Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: • Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
How much harder would Queen Juana's hatred against me burn, once she learned of this? What would little Joanna think of me, the aunt she trusted, when she grew old enough to understand exactly what I had done to secure my place?
Last week I found some interesting and fun stuff in our mailbox. The L.L. Bean Summer 2012 Catalog arrived. They are celebrating 100 years. Congratulations to them. I wish them 100 more. They offer Free Shipping every day with no minimum order and no end date.
Davy Liu, the creative genius behind the Invisible Tails Series, recently sent me his new book, Enchanted Tree, for review. He has worked for Disney Feature Animation, George Lucas at Industrial Light and Magic, and for Warner Bros. His artwork is amazing. The Lil Princess (8) already read this one and loved it.
This came in the previous week, but I had left it downstairs and forgot. King of Glorytold by P.D. Bramsen is the story of the Bible in 70 scenes. The artwork by Arminda San Martin is gorgeous. I won this book from a blog and I can't wait to share it with the girls.
My UPS driver was kind enough to drop off the latest from historical fiction author, C. W. Gortner, The Queen's Vow. I fell in love with his work the first time I read it and I never miss a release.
That's it for this edition of You've Got Mail Mondays. Enjoy your week. I hope to be blogging from the Outer Banks during our trip.
Catherine de Medici was one of history’s most powerful women. She has been called brilliant and bold, but was also known as a vengeful Italian Jezebel who resorted to murder to protect her family’s throne. Was she the ruthless queen who led France into an era of savage violence? Or was she the passionate savior of the French monarchy?
Originally published in hardcover in 2010, C.W. Gortner’s novel THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI (Ballantine Trade Paperback; On Sale: May 24, 2011) challenges the dark legend surrounding Catherine de Medici, revealing her tumultuous youth as a papal pawn; her gift of second sight; her courageous fight to save France; and her secret passion for a man she is fated to destroy.
The last legitimate descendant of the illustrious Medici line, Catherine suffers the expulsion of her family from her native Florence and narrowly escapes death at the hands of an enraged mob. Married to a French prince, eventually a queen in name if not in her husband’s heart, she strives to create a role for herself, aided by her patronage of the famous clairvoyant Nostradamus and her own innate gift as a seer. But in her 40th year, Catherine is widowed, left alone with six young children as regent of a kingdom torn apart by religious discord and the ambitions of a treacherous nobility.
Relying on her tenacity, wit, and uncanny gift for compromise, Catherine seizes power, intent on securing the throne for her sons. She allies herself with the enigmatic Protestant leader Coligny, with whom she shares an intimate secret, and implacably carves a path toward peace, unaware that her own dark fate looms before her—a fate that, if she is to save France, will demand the sacrifice of her ideals, her reputation, and the passion of her embattled heart.
From the fairy-tale châteaux of the Loire Valley to the battlefields of the wars of religion to the mob-filled streets of Paris, THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI is the extraordinary untold journey of one of the most maligned and misunderstood women ever to be queen.
Read an Excerpt!
Chapter One
I was ten years old when i discovered i might be a witch.
I sat sewing with my aunt Clarice, as sunlight spread across the gallery floor. Outside the window I could hear the splashing of the courtyard fountain, the cries of the vendors in the Via Larga and staccato of horse hooves on the cobblestone streets, and I thought for the hundredth time that I couldn’t stay inside another minute.
“Caterina Romelo de’ Medici, can it be you’ve finished already?”
I looked up. My late father’s sister Clarice de’ Medici y Strozzi regarded me from her chair. I wiped my brow with my sleeve. “It’s so hot in here,” I said. “Can’t I go outside?”
She arched her eyebrow. Even before she said anything, I could have recited her words, so often had she drummed them into my head: “You are the Duchess of Urbino, daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici and his wife, Madeleine de la Tour, who was of noble French blood. How many times must I tell you, you must restrain your impulses in order to prepare for your future?”
I didn’t care about the future. I cared that it was summer and here I was cooped up in the family palazzo forced to study and sew all day, as if I might melt in the sun.
I clapped my embroidery hoop aside. “I’m bored. I want to go home.”
“Florence is your home; it is your birth city,” she replied. “I took you from Rome because you were sick with fever. You’re fortunate you can sit here and argue with me at all.”
“I’m not sick anymore,” I retorted. I hated it when she used my poor health as an excuse. “At least in Rome, Papa Clement let me have my own servants and a pony to ride.”
She regarded me without a hint of the ire that the mention of my papal uncle always roused in her. “That may be but you are here now, in my care, and you will abide by my rules. It’s midafternoon. I’ll not hear of you going outside in this heat.”
“I’ll wear a cap and stay in the shade. Please, Zia Clarice. You can come with me.”
I saw her trying to repress her unwilling smile as she stood. “If your work is satisfactory, we can take a stroll on the loggia before supper.” She came to me, a thin woman in a simple gray gown, her oval face distinguished by her large liquid-black eyes—the Medici eyes, which I had inherited, along with our family’s curly auburn hair and long-fingered hands.
She swiped up my embroidery. Her lips pursed when she heard me giggle. “I suppose you think it’s funny to make the Holy Mother’s face green? Honestly, Caterina; such sacrilege.” She thrust the hoop at me. “Fix it at once. Embroidery is an art, one you must master as well as your other studies. I’ll not have it said that Caterina de’ Medici sews like a peasant.”
I thought it best not to laugh and began picking out the offensive color, while my aunt returned to her seat. She stared off into the distance. I wondered what new trials she planned for me. I did love her but she was forever dwelling on how our family prestige had fallen since the death of my great-grandfather, Lorenzo Il Magnifico; of how Florence had been a center of learning renowned for our Medici patronage, and now we were but illustrious guests in the city we had helped build. It was my responsibility, she said, to restore our family’s glory, as I was the last legitimate descendant of Il Magnifico’s bloodline.
I wondered how she expected me to accomplish such an important task. I’d been orphaned shortly after my birth; I had no sisters or brothers and depended on my papal uncle’s goodwill. When I once mentioned this, my aunt snapped: “Clement VII was born a bastard. He bribed his way to the Holy See, to our great shame. He’s not a true Medici. He has no honor.”
Given his prestige, if he couldn’t restore our family name I didn’t know how she expected me to. Yet she seemed convinced of my destiny, and every month had me dress in my uncomfortable ducal finery and pose for a new portrait, which was then copied into miniatures and dispatched to all the foreign princes who wanted to marry me. I was still too young for wedlock, but she left me no doubt she’d already selected the cathedral, the number of ladies who would attend me—
All of a sudden, my stomach clenched. I dropped my hands to my belly, feeling an unexpected pain. My surroundings distorted, as if the palazzo had plunged underwater. Nausea turned my mouth sour. I came to my feet blindly, hearing my chair crash over. A terrifying darkness overcame me. I felt my mouth open in a soundless scream as the darkness widened like a vast ink stain, swallowing everything around me. I was no longer in the gallery arguing with my aunt; instead, I stood in a desolate place, powerless against a force that seemed to well up from deep inside me . . .
I stand unseen, alone among strangers. They are weeping. I see tears slip down their faces, though I can’t hear their laments. Before me is a curtained bed, draped in black. I know at once something horrible lies upon it, something I should not see. I try to stay back but my feet move me toward it with the slow certainty of a nightmare, compelling me to reach out a spotted, bloated hand I do not recognize as my own, part the curtains, and reveal
“Dio Mio, no!” My cry wrenched from me. I felt my aunt holding me, the frantic caress of her hand on my brow. I had a terrible stomachache and lay sprawled on the floor, my embroidery and tangled yarns strewn beside me.
“Caterina, my child,” my aunt said. “Please, not the fever again . . .”
As the strange sensation of having left my own body began to fade, I forced myself to sit up. “I don’t think it’s the fever,” I said. “I saw something: a man, lying dead on a bed. He was so real, Zia . . . it scared me.”
She stared at me. Then she whispered, “Una visione,” as if it was something she’d long feared. She gave me a fragile smile, reaching out to help me to my feet. “Come, that’s enough for today. Let us go take that walk, si? Tomorrow we’ll visit the Maestro. He’ll know what to do.”
Read the Reviews!
“A remarkably thoughtful interpretation of an unapologetically ruthless queen.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Meticulously researched . . . Gortner breathes life into his queen."
— Library Journal
“A compelling and fascinating view of Catherine’s life and world . . . You will devour this read. Highly recommended!”
— Historical Novels Review, Editors' Choice Title
C.W. Gortner is the author of the acclaimed historical novels The Last Queen, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, and The Tudor Secret. He holds an MFA in Writing with an emphasis on Renaissance Studies from the New College of California. In his extensive travels to research his books, he has danced a galliard in a Tudor great hall and experienced life in a Spanish castle. He is also a dedicated advocate for animal rights and environmental issues. Half-Spanish by birth, he divides his time between Northern California and Antigua, Guatemala.
The era of the Tudors was one of danger, intrigue, conspiracy, and above all, spies.
Summer 1553: A time of danger and deceit. Brendan Prescott, an orphan, is reared in the household of the powerful Dudley family. Brought to court, Prescott finds himself sent on an illicit mission to the King’s brilliant, enigmatic sister, Princess Elizabeth. But Brendan is soon compelled to work as a double agent by Elizabeth’s protector, William Cecil—who promises in exchange to help him unravel the secret of his own mysterious past.
A dark plot swirls around Elizabeth's quest to unravel the truth about the ominous disappearance of her seriously ill brother, King Edward VI. With only a bold stable boy and audacious lady-in-waiting at his side, Brendan plunges into a ruthless gambit of half-truths, lies, and murder. Filled with the intrigue and pageantry of Tudor England, The Tudor Secret is the first book in The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles.
Read an excerpt!
There are moments that define our existence, moments that, if we recognize them, become pivotal turning points in our life. Like pearls on a strand, the accumulation of such moments will in time become the essence of our life, providing solace when our end draws near.
For me, meeting Elizabeth Tudor was one of those moments.
The first I noticed was that she was not beautiful. Her chin was too narrow for the oval of her face, her long thin nose emphasizing the high curve of her cheeks and proud brow. Her mouth was disproportionately wide and her lips too thin, as if she savored secrets. And she was too pale and slim, like a fey creature of indeterminate sex.
Then I met her stare. Her eyes were fathomless, over-wide pupils limning her gold irises, like twin suns in eclipse. I had seen eyes like hers before, years ago, when a traveling menagerie entertained us at Dudley Castle. Then, too, I had been captured by their dormant power.
She had the eyes of a lion. “Lord Robert’s squire?” she said to Cecil. “How can it be? I’ve never seen him before.”
“I’m new to court, Your Grace,” I answered. “Your dog is foreign, is he not?”
She shot me a terse look; she’d not given me leave to speak. “He is Italian. You are familiar with the breed?”
“I had occasion to learn many things during my time in the Dudley stables.”
“Is that so?” She tilted her head. “Hold out your hand.”
I hesitated for a moment before warily extending my wrist. She loosened her grip on the chain. The hound thrust his muzzle at me. I almost recoiled as I felt his breath on my skin. He sniffed. To my relief, he licked my skin and retreated.
“You have a way with animals,” Elizabeth said. “Urian rarely takes to strangers.” She motioned me to my feet. “What is your name?”
“Brendan Prescott, Your Grace.”
Read the Reviews!
“Fast moving suspense . . . the velvet peril of Tudor England comes alive in this haunting look at Elizabeth I’s secret spy.” –Margaret George, bestselling author of The Autobiography of Henry VIII
"This was a truly enjoyable read with an intriguing premise that sets up the rest of the series quite well. I am very much looking forward to the continuing adventures of this particular spy."
--Broken Teepee
"The plot is intricate, full of many twists and turns with characters that are vivid and well-developed...The Tudor Secret has definitely whetted my appetite for more of Brendan's adventures..."
--Always with a Book
"A quick read that keeps you turning the pages..."
--Must Read Faster
THE TUDOR SECRET IS ALSO AVAILABLE IN A KINDLE EDITION!
C.W. Gortner is the author of the acclaimed historical novels The Last Queen and The Confessions of Catherine de Medici. He holds an MFA in Writing with an emphasis on Renaissance Studies from the New College of California. In his extensive travels to research his books, he has danced a galliard in a Tudor great hall and experienced life in a Spanish castle. He is also a dedicated advocate for animal rights and environmental issues. Half-Spanish by birth, he divides his time between Northern California and Antigua, Guatemala.
The Tudor Secret is the first book in Gortner’s The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles series.
Today’s special guest is author C.W. Gortner. The trade paperback of his historical novel, The Last Queen, was recently released by Ballantine Books (the hardcover was released in July 2008). We’re going to talk to this talented author today about Juana of Castile, the heroine of his novel.
Welcome to The Book Connection, Christopher. It’s a pleasure to have you with us. Can you please tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I write historical fiction; my novel is THE LAST QUEEN, published by Ballantine Books, Random House, was recently released in trade paperback. I’m passionate about books, animal rights and the environment. I’ve lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past twenty–five years but I’m half-Spanish by birth and also call Spain home. I hold an MFA in Writing with an emphasis on Renaissance Studies and have traveled extensively to research my work.
When did you decide that you had to write about the life of Juana of Castile?
I’ve been fascinated by Juana for most of my life. In my childhood I lived near a ruined castle that had belonged to Juana’s parents; and during a trip to Granada, where Juana is buried, I found myself entranced by her marble effigy. Most school children in Spain know the tale of Juana la Loca but I immediately wanted to know more. What was she like in real life? Did she really pull her husband’s bier behind her throughout the country, venerating his corpse? Was she truly mad? What happened to plunge her into such despair?
The book is full of period details and rich descriptions. How long did it take you to perform your research for this book and did you travel to any of the locations mentioned within its pages?
It took six years to research and write THE LAST QUEEN, including several trips to Spain. I did visit most of the sites mentioned in the book, as fortunately many of them are still extant, if somewhat changed since her time. The challenge after the research was to sort through it all and decide what I wanted to write about. Fortunately, it soon became clear that I wanted to focus on the woman herself— the fallible, humane, courageous and often lonely woman, whose experiences, while different from ours, certainly, are universal in her struggle to balance life and duty, betrayal and love. I even took a drive from Burgos to Toro in Spain, tracing Juana’s own trajectory.
You’ve written The Last Queen from Juana’s point of view. Did you find that difficult?
I didn’t, actually! What I found most difficult was getting up the courage to actually do it. I had written a previous version of the novel in third person, but my agent told me she felt something was missing, that Juana seemed too enigmatic. My agent didn’t tell me how she thought I could fix this, but as I began revising the manuscript, it soon became apparent that what I really needed to do was slip into Juana’s skin, to experience her life as she might have, through her eyes. It freaked me out at first, to attempt to write in the first person as a woman, but then I realized that writing is one art form where gender shouldn’t matter. We are invisible: our characters tell the story. And while I had to do some research to portray certain experiences, like giving birth, there were many other moments and emotions that Juana felt that were very familiar to me.
You’ve portrayed a different picture of Juana of Castile than what the world has been led to believe about her. Were you ever concerned that someone would question your portrayal of Juana?
Well, I thought it might raise some controversy but it wasn’t something I worried about. No other novelist had attempted to depict her side of the story before and frankly parts of her myth were so ludicrous I was surprised no one had challenged them before. I have had a few e-mails from readers who actually sounded offended by my portrayal of her, which to me just proves how deeply we want to believe the myths told about historical characters. In a way, it’s much easier to say, “Oh, she was crazy, the poor dear,” than look at the far more unsettling possibility that she was in fact not mad at all. Juana herself left almost nothing in her own hand, and much of what she said and did was recorded by men whose prejudices reflect the era. I always kept in mind that whatever I read about her was, in essence, an interpretation by someone who wasn’t necessarily disposed to show Juana in a kind light. While today we understand the effects of prolonged stress on the human psyche, in Juana’s era no one would have considered this as a possible cause for her behavior. When I carefully examined each of her allegedly erratic moments within the context of her circumstances at the time, her behavior became not only reasonable but often quite justifiable. I think that we need to challenge the old historical guard at moments; in the case of women in particular, history can deceive.
Juana is betrayed by so many people she should have been able to trust. How do you think that impacts how she has been viewed by future generations?
I think that we want to believe that somehow she was to blame for her misfortune. It’s very discomforting to think that she was betrayed, that very few people actually fought to save her from her fate. Future generations were indoctrinated by the historical record to believe that she was unstable and incompetent to rule, and she had to be dealt with accordingly. It was a concerted effort on the part of those who usurped her throne to obscure the truth and build up a legend of this mad queen so distraught over her losses she fell apart. Her son Charles V in particular had to justify his continuing imprisonment of her because he held her throne, and to admit that an injustice had been done to his mother would have been to admit he was not, in fact, the rightful ruler of Spain – which he wasn’t, not until her death. Juana was locked away because others wanted her power, and I think that’s one of the hardest things of all to accept. We want to pigeonhole events and people so we can better understand them, and to look at Juana’s fate as I think it occurred is not easy.
Let’s assume for a moment that tragedy did not strike Juana’s family and she did not inherit the throne when her mother died. What do you think this would have meant to Juana’s marriage? Do you believe her husband, Philip would have acted differently?
I don’t honestly know. Juana and Philip seemed quite happy in the initial years of their marriage, and it’s possible they might have remained so had she not become her mother’s heir. In my opinion, Philip was not as mature as she was, and perhaps later on they would have gone through difficulties. I certainly don’t think it was in his nature to remain faithful to her, and that no doubt would have caused friction. But their roles would have been reversed; as his father the Emperor’s heir Philip would have eventually inherited the Habsburg Empire and Juana would have been empress, his consort, mother of his children but not a ruler. In becoming queen of Spain, she in fact inherited more power than Philip and he just couldn’t accept it, not in a woman and not in his wife, whom he believed, as did most men of his time, should be subservient to him.
One thing that comes through clearly in The Last Queen is the level of greed and lust for power on the part of many of the male characters. Was the level of corruption as bad as is portrayed?
It was probably worse! The 16th century was very brutal as far as politics go; and at court power was everything. Men sacrificed their souls in pursuit of it. I think we desperately want to see the past as a glamorous, damask-laden time of castles and chivalry, but the truth is romance was a rarity, especially among royals. Women often were married off for political and familial advantage, and disposed of limited legal rights. And still, we find many examples of courageous and defiant ladies, Juana among them.
What is one thing you would like readers to learn about Juana of Castile?
That she was a woman who did the best she could under extraordinarily trying circumstances.
Could you recommend a good resource for readers wanting to know more about Juana?
Unfortunately, there are few biographies in English about her, and fewer in print. I can recommend Bethany Aram’s nonfiction study, Juana the Mad: Sovereignty and Dynasty in Renaissance Europe.
What projects are you working on now?
I’ve just finished a novel about Catherine de Medici, which will be published by Ballantine Books in 2010. Catherine de Medici is a very misunderstood and maligned woman in history, accused of some of the 16th century’s most heinous crimes. But during my research I uncovered a different picture of this Italian woman who became mother of the last Valois kings and one of France’s most influential queens.
Is there anything you would like to add?
Thank you so much for spending this time with me. I hope readers will enjoy THE LAST QUEEN as much as I enjoyed writing it. I always enjoy meeting with reader groups / book clubs and as a Random House Readers Circle edition, THE LAST QUEEN is a perfect book for discussion. If you want to schedule a chat with me, please visit my website for more information. I also always appreciate hearing from readers, who can write to me via my website at: www.cwgortner.com
Thank you, Christopher for sharing more about Juana of Castile. Best of luck with your virtual book tour.
With unmatched eloquence C.W. Gortner's The Last Queen provides a gripping, fascinating story of Juana of Castile, the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit her country's throne.
The reader first meets Juana of Castile at the age of thirteen as she recounts her parents, Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain, ending three hundred years of Moorish domination to unite the kingdoms of Spain. As she watches Boabdil, the last Moorish king of Granada, surrender the keys to the city, Juana finds herself wishing to console him. She would remember Boabdil one day in her future.
At the age of sixteen, Juana is sent to Flanders to wed Philip, heir to the Habsburg Empire. She surprisingly finds love; but when tragedy strikes Juana's family, she becomes the heir to the Spanish throne and is immediately thrust into a difficult battle for power against her husband that ends up involving the major monarchs of Europe and threatens to destroy their happy life. And like her mother before her, Juana of Castile vows to secure her crown and save Spain at any-and-all cost.
In the opening pages of The Last Queen, Juana says, "The conquest of Granada changed everything--for me and for Spain." Having read Gortner's portrayal of Juana's inspiring, yet tragic, story I must concur. Never before have I read such a moving, heartrending story of a woman's dedication to her country torn apart by a pack of greedy, power hungry individuals. Seeking only to do what is best for Spain, Juana must fight against Philip, his trusted advisors, other monarchs of Europe, and even people she has known for years. The reader immediately sympathizes with Juana's plight: not knowing who she can trust, being separated from loved ones, watching as her happy marriage fades away, and making the kinds of decisions that her mother had told her she would one day need to make.
The Last Queen is filled with many complex characters. Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain, who arrange marriages for their daughters to further their goals for Spain, Ferdinand's illegitimate daughter, Joanna, and Philip's sister Margaret. They join the cast of greedy, power hungry men such as Archbishop Besançon and Cisneros of Spain to create a fascinating story that will pull the reader in from the very first page. Simply put, once you begin reading, you will not be able to put this book down.
Gortner's eloquent style combined with his attention to detail and rich descriptions make this a must read for anyone interested in historical fiction, Spanish monarchs, power struggles between the monarchies of Europe, and those seeking to read a decidely different portrayal of Juana of Castile.
I highly recommend The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner and look forward to reading more from this talented author.
Title: The Last Queen - A Novel Author: C.W. Gortner Publisher: Ballantine Books ISBN: 978-0-345-50185-1 (paperback) SRP: $14.00 (U.S.)
Daughter of Isabel of Castile and sister of Catherine of Aragon. Married at sixteen and a queen at twenty-five. Declared mad by history. Juana of Castile, the last true queen of Spain. Ruled by her passions, Juana’s arranged marriage to Philip the Fair of Flanders begins as a fairytale romance when despite never having met before their betrothal, they fall violently in love. Juana is never meant to be more than his consort and mother to his heirs until she finds herself heiress to the throne of Spain after tragedy decimates her family. Suddenly she is plunged into a ruthless battle of ambition and treachery, with the future of Spain and her own freedom at stake. Told in Juana's voice, The Last Queen is a powerful and moving portrait of a woman ahead of her time, a queen fought fiercely for her birthright in the face of an unimaginable betrayal. Juana's story is one of history's darkest secrets, brought vividly to life in this exhilarating novel.
AUTHOR'S BIO:
C.W. Gortner’s fascination with history is a lifetime pursuit. He holds a Masters in Fine Arts in Writing with an emphasis on Renaissance Studies from the New College of California and often travels to research his books. He has experienced life in a medieval Spanish castle and danced a galliard in a Tudor great hall; dug through library archives all over Europe; and tried to see and touch — or, at least, gaze at through impenetrable museum glass — as many artifacts of the era as he can find.
Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, published THE LAST QUEEN in trade paperback on May 5, 2009. A Random House Readers Circle Selection, it features a reading group guide and Q&A with the author. C.W. Gortner is also available for reader group chats by speaker phone or Skype. Visit www.cwgortner.com and click on the Reader Group link for more information.
He lives in Northern California. You can visit him online at www.cwgortner.com.
