Author of The Greenest Branch, a novel of Germany's first female physician
Artist Sandro Botticelli's painting Primavera is one of the most celebrated artworks of the Italian Renaissance. Breaking with many conventions of the past, it askewed religious imagery in favor of a secular theme of spring awakening. As such it garnered a great deal of criticism from Church authorities when it was painted in the late... Continue Reading →
You've written a book. You were so inspired, you love the result, your friends and family think it's great. Now you want to put it in front of readers as soon as possible. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as you will see below) before you open the browser and set up your Amazon KDP author account, there... Continue Reading →
When I read a well-executed historical novel, it typically sends me on a mini research bender where I try to read up on the era or the event as much as I can. I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon is one of those novels. The historical event it's woven around is the Russian Revolution - actually, two... Continue Reading →
Guest post by Paula Butterfield It was the middle of another fall quarter, and I was again teaching my course on Women in the Arts. I’d already introduced my students to the floral still lifes of 16th c. Dutch artist Rachel Ruysch, and Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun’s portraits of the 18th c. French court. Each student had... Continue Reading →
The Whale: A Love Story is a fictionalized take on a question that has puzzled literary scholars for more than 150 years. Was the short, intense friendship between two American writers Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne simply a meeting of minds, or something more and - given the times - forbidden? The two first met... Continue Reading →
Since the release of my debut novel The Greenest Branch in June 2018, I have been asked many times about my experience as an indie author, and whether I will take that route in the future with my new historical mystery series. Below is what I have told them. I know that many aspiring (as well as... Continue Reading →
Writing a novel based on the life of a real historical figure, and doing so through the first-person narrative is fraught with risks. I know that, because I wrote my Hildegard of Bingen series in the same way. The challenges include getting the voice right, making it believable, and doing justice to the character as... Continue Reading →
If she were alive today, painter Berthe Morisot would be celebrated and admired, but in the 19th century Paris, she was up against formidable obstacles. Women were not allowed to pursue paying occupations, the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts did not accept female students, the society treated "lady painters" as odd (if they were rich)... Continue Reading →
Until I read Christopher Buckley's The Relic Master, I failed to realize what now seems quite obvious, namely that historical fiction is rarely humorous. It is not necessarily a criticism. Historical novels tend to be set in pivotal eras or woven around events that bring about major changes and are often marked by violence and suffering.... Continue Reading →
