Here is the second part of the lovely chat I had with Sarah Bower in Aldeburgh a week or so ago (read first part here )in which we learn all about The Next Book...
When is the next book going to be published and what it is called?
It's due in May 2008 and is called The Book of Love. Its hero is Cesare Borgia who I have always found 
fascinating.
Bet you read Jean Plaidy when you were in your teens..
Yes I did! And I got the bug then. My heroine is a Spanish Jewess expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella during the diaspora of 1492, who flees to Italy and becomes entangled in the lives of both Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia.
The Borgia family are totally fascinating and not as they are generally portrayed. Lucrezia, for example, was not a poisoner but an educated cultured woman. She married three times, had five children and her last marriage to the Duke of Ferrara lasted seventeen years and he was devastated when she died. 
If you go to Ferrara and look at statutes and pictures of her there, she is fondly remembered for the sophistication of her court and her gallantry when the city was threatened by a Papal army during the War of the League of Cambrai.
Unlike the Jean Plaidy books and the Donizetti opera where she was portrayed as nothing but a poisoner..
Exactly.. and last year Sarah Bradford wrote a biography of her showing Lucrezia's true character, a wonderful book which I read as part of my research and would sgtrongly recommend to anyone who is interested in the fact - as well as my fiction of course!
Any ideas for a third?
Oh yes, I am thinking of Juana, know as 'the mad' who was the eldest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella - Catherine of Aragon's sister - and who was married to Philip of Flanders, know as 'the Handsome'.
Jean Plaidy again...I remember reading her book about the mad Juana
Not sure that she ever was mad. She was just thought to be so because she was intelligent and knew her own mind and, again, well educated. She had the misfortune to fall in love with her husband and was unhappy as a result.
Now you teach Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. Is this full or part time?
No, it is part time and I also do some private mentoring. I try to keep it this way sot hat I have plenty of time for my writing. I am very pleased with the response to Needle in the Blood. It is selling well and I am just so delighted that it has been reviewed by so many wonderful bloggers so many thanks to you all.
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Here endeth the interview but I cannot close this post without mentioning that I have also discovered that Sarah is an ardent cricket fan and would love to go on tour with The Barmy Army. A writer of historical novels and a cricket nut ...a woman after my own heart and a delight to meet.
I was in Waterstone's yesterday and turned two copies of Needle to the front of the shelves as is my habit. Those of you who have yet to read this gorgeous book please treat yourself to a copy for Christmas. Those of you over the pond have the delight of the publication in April 2008. There is of course nothing to stop you ordering a copy from the UK of course....
Go on, you know you're worth it.
