Skip to main content

#HistFicThursdays - Things to Inspire - Religious Artefacts

 Writing historical fiction, it is impossible to ignore the overwhelming impact religion had on people's lives. It was not only the structure of organised religion, but the interwoven beliefs which dominated people's lives. Christianity, the religion which runs through most of my historical fiction, grew and survived with its ability to adapt as it spread from place to place and culture to culture, absorbing certain traditions as it powered on. I love Theology. I did my undergraduate degree in it, and it continues to remain a real interest of mine. I also love the idea of holding hands across history, seeing what my characters saw, and holding the same objects in my own hands as they or their peers did. Given the significance of religion and superstition throughout history, these things were common - although not necessarily accessible - and would have been understood by all. Religious iconography dominated Pre-Reformation Europe, speaking as a universal language to all. These

#HistFicThursdays - Bird in a Snare - N.L. Holmes - Q&A Guest Post

  


It's #HistFicThursdays again, and this week I'm thrilled to be sharing a Q&A post from award winning author, N.L. Holmes, as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club tour. Find out what research drew her into the world of Ancient Egypt, and the enduring appeal this time has for her...

Blurb

When Hani, an Egyptian diplomat under Akhenaten, is sent to investigate the murder of a useful bandit leader in Syria, he encounters corruption, tangled relationships, and yet more murder. His investigation is complicated by the new king’s religious reforms, which have struck Hani’s own family to the core. Hani’s mission is to amass enough evidence for his superiors to prosecute the wrongdoers despite the king’s protection—but not just every superior can be trusted. And maybe not even the king!

Winner of the 2020 Geoffrey Chaucer Award for historical fiction before 1750.

Bird in a Snare is available from Amazon UK - Amazon US - Amazon CA - Amazon AU - Barnes and Noble - Kobo - iBooks - Audio



Did you have a favourite resource for your research?
If so: what was it, and why?
I used so many research materials, I couldn’t point to one favorite. Perhaps you could say that Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. II, translated by Miriam Lichtheim, was one of my most useful sources, because the titles of all the books are quotes from some piece of ancient literature—the Book of the Dead, a hymn, an aphorism. In the case of Bird in a Snare, the title comes from the Amarna Letters, an archive of diplomatic correspondences. The fictional Hani is a writer of aphorisms, and they’re all real—written by a guy named Ani, so I’ve conflated the two men. I had the advantage of a fair amount of general professional knowledge about this time and place because I had taught a course on Ancient Egypt for years, but there was a lot of refining of specifics, for example, details about a particular profession, that I needed to do. I think the real reason I moved from teaching to writing historical fiction is so I could continue to do research when I retired!

What is it about this time period which inspired you to set you book then?
I knew from my teaching experience that ancient Egypt has a lot of fans, and the period during and after the reign of Akhenaten is a particularly fascinating one. Many people know at least the names of the “heretic pharaoh” and his beautiful wife Nefertiti. The religious, economic and social changes introduced by this king are almost unimaginably disruptive, and I wanted to capture some of that impact on people’s everyday lives as well as on foreign policy. But it’s an interesting moment also for what we don’t know about it. Akhenaten was expunged from the historical record by his successors, so we didn’t even know he existed before the end of the nineteenth century, and we’re only just now starting to reconstruct events of his reign. We don’t even know who the kings are who follow him. Scholars are all over the place in their theories, and the author can thus pick her version of history and embroider at will, as long as she doesn’t transgress any of the facts we actually know for sure.

As historical fiction writers, we tend to imagine ourselves in the time we’re writing.
If you could go back to this time period, what do you imagine yourself doing?
Realistically speaking, I’d probably be a “lady of the house” like most women. But since I’m a working-class kind of gal, I’d like to be some sort of creative artisan like Maya’s mother, a goldsmith. I actually did silver-smithing when I was a teenager! Or maybe a seshet, a female scribe, unusual though that would be. Hani’s daughter Neferet learns to read and write, but she becomes a doctor, and I’m not sure that’s up my alley. The fact is, Egypt was one of the better places to be a woman in antiquity. They had more or less equal rights and could divorce if they found themselves in a bad marriage. Maybe I’d become the head “man” of my village—that really happened sometimes.

Now, let's meet the author:
N.L. Holmes is the pen name of a professional archaeologist who received her doctorate from Bryn Mawr College. She has excavated in Greece and in Israel and taught ancient history and humanities at the university level for many years. She has always had a passion for books, and in childhood, she and her cousin (also a writer today) used to write stories for fun.

You can follow N.L. Holmes on these links:

Keep up with the rest of the Bird in a Snare tour stops by clicking on the banner below:

Comments

  1. Thank you so much for hosting the blog tour for Bird in a Snare.
    All the best,
    Mary Anne
    The Coffee Pot Book Club

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#HistFicThursdays - Muskets & Minuets - Lindsey S. Fera - Book Excerpt

   This week, I'm delighted to once again be teaming up with  The Coffee Pot Book Club ! Today I'm sharing an excerpt from the stunning book,  Muskets & Minuets  by Lindsey S. Fera! So let's begin by meeting the book... Love. Politics. War. Amidst mounting tensions between the British crown and the American colonists of Boston, Annalisa Howlett struggles with her identity and purpose as a woman. Rather than concern herself with proper womanly duties, like learning to dance a minuet or chasing after the eligible and charming Jack Perkins, Annalisa prefers the company of her brother, George, and her beloved musket, Bixby. She intends to join the rebellion, but as complications in her personal life intensify, and the colonies inch closer to war with England, everything Annalisa thought about her world and womanhood are transformed forever. Join Annalisa on her journey to discover what it truly means to be a woman in the 18th century, all set against the backdrop of some of

#HistFicThursdays - An Open Invitation to Historical Fiction Writers: #HistFicMay

 I'm always impressed by the power of social media in spreading the word about books and writing. In the hope of giving back to that, I'm going to be running a social media event throughout May to help spread the word for the fabulous historical fiction authors who are in the online writing community. All you have to do is answer the questions/challenges which match up to each day on the list. Remember, posts with pictures are always more eye-catching. You can include pictures, quotes, and purchase links in any of these. If you don't have a picture for any post, just use the #HistFicMay banner (which you can download from this blog). You can choose light or dark depending on which best suits your writing. And remember to use the #HistFicMay hashtag so I can find your post! I will retweet, share, and like all the posts which answer these challenges on Twitter (@DaysDyingGlory), Facebook (@DaysDyingGlory), and Instagram (@StomperMcEwan), and please feel free to give me a nud

#HistFicThursdays - Christmas Snippets

Christmas is coming, it's only four days away! For someone who loves Christmas so much, the festival and celebration of Christmas does not feature in as many of my books as I would have expected. All the same, I've drawn together a couple of snippets concerning Christmas from various stories I've written, and I present them to you now as my #HistFicThursdays offering (you can also find a couple from Beneath Black Clouds and White here , as well as last year's offerings here ). Philip was almost grateful of the laborious journey, as it numbed his body to the pains which lay ahead. Instead, he concentrated all his thoughts on the imminent arrival of Advent. It had always been his favourite season of the church’s year. The coming of peace. And he was ready for peace. ~ from The Year We Lived The presents were distributed by Hamish and Roger and all those present had a gift matched perfectly to their recipient. The day continued with games and carols, for which Catherine ac