Christy English

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 | Reviews, The Writing Life | 1 Comment

I finished FINGERSMITH by Sarah Waters last week, and it was fascinating. A Gothic tale set in Victorian England that takes the reader from a country home to a madhouse, switching direction and point of view a few more times before ending up in an expected place. I really enjoyed it.

A lot of other people enjoyed it, too, because it got shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2002…I am just a little behind the times, but then, I live most of my life in the 12th century, so that is to be expected, I guess.

First Review for The Queen’s Pawn

Monday, March 15th, 2010 | Eleanor of Aquitaine, Reviews, The Queen's Pawn | No Comments

The first review for THE QUEEN’S PAWN came in…more to follow, but I am thrilled to see this one by Harriet Klausner

http://genregoroundreviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/queens-pawn-christy-english.html

Deep Into the Third Draft

Friday, March 12th, 2010 | Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Writing Life | No Comments

I am deep into the third draft of TO BE QUEEN, and I am loving every minute of it. I have gotten my notes back from my editor, and as always, she has seen things I never noticed and has questions to ask that I would not have seen.  I am on my way to answering them all.  It is an adventure to take the scalpel back to the body of the text, to trim away that things that need trimming, and to clarify all the things that might cause confusion.

Reading a good book is a smooth sail on a glassy sea; I want to take out all the waves and bumps that might cause my readers to be knocked out of the story, so that they can simply be transported by the book in its final form. I’ve got a long way to go before it’s ready, but I know that with my editor’s keen eye, I will be able to produce a book that will honor Eleanor and the readers both.

Concert at the Cloisters

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 | The Queen's Pawn, The Writing Life | No Comments

I love going to the Cloisters…a part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that houses a large part of the museum’s medieval collection. It is a journey to get there…at least half an hour by subway from the Upper West Side, but the trip is worth it. The collection is beautiful.

This Sunday I went uptown to Ft Tryon and the Cloisters not just to view the art but to hear a concert by the Boston Camerata on the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdelene. Though Eleanor is not particularly religious ( in my novels, at least) Princess Alais iv VERY religious, and particularly devoted to the Holy Mother, or the Virgin Mary. So throughout this concert I thought of Alais, and of how much she would have enjoyed it. I know I did.

Eleanor of Aquitaine Lives

Monday, March 8th, 2010 | Eleanor of Aquitaine | No Comments

…and not just in my own mind. I am not the only one who loves her. Check out March 3rd’s blog on Historical Fiction.com and Saturday, March 6′s blog on Scandalous Women.com…there are a lot of Eleanor fans out there…we are not alone…

http://scandalouswoman.blogspot.com/2010/03/everything-eleanor-new-novels-about.html

And

http://www.historical-fiction.com

I apologize that my links aren’t working here. You will have to take the added step of cutting and pasting the web addresses into your browser…sorry about these technical difficulties… I am a 12th Century kind of chick, but I hope to figure this out and fix it…