Ann Turner
Heartsease is set in the 16th century during the reign of King Henry VIII when he is still married to his first wife Queen Catherine of Aragon. It tells the story of young Mary Hawke, who at 16 is married to a handsome, but cruel man who has little respect and absolutely no love for his young wife. Her story continues when she is suddenly widowed. This releases her to have adventures in Spain, and then back in the English court where she befriends vivacious Anne Boleyn as her star is rising. Mary's story continues alongside that of Anne's. While her brother plots to destroy Anne and her family by any means possible.
Why is the Tudor period of history so appealing for you to write about?
Everyone has heard of the Tudors, King Henry VIII, Bloody Mary and Queen Elizabeth. They are synonymous with everything English. From the simple fact that everyone knew Henry had six wives (even if it is not known why he had six, or what happened to them), to Mary's persecution and burning of the protestants and to the golden age of the Elizabethan era that saw discovery of new lands, Francis Drake and the Armada, the Virgin Queen, Gloriana herself. It seems so romantic and exciting, it was this that attracted me to the Tudor period in history rather than any other royal dynasty. Having studied it more, I have come to realise that although these were exciting times, maybe they were not as romantic as I had first thought. It is certainly darker and more dangerous than first imagined.
This is your first novel; please tell us how it has compared to how you thought the process would be.
Well, once I realised this was growing and becoming more than just a simple story for myself to read, I approached publishing companies with my manuscript and ideas for Heartsease (I have been working on it for many years between raising a family, working and recently caring for my husband who through an accident is now partially disabled). I think I had acquired enough rejection slips to paper a wall! Yet I was now determined to become a published author, no matter how long it took! After reading the Writers and Artists Yearbook, I found the address for Troubador Publishing and wrote to them. They were very helpful and took me on which was fantastic. Naively, I thought I'd hand my manuscript over to them, sit back and wait for the royalties to roll in. Wrong! I have had to rewrite sections, re-read it through several times, correct spelling and punctuation errors, pay for publicity posters and bookmarks, and the store manager where I work got permission from our local shopping mall to set up a table and sell copies of Heartsease on the last Saturday before Christmas last year. It has been more work than I imagined, but it has been a learning process that I have ultimately enjoyed that has all been worth the while. The ladies I have worked with at Troubador have all been incredibly helpful and put up with my stubborn demands, their advice and knowledge has been invaluable!
Please tell us a bit about Mary Hawke.
When we first meet Mary, she is a young 16 year old, about to be married and in love with the idea of being married. She is an innocent. While married, she meets a charismatic Spaniard who is 20 years her senior, but she resists his advances as he tries and fails to seduce her. As the story progresses and events occur in Mary's life, we see her change from this naive girl to a level headed, mature, sensible woman. She loses her first husband in a hunting accident; this eventually leads Mary to a life at court as a lady-in-waiting. She meets and befriends Anne Boleyn and she encounters the Spaniard again. This time, his seduction succeeds and they eventually marry, meaning Mary has to leave England and arrives in Spain as his young wife. We see our heroine involved in dangerous scenarios that threaten her life. Though she emerges a stronger and more capable woman ready to deal with the next crisis. Mary even becomes a prisoner in the Tower of London. Does she live? Not saying. In a way, Mary is me, she leads the sort of life I could only dream of. Would I react the way she does to each life changing event?
What was your research process for this time?
When I first began to have the initial idea for Heartsease, I just wrote a skeleton story, that is I started her off as this young bright 16 year old, and then added the events that occurred and where she and other characters fitted in, even writing 3 different endings as I was not sure where Mary's story would lead to. As for research, at first while I was writing it for simple pleasure, I relied on historical fiction books, TV dramas and films set in the Tudor world. Then gradually as my story began to grow and evolve, and I added more characters (the Spaniard was much less important originally) I realised I would have to get my facts right if I hoped to be published eventually, as there would always be people who would say "well, that's historically wrong, that never happened like that". I know now I should have kept a bibliography of the books I referred to, but as I said, originally it was for my own pleasure and thought nothing would come of it. By the time I had began to take it seriously, I had read reference books on the Tudors and this period in history. Though the most enjoyable part of my research was visiting the Tower of London, spending many happy hours wandering around, absorbing the atmosphere, trying to ignore the tourists (sorry) and to try to see it as it was in all its menacing glory!
What particular historical dramas and fiction were your inspiration for the book?
That's an easy question to answer. Jean Plaidy was the greatest influence on me. Originally way back in the 1970's I worked in the City of London and commuted by train every day to Fenchurch Street, and then Liverpool Street after my marriage. To make the journeys more easy, I remember buying from WH Smiths Jean Plaidy's Murder Most Royal the story of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, Henry's two executed queens, who were also cousins. This totally fired my imagination and I began to get interested in Tudor England and wanted to learn more and more. I quickly devoured this book and then bought another and another in her Tudor series. I was totally drawn in and it was that which sparked my imagination and the embryonic ideas for a story set in Tudor England, with me (as Mary) the heroine alongside Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn began to develop. I am currently reading Philippa Gregory's Cousins War series. She is another great writer I admire, her style is so robust and passionate!
Can you give us some insight into your short story writing?
I don't sit down in front of my computer screen and think: "Right, today I shall begin a story set in this or that period of history". I just get ideas from the world around me. Sometimes a conversation overheard on the bus, or a line from a TV programme, even an idea will just pop in my head and not go away until I scribble a few lines down (always keep pen and paper close, even at 2am, as I have been known to climb out of bed to write an idea that's woken me)! Because of working full time and my husband's needs, I cannot dedicate as much time as I'd like to do writing. Ideally, I'd like to give up work completely and concentrate solely on writing, but bills need to be paid. So until the lottery is won, or I write such a best seller I become as famous as JK Rowling or Philippa Gregory, it has to be squeezed in when I get the chance, which is sadly about one hour an evening or a couple of hours on my days off work. I do get times when I am staring at a blank screen, unable to put into words the ideas tumbling around in my head. I just go to the saved ideas and mess around with them in the hope one will get me going again.
What is next for you?
I have ideas saved on my computer that I visit from time to time to see if one may shine and motivate me. One has. Hopefully it will develop into a second novel and hopefully Troubador will accept it again, but that is a long way off right now.
This new idea is again historical and is set towards the end of the 12th century, so it involves King Richard I (the Lionhearted) and the 3rd crusade. The heroine along with her half-sister are companions to Richards wife, Queen Berengaria and so they travel to the Holy Land where my heroine (named Edith and possibly me again) has adventures of which I am working on. I'm not at a stage to say much more about this yet, but ideas are filling my head again and I am getting inspired as I know where Edith ends up, as I have already written a draft ending for this, but it is how she gets from the beginning of this story to the end is the exciting part.