cornerstone of love, prevail?
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I took Isolde Martyn's latest book, The Silver Bride,
to bed with me one night to begin reading it in
preparation for this interview. I also took a notepad and
pen, to jot down notes and questions.
Hah! Who could remember to make notes? I
was totally swept away by this book from the first page. I
put it down, reluctantly at 3 am, because my eyes were
going blurry, but I could hardly bear to do so. I also put
down my pristine jotter pad and untouched pen.
Isolde's work has always been known for its wonderful
combination of history and romance; in this book the
two are fused almost seamlessly, and what a romance it is!
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Isolde,
how did you first get the first idea for this story?
I'm delighted you are enjoying the book, Anne. The main plot was
from reading the Northamptonshire story of a girl who
fought a duel on behalf of her cowardly father. The
subplot was inspired by the betrayed King Richard III's sad,
bitter letter about the friend who made him king and then turned
traitor, Buckingham : "the most untrue creature
living"--"him that had best cause to be true". My
hero was Buckingham's friend; my heroine was loyal to Richard
III.
In this book you've given us a heroine who is not only
appealing and strong minded, she carries a metaphorical
axe over her head; what gave you the idea of having a
clairvoyant heroine?
It was interesting to explore what it must have felt like to be
"different" in medieval times. Just stroking a cat
might have been a risk. I interviewed a modern clairvoyant
to make sure I was on the right track. As a plot device, it also
upped the ante on both the heroine and the hero. Marrying a
woman with "second sight" would have required a great
deal of love.
I loved the wedding-at-the-point-of-a sword scene -- it
really had me on the edge of my seat (well, bed, actually). And
then later, when the hero and heroine are locked naked in a room
to consummate the marriage, the bride watches her furious groom
eating:
-
He
took a mouthful hungrily, fine white teeth tearing the crust
free before his stare rose from the silver platter to
examine her, and he drew the back of his hand across his
lips.... She had been given to this stranger, like the
repast that lay between them, to enjoy or disdain as he
pleased.
-
- Medieval
women were so dependant on the whims of men. Is this a
recurring theme in your work?
I
always try to find heroines who could be strong within the
parameters of their own era. For Heloise, to be neither single,
wife nor widow was pretty tough. In medieval romances, a woman
who had run away or been turned out of home was vulnerable
without a male protector. Heloise manages to survive and finally
win her husband's heart. It took some courage.
Yes, indeed. The hero, Miles, is also rather gorgeous. He
doesn't want Heloise as his bride, and is openly arranging his
"real" wedding to another; so how is it that we still
love him as a hero? Because I certainly did.
Maybe because Mile's reasons for not acknowledging Heloise are
extremely reasonable. Heloise's obnoxious father has abducted
him, forced him to marry a "witch" when he's already
promised to a Welsh heiress and though he grows fond and
protective of Heloise, he already has an agenda of his own.
I was interested to see Richard and Margery Huddleston (from The
Lady and the Unicorn) in the first chapter and later on.
A lot of readers have asked me what happened to all the real
people in The Lady and the Unicorn. This book is set
twelve years later.
A recurring theme in your work is the story of ordinary
people caught up -- often perilously -- in the sweep of great
historical events.
The subplot is the story of Richard of Gloucester's seizure of
the crown and his relationship with Miles's friend and lord, the
Duke of Buckingham, whose headquarters was in Wales. I don't
think any other novelist has dealt with the 1483 coup from
Buckingham's angle.
Many other historical romance authors use modern issues as
their basic story template and then "flavour" their
stories with historical detail; you always use actual history as
the building blocks of your stories.
Yes, why invent when historical events provide such such
wonderful real life characters and dilemmas? But sometimes the
present helps me understand the past. For instance, an
Englishman who ran a caravan park in Wales told me how some of
the locals had smashed his windscreen and let down his tyres.
This provided me with how it must have felt to be an English
garrison in Wales in the Middle Ages. There must have been a lot
of resentment and acts of sabotage.
I was particularly taken by the Welsh scenes. How do
you research your locations?
Actually visiting all the Welsh locations was very inspiring
and provided the tiny extra brush strokes (I did have help from
a Sydney Welshman on the medieval phrases). My husband always
makes me climb the hills or see how far we can travel on foot in
five hours. That's where "I can stand you in England and
kiss you from Wales" comes from. Everywhere I went in
Wales, though, I felt like I was playing the page to Sharon
Penman's "Good King Wenceslaus".
I know from my own experience it's difficult to resist
putting in a heap of historical detail, just because it's so
interesting. Is this an issue with you?
Absolutely, very tempting. Now I find myself doing the reverse
and taking out some of the details if they're not relevant. I
guess I'd use about a tenth of what I've researched but
immersion in an era rubs off like pollen and I reckon it
strengthens an author's "voice".
What was the most interesting discovery you made when
researching this book?
That the Welsh often sang about girls and sex rather than
rebellion.
Several authors I know set themselves new challenges with
each book. What was yours for this book?
Interweaving the history and love story, but the biggest problem
was the ending. In a contemporary romance, the hero eventually
puts love for the heroine beyond all else. In historicals,
honour and loyalty can provide a huge dilemma and the reader has
to be satisfied the hero has done the right thing.
You have a critique group, I know. There is some debate about
the value of critique groups. What's your opinion?
Our Turramurra group tends to workshop problem areas rather than
the bits that are going well. It's not "pats on the
head" but "I'm having problems here. What's going
wrong?" We've been going for ten years now and we've
doubled in size. I think that says something for our
compatability.
So, what's coming up in the future for Isolde Martyn?
I've got two books out this year in America and I'm working
on a romance set during the French Revolution. Changing eras and
cultures has been an exciting challenge and I think I've learnt
more as a novelist saying "What was it like to be in Paris
back then?" than I did when teaching the subject at
university. Then it's back to the medieval era.
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