INTERVIEW: An Interview with a Friend!

Most of my readers are familiar with the fact that I have made all sorts of fascinating friends along the way in my author journey. In the past several months, I've been pleased to share several blog posts regarding the excellent novel series by Carolyn Hughes, entitled the Meonbridge Chronicles. Recently, Carolyn launched her newest in the series: SISTER ROSA'S REBELLION. I was delighted to be asked to be an advance reader, and thoroughly enjoyed this book that takes place in a 14th century priory. But don't think for a minute that such a place is perfect and holy. Carolyn makes sure that a variety of plot mechanisms surge through the tale to give the book a suspenseful and satisfying conclusion.

Therefore, I was eager to support Carolyn with an interview regarding both her newest novel, as well as her work on the Meonbridge Chronicles in general. So scroll on down and enjoy a question/answer session between me and my friend across the "Pond", Carolyn Hughes!

And be sure to READ ON, everybody!

An Interview with my friend, Carolyn Hughes

Carolyn, you know how avid a reader I’ve been of your work. Could you briefly share how the Meonbridge Chronicles came to be?

Indeed, Brook, I know very well how much you’ve enjoyed my books, and how delighted I am that you have!

As for how I conceived the Meonbridge Chronicles, I often say it was serendipity… For, when I was doing my Masters degree in Creative Writing, I had to choose what to write as the creative piece. For a few years, I’d been writing contemporary women’s fiction (none of which came anywhere close to being published!), and I definitely wanted a change from that…

I’ve written creatively on and off all my adult life, and have always kept everything… Seeking inspiration, I looked through some of my old scribblings, and rediscovered the fading handwritten draft of about 10,000 words of a novel I’d written in my twenties. Set in fourteenth century rural England, it was about the lives of peasant families… To be honest, the novel’s plot (indeed the writing itself) wasn’t terribly good, yet I was really drawn to its period and setting. I had one of those light bulb moments and, a few days later, I was drafting an outline for the novel that would become Fortune’s Wheel.

In fact, I’d long been intrigued by the medieval period, for its relative remoteness in time and in our understanding of it, and for the apparent dichotomy between the habitual present-day view of the Middle Ages as “nasty, brutish and short” and the wonders of the period’s art, architecture and literature. The briefest of investigations quickly showed me that I wanted to know more about the medieval period, and it came to me that, by writing an historical novel, I’d have the opportunity both to find out more about the medieval past and to interpret it, which seemed like a thrilling thing to do.

So that was it! I embarked upon my journey to become an historical novelist, and seven books later, I am so very glad I did!

The Meonbridge Chronicles begin right after the Black Death. Many authors would have chosen that dreadful time instead, since there was so much drama. Why did you select the years afterward?

A good question. I suppose I didn’t want to write what could have been a shocking misery-fest, full of horror and pain and appalling grief. But I was very much interested in what happened after the Black Death had passed on, leaving communities facing not only the loss of their families and friends, but also vastly fewer neighbours, swathes of empty houses, acres of unfarmed land. How on earth did people cope with such devastating calamity?

Social change had begun in rural manorial communities well before the middle of the fourteenth century, as the feudal system of lords and peasants gradually broke down. But the huge demographic shift that resulted from the simultaneous deaths of so many people during the plague – maybe half of all those in the community – greatly accelerated that change. It’s a very interesting period of social history, and one I found I wanted to explore.

For the calamity was not bereft of optimism. To those who survived, opportunities presented themselves, for demanding higher wages and taking on untenanted land, which generally brought benefits to ordinary people and caused problems for the wealthier landowners. For the old rules about tenants not being allowed to leave their manor were largely swept away, giving peasants more freedom to choose where to work and for what price. Women too had improved opportunities, which lasted for perhaps the next 150 years or so. On the whole, conditions improved for many ordinary English men and women: with higher wages, and with fewer mouths to feed, they ate better, and could afford better homes.

Nonetheless, imagine the heartache that people must have felt, the turmoil they must have endured, in society as a whole, and at a personal level. Those of us today who live in villages or small-town communities may know, or at least be acquainted with, a great many of our neighbours. Yet, in the twenty-first century, we generally live quite dispersed lives, having our homes in these communities, but likely working elsewhere. Whereas, in former centuries, when communities worked together as a matter of course, the death of half of your neighbours would surely have been unimaginably devastating.

Women lost husbands, men lost wives, and both lost children. Young people were orphaned and had to learn to fend for themselves. Workers realised they were now a scarce resource and had some bargaining power, and said so, whilst their lords and masters tried hard to cling to the status quo and keep the workers in their place. As the peasants rebelled against the old ways, priests railed against the upsetting of God’s pre-ordained social order, and preyed upon people’s fears of further divine retribution for their sinful lives.

Yet, amidst all this turmoil and fear, normal life must have continued: fields had to be ploughed and sown, crops harvested, meals made. People still fell in and out of love. Babies were born and children cherished. Friendships and families were sometimes put under strain. Resentments boiled, some of which found reconciliation, whilst others ended in treachery.

And all that is what I wanted to write about, and is the story of Fortune’s Wheel.

Your newest book is Sister Rosa’s Rebellion. Give us a little background on Rosa’s character and what to expect from her.

At the opening of Sister Rosa’s Rebellion, Sister Rosa has been at Northwick Priory for fifteen years. Before she entered the priory, she was Johanna de Bohun, the daughter of the lord and lady of Meonbridge, Sir Richard and Lady Margaret. The shameful motivation behind Johanna’s decision to sequester herself in the priory is the primary thread in the novel’s story. For, after fifteen years of contentment, Rosa’s life in the priory is turned upside down, when she is threatened with exposure of the reason she chose to come to Northwick.

Johanna decided to become a nun because of her part in what happened between her brother Philip and her best friend Agnes a couple of months before the Black Death came. At Philip’s behest, she had arranged a liaison between them, knowing it was wrong, yet desperate to please her beloved brother. But afterwards her sense of guilt was huge, believing both what she’d felt and done was a dreadful sin. There’s more complexity behind her guilt than I can explain here, but, briefly, Johanna concluded that she had to eschew the world and spend her life atoning for her sins. And it is this “dreadful sin” that is in danger of being revealed.

However, as I say, Sister Rosa has in fact been very happy with her cloistered life. She’s grown into a pious, but serene and kindly woman, who is much loved in the priory. It’s assumed by many that she’ll be the next prioress when the old prioress dies. She acknowledges it, but another nun, Evangelina, desperate to be prioress, intimidates Rosa to stand aside. Right at the beginning of the story, Rosa does vacillate a little, but at length decides to acquiesce.

Yet what happens to the priory under Evangelina’s rule is so horrifying that Rosa then undergoes a lengthy struggle with herself, trying to decide whether she’s willing to break her vows of obedience and rebel against Evangelina’s appalling rule, and whether it’s better to risk her past being exposed than allow her beloved priory to founder.

As the plot in the book develops, the reader is faced with the fact that politics and intrigue could occur in a convent as easily as in a royal court. Was the Church during the high Middle Ages really as full of people courting privilege and willing to destroy others’ lives to serve their own means?

I’m afraid this is a topic I don’t really know much about, because the storylines of my novels haven’t ever required me to investigate the Church as a whole. I suppose my premise for Sister Rosa’s Rebellion is that the Northwick nuns were people and subject to the same variety of motivations, good and bad, as anyone else. One might expect nuns to be especially pious and kind but, in those cases where they didn’t enter the nunnery of their own volition, they might well have felt they’d been dealt a poor hand in life, and allowed bitterness and resentment to colour their actions. That is the case with Prioress Evangelina, so, in a sense, I’ve offered a “reason” for her actions, in order to justify, or at least explain, them. She is not wicked, just consumed by sourness.

Yet, one can think of cases throughout history of members of religious institutions of all sorts (probably mostly men, but not all) who acted in ways that seem anything but pious or virtuous, and in some instances downright wicked, in order to further their own careers, fill their coffers, or get rid of rivals.

I suppose there always have been, and always will be, in every station of life, people who are only interested in their own success and will stop at nothing to achieve it. But I’m afraid I have no insight into whether this was especially true of the Church in the Middle Ages.

Now that you have six Meonbridge books under your belt, tell us a little about some of your favorite people in the town and round about.

Seven books actually – don’t forget the companion novel, The Merchant’s Dilemma!

Anyway, favourite characters… Looking at my composite list of characters, I can see that there have been about 100 characters in the Meonbridge Chronicles! Obviously, only some of them appear time and time again, but what a huge supporting cast! I hadn’t realised there were so many…

It’s really hard to identify favourites, as I’m fond of so many of them. Unless I make this answer several pages long, I shall have to miss out many that I’d love to tell you about. So, I’ll just mention a few…

I suppose I like my “good” characters to have some gumption. Most (but not all) of my principal characters are women, and it was always important to me that they were “strong” women, albeit I had to ensure they weren’t anachronistically so – not “feminists”! Among these women are Lady Margaret de Bohun, Alice atte Wode, Eleanor Titherige/Nash, and Emma Cooper/Ward/Cole, all of whom have been with me, so to speak, since Fortune’s Wheel.

Margaret was a “feisty” girl, but as the wife of a knight who doesn’t entirely believe her opinions are worth hearing, and the mother of an arrogant son who scorns her views outright, she has to learn to stand her ground. Left alone for years to run her husband’s estates whilst he’s away serving the king, she learns too how to build a good working relationship with her tenants, and is much more respected and loved by the Meonbridge villagers than her husband is. I’ve grown really quite close to Margaret over the years…

As I have too of Margaret’s friend, Alice atte Wode, a “middling” peasant, not poor but still very much a working woman. She’s tough, as I imagine many such women were, for the extent of their daily responsibilities was huge: the house and all that entails; the children; the garden, by which I mean growing most of the family’s food; looking after animals; processing foodstuffs (e.g. butter, cheese) and preparing meals; working in the fields, both her own and the lord’s… So many tasks, and no machines to help! Yet she’s good-natured, and a support and listening ear for all the women in the community.

In Fortune’s Wheel, Eleanor Titherige is a freewoman, scarcely more than a girl, who’s been orphaned by the plague. She must learn to make her own way in the world, when she had expected life to be relatively easy, as well as manage her father’s large flock of sheep. I love her because she is both strong – or trying to be – and vulnerable. She is energetic and kind but also rather self-centred (like most young people really). She wants to be a successful farmer, but also to be loved… But she’s no feminist: this is the fourteenth century, so her ambitions are tempered by the norms of society and what she herself regards as proper. 

Emma Cooper is a lowly peasant, a cottar. She appears in all the books, but Children’s Fate is where she takes the central role, when she makes a radical decision to leave Meonbridge and move to Winchester, in the hope of finding a better life for herself and her children. Over the years, she suffers many losses, but is tough-minded and seems to bounce back after each adversity. I think my fondness for Emma is actually deep admiration.

Of the men, I might single out Ralph Ward, Emma’s second husband, and Jack Sawyer, husband to Alice’s daughter, Agnes. They are both working men, Jack a carpenter and more “middling”, Ralph a labourer and more lowly. They are both “good men” – not weak or soft, but thoughtful, concerned about their families and their neighbours, and always standing up against adversity and injustice. There are many men, from all levels of society, in the Meonbridge novels who are anything but admirable, but these two are cut in the heroic mould, and I love them for it.

But I do like “baddies” too, mostly because they’re such fun to write. I’ll mention three of my favourite rogues.

First is Lady Hildegarde de Courtenay, who appears in De Bohun’s Destiny and Squire’s Hazard. She’s not exactly a rogue, but she’s bad-tempered and difficult. She’s an old woman in Destiny and even older in Hazard, and it’s in that book that we see she is also rancorous, and actually quite malicious. How much I enjoyed creating her!

Then in Children’s Fate we have Sibylla Brouderer and Eudo Oxenbrigge. Sibylla is an apprentice mistress in Winchester and a most disreputable one, responsible for getting Emma’s daughter, Beatrix, into deep trouble. Eudo is a priest but, although he’s clearly a believer, he’s not the sort of benevolent, godly man you’d want in charge of your church! He’s really not a nice man at all… Neither Sibylla nor Eudo are main characters in the book, though they are very important to the storyline. I still get a great deal of pleasure rereading their scenes and dialogue!

Do you have a number of books set for the series, or will you just keep writing them as the ideas flow?

In principle, the next book, Book 7, will be the last in the series proper, and I do have an outline for that story. I’ve also thought I’ll probably write more “companion novels” – like The Merchant’s Dilemma – so I can explore the continuing lives of various Meonbridge characters without the constraint of the series timeframe. Yet will book 7 be the finale in the series proper?? The trouble is, several readers have expressed their impatience for more Meonbridge stories! Maybe I can satisfy them with more companion novels, but I’m not sure… Anyway, we’ll have to see.

What I very much do want to do is finish and publish the novel I wrote for my PhD in Creative Writing: The Nature of Things. It’s complete but does need a jolly good edit…

Here’s the blurb:

A carpenter, a soldier, a merchant and a priest. A prostitute, a countrywoman and a city wife.

Seven voices tell their part of the story of the hundred years marked by poverty and famine, plague and the unravelling of society, endless war and the uprising of the working people against their masters.

In seven linked novellas, The Nature of Things gives a fictional account of the calamitous fourteenth century, through the eyes of the sort of people who would have lived it.

Does that sound intriguing? I hope so, because I’m really very keen to get it out into the world!

What is undoubtedly clear is that I have plenty of writing projects ahead of me!

When not writing, what does Carolyn Hughes enjoy doing?

Every morning, with my first two cups of tea, I do a selection of puzzles in The Times, all word puzzles of one sort or another. In the evening, perhaps while watching a crime drama or documentary on television, I often work on a jigsaw at the same time: an electronic one on my iPad. I love “real’ jigsaws too, but they are much less convenient!

Sadly, I’m unable physically to do much gardening these days, though I manage a little, and do of course frequently offer my “advice” to the head gardener… I love our garden, and love this time of year particularly, with flowers in all their wonderous variety bursting forth each day. I enjoy the flowers in the countryside too, and am fortunate that my daily walk enables me to observe the changing flora of the fields, woods and hedgerows. But I also enjoy going further afield: not so much long-haul travel, but visiting the museums and heritage buildings (naturally, I love anything “historical”!), art galleries and gardens that we have in such abundance here in the UK.

ALL ABOUT THE BOOK

~How can you rescue what you hold most dear, when to do so you must break your vows?~

1363

When Mother Angelica, the old prioress at Northwick Priory, dies, many of the nuns presume Sister Rosa – formerly Johanna de Bohun, of Meonbridge – will take her place. But Sister Evangelina, Angelica’s niece, believes the position is hers by right, and one way or another she will ensure it is.

Rosa stands aside to avoid unseemly conflict, but is devastated when she sees how the new prioress is changing Northwick: from a place of humility and peace to one of indulgence and amusement, if only for the prioress and her favoured few. Rosa is terrified her beloved priory will be brought to ruin under Evangelina’s profligate and rapacious rule, but her vows of obedience make it impossible to rebel.

Meanwhile, in Meonbridge, John atte Wode, the bailiff, is also distraught by the happenings at Northwick. After years of advising the former prioress and Rosa on the management of their estates, Evangelina dismissed him, banning him from visiting Northwick again. Yet, only months ago, he met Anabella, a young widow who fled to Northwick to escape her in-laws’ demands and threats, but is a reluctant novice nun. The attraction between John and Anabella was immediate and he hoped to encourage her to give up the priory and become his wife. But how can he possibly do that now?

Can John rescue his beloved Anabella from a future he is certain she no longer wants? And can Rosa overcome her scruples, rebel against Evangelina’s hateful regime, and return Northwick to the haven it once was?

  ALL ABOUT CAROLYN

CAROLYN HUGHES has lived much of her life in Hampshire. With a first degree in Classics and English, she started working life as a computer programmer, then a very new profession. But it was technical authoring that later proved her vocation, word-smithing for many different clients, including banks, an international hotel group and medical instruments manufacturers.

Although she wrote creatively on and off for most of her adult life, it was not until her children flew the nest that writing historical fiction took centre stage. But why historical fiction? Serendipity!

Seeking inspiration for what to write for her Creative Writing Masters, she discovered the handwritten draft, begun in her twenties, of a novel, set in 14th century rural England… Intrigued by the period and setting, she realised that, by writing a novel set in the period, she could learn more about the medieval past and interpret it, which seemed like a thrilling thing to do. A few days later, the first Meonbridge Chronicle, Fortune’s Wheel, was under way.

Seven published books later (with more to come), Carolyn does now think of herself as an Historical Novelist. And she wouldn’t have it any other way…

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