Pairings: Historical Fiction & Nonfiction

I recently saw a brilliant library post suggesting nonfiction books related to popular novels, and I thought it would be fun to do the same with my own books. If you've read one of my novels, you might have noticed that I include a list of sources at the end. Looking for something simpler? Just one (or two) suggestions per book? I hear you, so here are my nonfiction recommendations to pair with each of my novels.

But One Life, my most recent novel, explores the life of American patriot Nathan Hale. I wanted to find out more about this young man, who became famous for announcing that his only regret was that he had but one life to give for his country before he was executed by the British as a spy in 1776. One of the best sources of information about Nathan Hale was the collection of documents by George D Seymour, the same man who purchased the Nathan Hale Homestead and had it established as a historic site. However, most readers are not particularly interested in flipping through hundreds of pages of documents, so I'll suggest a biography by M William Phelps, Nathan Hale: The Life and Death of America's First Spy.

I also cannot mention this novel without giving a shoutout to Digital Yarbs for the reconstruction of Nathan Hale's image based on the statue of him in New York's City Hall Park. I'm thankful for this unique image for my cover art. Since we're talking cover art, the artwork for the rest of my novels was created by my oldest son, Tyler, so that is also pretty awesome!

I started writing Luminous because I was so inspired by Kate Moore's The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women, so I can't imagine recommending anything else as its nonfiction pairing. I was in the middle of writing a novel set in 12th century England when I casually listened to Moore's book on Audible. I stopped everything I was doing, ordered it in paperback to take notes, and traveled to Ottawa, Illinois to learn everything I could about Catherine Donohue, the dial painter I had decided to focus on for my novel. Catherine's story is equal parts heartbreaking and inspiring, and I was greatly moved by her perseverance and faith. I will always be thankful that Moore's work raised awareness of these women's fight. 

And, no, I never have gone back to that half-finished manuscript. Maybe someday...

Before my detour over into American history, my books were all early Tudor era. I have a habit of deciding what I'm going to write sort of on a whim. I had no intentions of writing about Queen Mary I until one of my beta readers for Faithful Traitor commented that it would be nice to read about what happened to the poor, little princess who Margaret Pole had served as governess. When I set out to prove that novels like that had already been written, well, I guess you know the rest of the story. I wrote Queen of Martyrs because Mary seemed like a woman who deserved to have her own story told instead of always appearing on the sidelines of books about her father or younger sister. I can't recommend only one nonfiction pairing for this, because I found both of these books to be priceless resources on understanding Mary as a person and as a Catholic. Linda Porter's The First Queen of England and Eamon Duffy's Fires of Faith: Catholic England under Mary Tudor are the books I recommend if you would like to learn more.

Mary had already shown up as part of Margaret Pole's story in Faithful Traitor, and I loved the idea that Margaret and Katherine of Aragon had discussed a possible marriage between Mary and Margaret's son, Reginald. Now that I've started recommending two nonfiction reads, I may as well continue. One can never have too many books! At the time I was writing about Margaret Pole, Hazel Pierce's biography was the only one available, so I scoured it for details. Since then, Susan Higginbotham has written Margaret Pole: The Countess in the Tower that is probably more accessible than Pierce's. I haven't read it, but I have enjoyed several of Higginbotham's novels and feel confident enough to recommend seeking it out. Also very academic but a great resource is Thomas Mayer's Reginald Pole: Prince & Prophet. 

I find Reginald so fascinating that I also have written a novella about him called Prince of York. Did you know he was almost pope? And he was friends with Michelangelo? Maybe I should extend that novella into a full-length novel. (Yes, dear reader, this is how my writing decisions are made.)

Now we have made our way back to my first novel. When I wrote Plantagenet Princess Tudor Queen, I had no idea that it would be the first of a series of three novels and three novellas. I'm not much of a planner and tend to decide what I'm writing when I finish what I'm working on. (No, it is not a habit I recommend.) So, when I was researching Elizabeth of York, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. This book remains my most frequent best seller, and I'm very happy to have shined a spotlight on the first Tudor queen, who is often overshadowed by the bombastic men she was surrounded by. My favorite resource when writing this was actually a biography of Elizabeth's husband, Henry VII. If you write about historical women, you often find yourself reading biographies of men and hunting for tidbits about the ladies in their lives. Of course, Henry's story was a very important part of Elizabeth's, so Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England was a great read. For more about Elizabeth, you can try Alison Weir's Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World. I enjoyed some of the detail in this, but you'll also have to get through Weir's oft repeated rant about Richard III. The biography includes more information than the one by Amy Licence, so I'll keep it here.

These are just a few of the resources that I have used for each of my novels. If you are interested in additional reading, take a peek at the final few pages in any one of my books, and you will find a longer list. Perhaps, I should have also suggested a wine to pair with each read? Ah well, select the beverage of your choice and happy reading!