Blog | Alison Morton Author

Anna Belfrage: Other languages in a narrative? ¡Claro que si!

I’m delighted to welcome historical fiction writer Anna Belfrage to the writing blog. Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with three absorbing interests: history, romance and writing. Anna always writes about love and is the author of the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy set in 14th century England.

More recently, she has published Her Castilian Heart, the third in her medieval Castilian series set against the conquest of Wales. She has also written a new time travel romance, The Whirlpools of Time.

Welcome, Anna! Now you’re going to tell us something about language, obviously, not bad language…

“I am something of a language mongrel. Growing up in South America, my first years were predominantly spent in a Spanish-speaking environment. My mother was a language teacher and went to great lengths to ensure we spoke Swedish at home, and when she spoke to me in Swedish, she expected a reply in Swedish, otherwise she’d just pretend she didn’t understand. So, by the age of three, I was fluent—as fluent as such a small child is—in two languages. Some years later, I began school, an English speaking school.

I can still remember that first day at school. I had my younger sister by the hand, I couldn’t understand anything of what was said around me, but I was responsible for Sofia and knew I had to deliver her to her kindergarten class before somehow finding my own classroom. Clearly, my parents had great confidence in my capacity to navigate this strange environment, this despite my English vocabulary being restricted to “yes”, “no”, “thank you”, “mister”, and “King Solomon’s Mines”. (Don’t ask!)

Some months later, English tripped off my tongue as easily as Swedish and Spanish.

When I write, I write exclusively in English. My sister finds this very strange. “You should write something in Swedish,” she says. And maybe I should—especially when one of my WIPs are set in 17^th century Sweden—but I just can’t. When I write in Swedish, there is a lack of voice. The only thing I write in Spanish is poetry, very private (and not too good) poetry that I won’t be sharing with anyone.

The Magdalen Reading, Rogier van der Weyden, 1438 © The National Gallery, London

I write in English because I mostly read in English. I also write in English because of my very, very long love story with British history. Plus, the sheer expanse of the English vocabulary is addictive to a person who collects words like I do. This, however, doesn’t mean I don’t add the odd line of dialogue in another language in my novels. Many authors do to add a certain authenticity to their work. Quite a few authors haven’t bothered to do more than use Google translate, which results in quite horrifying results. Like when people litter their work with repeated dialogue in Spanish without recognising that Spanish differentiates between masculine and feminine… (Mimes stabbing herself with a sword in the belly.)

In my recent release, Her Castilian Heart, we’re back in medieval England. My characters express their thoughts and desires (via me) in English. In actual fact, English as we know it didn’t exist back then. Those who belonged to the rich and mighty spoke a version of French, while those lower down the ladder spoke an early version of what would, over time, become the rich and luscious English of today.

As I suspect very, very few people (including me) are conversant with Anglo Norman French, writing their voices in English was the logical choice—especially as they lived and breathed in England. But some of my characters are from Castile—one of the two dominant Christian kingdoms in medieval Spain—and to add a certain flavour, I’ve allowed Amalia, Elena and even Queen Eleanor to now and then express themselves in Spanish.

There are certain challenges in doing this: first of all, you want your readers to somehow grasp what is being said. If you restrict yourself to the odd expression like Ay, Dios (oh, God) or Santa María, sálvame (Virgin Mary, save me) chances are your reader will have no problem keeping up. But if they say things like Corre! Ya, ya, no me esperes, sálvate (Run, no, no, don’t wait for me, save yourself.), you somehow have to convey the meaning in the text. In the above case, I’d probably have whoever is being urged to save themselves reply “Save myself and leave you to die? Never!” thereby indirectly translating what was said in Spanish. What I would never do is insert a parenthesis with a translation (as I have seen some authors do) as, IMO, this becomes very annoying for the reader. A good writer finds other ways to offer the required translation, be it through the responding dialogue or through the character’s reflection on what was just said.

Another challenge—especially when writing historical novels set in the thirteenth century—is that my Castilian people did not speak modern day Spanish. They spoke Castilian, still developing from its Latin roots to what would become the “Castellano” of today. While I have spent many happy months studying documents in medieval Castilian as part of my university studies of Spanish, I would not be comfortable writing it. Also, once again, to the modern day reader it would be confusing—or make them think I didn’t know my Spanish, and we can’t have that! Which is why I opted for using present-day Spanish, even if Amalia grumbles somewhat. She is, she tells me, very proud of her Castilian language.

In conclusion, I think the odd line or two in a foreign language definitely adds a flavour to the narrative—assuming the characters involved would speak more than one language. But to do so requires that the author has used correct grammar and vocabulary, that the author finds a non-intrusive mechanism to explain what is being said and that the author makes an informed choice as to what version of the language to use—something perhaps mostly valid for us history types.

I agree 100% with you, Anna. When my own heroine, Aurelia is in Vienna or Berlin, I give her a few German words just to add a bit of atmosphere and reinforce the setting. Like you, I find a round-the-houses way of making the meaning of that (very short) piece of foreign language obvious for the reader. And similarly, I wasn’t going to write the Roma Nova series in Latin…

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Find out more about Anna:
Website: www.annabelfrage.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abelfrageauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annabelfrageauthor
Instagram: https://instagram.com/annabelfrageauthor
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/anna-belfrage
Amazon Author Page: http://Author.to/ABG
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449528.Anna_Belfrage

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What’s Her Castilian Heart about?

Blood is not always thicker than water…

At times a common bloodline is something of a curse—or so Robert FitzStephan discovers when he realises his half-brother, Eustace de Lamont, wants to kill him.

A murderous and greedy brother isn’t Robert’s only challenge. He and his wife, Noor, also have to handle their infected relationship with a mightily displeased Queen Eleanor—all because of their mysterious little foundling whom they refuse to abandon or allow the queen to lock away.

Eustace is persistent. When Robert’s life hangs in the balance, it falls to Noor to do whatever it takes to rip them free from the toothy jaws of fate.

Noor may be a woman, but weak she is not, and in her chest beats a heart as brave and ferocious as that of a lioness. But will her courage be enough to see them safe?

Where to buy Her Castilian Heart

Universal Link: http://myBook.to/HEART
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3cj9TIq
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3dVZuCE
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/3KfqvgF
Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/3AIBfks

My review of Her Castilian Heart
Historical fiction at its best transports the reader into another time and place – the heat, fear and smell of battle, the celebration of a marriage where fire flickers nearby when the bride’s hair is arranged with a spear point, or a voyage across a cold featureless sea where you feared might drop off the edge of the world into oblivion.

Settings may be frightening or fascinating, but all good historical fiction conveys the impression of being an eyewitness to what is happening around them as well as how they are acting in that context. Her Castilian Heart is a perfect example of this.

Amongst the medieval politics, obligations of loyalty, the detail of horses, gowns and coifs, you find people with wants and fears like ours. And this is the secret to Ms Belfrage’s books. Her characters desire peace at home, time to enjoy their marriage and family, to care for their employees and secure their future. But the times of Robert and Noor are unstable; war and rebellion surround them whether in England, Wales or France. Throw in an aggressive and deeply jealous half-brother whose wish to destroy Robert has completely taken over his purpose and motivation in life and you have a level of tension that is both delightful and frightening for the reader.

Ms Belfrage draws and handles her cast of characters with a deft hand to the extent that each is imprinted on you without the least hint of confusion. They can be passionate, stubborn, despairing, caring and courageous as they meet challenges and enjoy triumphs. Their interactions with recorded historical figures are seamless and authentic – a real pleasure. A highly recommended read.

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series.Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, a new Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, is now out.

Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.

Jean Gill and The Ringbreaker

If you fancy a trip to 12th century Viking Orkney – and who doesn’t! – you are in for a treat from my writing friend, historical fiction author Jean Gill.

Loyalty has a price the children pay…

In the twilight of the old gods, when the last Vikings rule the seas, two cursed orphans meet on an Orkney beach and their fates collide.

Stripped of honour, facing bleak loneliness ahead, Skarfr and Hlif forge an unbreakable bond as they come of age in the savage Viking culture of blood debts and vengeance. To be accepted as adults, Skarfr must prove himself a warrior and Hlif must learn to use women’s weapons. Can they clear their names and choose their destiny? Or are they doomed by their fathers’ acts?

The award-winning author of The Troubadours Quartet returns to the 12th century, with skalds instead of troubadours and Viking warriors instead of crusaders. Get ready for authentic medieval adventures steeped in poetry, politics and passion. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell Matthew Harffy and Madeline Miller.

My review

Deeply researched, deeply authentic, deeply exciting

My impressions are of a rigorously researched authentic story with well-developed characters. The author’s core theme of intertwining human and nature is present, perhaps not to the level of bee sex in her Natural Forces series, but in a spiritual and visceral level.

The book conveys how important connections to the spirit world were to these people, particularly in a period of transition, but also how basic and dangerous people’s lives were at this time.

I’m not at all poetic, but even I enjoyed the relevance of the poetry woven into the tale. The writing is beautiful and so vivid; reading the sea voyages made me almost sea-sick.

Hlif is a very strong character and her complex off/on relationship with Skarfr develops beautifully. Added to their personal story are political intrigue, action and adventure. Altogether a great book and a literary one as well.

Buy The Ringbreaker:
Ebook: The store of your choice
Paperback: Free delivery worldwide from The Book Depository
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk

Jean says about herself…

“I’m a Welsh writer and photographer living in the south of France with two scruffy dogs, a Nikon D750, a beehive called Endeavour and a man. I taught English in Wales for many years and my claim to fame is that I was the first woman to be a secondary headteacher in Carmarthenshire. I’m mother or stepmother to five children so life has been pretty hectic.

I’ve published all kinds of books, both with conventional publishers and self-published. You’ll find everything under my name from prize-winning poetry and novels, military history, translated books on dog training, to a cookery book on goat cheese. My work with top dog-trainer Michel Hasbrouck has taken me deep into the world of dogs with problems, and inspired one of my novels. With Scottish parents, an English birthplace and French residence, I can usually support the winning team on most sporting occasions.”

Jean’s website: https://jeangill.com/

Coins - Clearing up confusion as history moves on

The new 50 pence piece and the commemorative crown

New commemorative coins featuring the portrait of King Charles have been revealed by the Royal Mint; a crown and a 50p coin which will be available within weeks. These coins will be sold to collectors by the Royal Mint from this next week. The standard nickel-plated steel 50p coin will be available for general use well before the end of the year, distributed by banks, building societies and post offices.

From the start of next year, coins from the 1p to the £2 used in day-to-day life will be minted carrying the same image of King Charles. They’ll be sent out when needed to replace damaged and worn older coins and to cover any extra demand. They’ll circulate along with coins featuring the late Queen.

Don’t worry if you have coins with the Queen on

Those 27 billion coins with Elizabeth II’s image will still be accepted in shops and other outlets. Although very many people use cards, phones and online payment, there is a significant number of people who like to use coins as well. Try putting a credit card in a coin slot machine while the kid is fretting to have his or her ride in an amusement park… I firmly expect that the next generation will have coins from Elizabeth II, Charles II and William V jangling together in their pockets.

Before decimalisation, it was common for people to carry coins featuring different monarchs in their pockets. As a child, I used coins from the reigns of George V and George VI as well as Elizabeth II. Sometimes the odd Queen Victoria one would pop up in my change!

Top: 1951 old penny (1d, from Latin denarius) from George VI Bottom: 1919 old penny from George V. Both were 31mm (1.22″) in diameter (Author photo)

The coins above were those I saved from my purse in the year before decimalisation was upon us. The old

The last pre-decimal set of UK coins 1970: half-crow, two shillings (also known as florins), shilling (English and Scottish versions), sixpence, threepenny bit, penny and halfpenny (Author photo)

We still have expressions like sing a ‘song of sixpence’, ‘The Threepenny Opera’, ‘half-a-crown’ as a bingo call for 26 (a half crown was written 2/6), and ‘being cut off without a shilling’, but I think these and other references may fade away.

In the meantime, just keep using the coins in your pocket – they’re fine!

Evie Hawtrey - From history to mystery

Evie Hawtrey – woman of mystery – describes herself as a Yank by birth but a sister-in-spirit to her fierce and feminist London detective, DI Nigella Parker. Evie splits her time between Washington DC, where she lives with her husband, and York, UK, where she enjoys living in history, lingering over teas, and knocking around in pubs.

I’m delighted to welcome this particular guest to my writing blog and include her as an additional arrival to the ‘Writers abroad’ series. Evie is one of a club of historical fiction writers turning to mystery fiction… Over to Evie to explain how helpful all that historical writing is when turning to crime…

For more than a decade I authored novels set in the past. Then I was struck by the idea for a mystery. . . set predominately in the present, and entirely in London (I live in Washington, DC).

Crime . . . I was going to write crime after a decade as a historical novelist. WHAT WAS I THINKING? I didn’t know anything about police procedures, or the forensics involved in determining how long a body had burned by examining it.

I quickly discovered, however, that writing historical fiction was great preparation for working in my new genre, because historical novelists have mad research skills. And research lies at the foundation of most fiction—even if it isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you’re reading a scene involving an immolated corpse outside London’s Temple Church.

No matter what genre you are writing, here’s a shortlist of historical research methodologies that can help you write it better:

Use research to understand your novel’s world before you try to build it for readers

You can’t paint a tree if you haven’t seen one. If you want to build an authentic world you must know that world, and research is the way to do that.

Historical novelists routinely immerse themselves in the era and location they are bringing back to life. I have an unnerving number of books on the St. Bartholomew’s Days Massacre and the bound letters of a guillotined French princess on my office shelves courtesy of my incarnation as a historical novelist.

It seems patently obvious that nobody can write a historical novel by personal experience. We don’t have time machines after all. But there are a lot of aspects of contemporary novels—mystery and otherwise—that probably aren’t part of their author’s daily experiences. When those crop up, don’t guess, research.

Research doesn’t mean just using books (though books are great). Get creative. I spent time virtually walking around the London locations that would be my modern-day crime scenes (love that drop in feature on Google maps). I read annual reports reports for the City of London Police to understand how that force operated. I drew the exact boundaries of their territory (1.12 square miles of the whopping 607 square miles comprising Metropolitan London) on a map on my desk. I also read tons of fun on-line articles on British slang.

You get the picture—I immersed myself into the world of my London detective inspectors (down to the view from the windows in DI Parker’s flat), so that I could portray it authentically for readers.

City of London from the top of the Monument to the Great Fire of London Photo: Piotr Zarobkiewicz (CC licence)

Know when to stop—or at least pause—your research

Historical novelists often learn this the hard way. I know authors who spent a decade researching their first manuscripts. That is NOT a sustainable business model.

You are bound to end up down a research rabbit hole or two when you are working on a book—whether you’re comparing farthingale styles as a historical novelist, or learning about difference between spontaneous combustion and spontaneous heating as a mystery writer. But try to avoid falling all the way in.

Writing a novel is NOT the same as doing a doctoral dissertation. Not in terms of content. Not in terms of timing. And, therefore, not in terms of research. Know when it is time to put down the research books and draft your novel.

Be ready to resume research on a “need to know” basis

The best writing necessitates research on the go. Historical novelists frequently pause to do additional research while drafting their novels. You can’t anticipate everything you’ll need to know for a three-hundred-page novel at the outset. So, when a corpse turns up at St. Magnus the Martyr, that’s the perfect moment to seek out an evocative architectural details (like a large, black exterior clock crowned with a golden cherub’s face).

Consult experts

Historical novelists know what they don’t know. We recognize that we are not PhD historians, folks who make historical costumes for a living, or theorbo players. And we are not afraid to reach out to people who are.

Whatever genre you are writing, you don’t have to go it alone. You can tap into the expertise of others.

Most experts—whether in 16^th century French court dress or arson—are delighted to talk about what they do, because they love it. Yes, you do have to be sensitive to demands on an expert’s time. So do your basic research before you reach out, then go for it!

While writing my crime debut, I reached out to someone who punched far above my weight—a PhD biological anthropologist who was an expert on-call with police specializing in the analysis of human remains. And guess what? She couldn’t have been nicer or more willing to help me make certain the procedural scenes in my novel read realistically.

As with all research, think outside the box. Not every expert is a PhD. What about a mechanic when you need something to go wrong with a fictional car? Or in my case a group of UK friends who were happy help me achieve an authentically British tone for my characters (and avoid Dick Van Dyke Mary-Poppin’s-like caricature).

You may never write historical fiction, but you can develop the research super-skills of a historical novelist. I promise they will serve you well, as they have done me.

* Yes, I had to look that up! The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox.

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Discover more about Evie
Website/blog: https://eviehawtrey.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/EvieHawtrey
Twitter: https://twitter.com/evie_hawtrey @evie_hawtrey

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So what’s And By Fire about?

Two extraordinary female detectives, tempered by fire and separated by more than three centuries, must use their tenacity and intelligence to track a pair of murderous geniuses who would burn the world for their art in Evie Hawtrey’s And by Fire.

Nigella Parker, Detective Inspector with the City Police, has a deeply rooted fear of fire and a talent for solving deadly arson cases. When a charred figure is found curled beside Sir Christopher Wren’s Monument to the Great Fire of London, Nigella is dragged into a case pitting her against a murderous artist creating sculptures using burnt flesh.

Nigella partners with Colm O’Leary of Scotland Yard to track the arsonist across greater London. The pair are more than colleagues—they were lovers until O’Leary made the mistake of uttering three little words. Their past isn’t the only buried history as they race to connect the dots between an antique nail pulled from a dead man’s hands and a long-forgotten architect dwarfed by the life’s work of Sir Christopher Wren.

Wren, one of London’s most famous architects, is everywhere the pair turn. Digging into his legacy leads the DIs into the coldest of cold cases: a search for a bookseller gone missing during the Great Fire of London. More than 350 years earlier, while looking for their friend, a second pair of detectives—a lady-in-waiting to the Queen and a royal fireworks maker—discovered foul play in the supposedly accidental destruction of St. Paul’s Cathedral…but did that same devilry lead to murder? And can these centuries-old crimes help catch a modern-day murderer?

As Nigella and O’Leary rush to decode clues, past and present, London’s killer-artist sets his sights on a member of the investigative team as the subject of his next fiery masterpiece.

Buy from Amazon UK Amazon US Kobo Barnes & Noble

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“Bones meets the Restoration Court in Evie Hawtrey’s And By Fire, a taut dual-timeline mystery that races along at the pace of an inferno! I couldn’t put this one down!” — Kate Quinn, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Alice Network

Embarrassed of Roma Nova catch-up

When I checked when I’d written my last post, I was horrified out of my socks. May! And it was a feature about my esteemed writing friend Jane Davis’s beautiful new book, Small Eden. It’s achingly well written – I will never be able to write such clever and evocative prose.

Since then, radio silence for which I must apologise. My excuse? Hammering on to finish my new Roma Nova story, JULIA PRIMA. I’d booked my copy editor and was writing to a deadline. First, it had to go to my critique writing partner who did a perceptive and thorough red pen job on it. Revisions followed, but at last, I sent the manuscript off to have its commas checked, the weird words and grammar pointed out and inconsistencies pinpointed.

The next phase is drawing up maps, a historical note and a list of journey stops. And inevitably asking bloggers and fellow authors (nicely) if they would host JULIA PRIMA on their blog around launch time on 23 August. People have been very kind…

In between all this, I wrote my usual column on writing and publishing for The Deux-Sèvres Monthly, the local English language magazine here in France, had my 4th vaccination against Covid-19 and voted in the National Assembly elections. Oh, and we had a heatwave which went to 40C in the shade.

At the end of June, I took myself off to the UK to participate as an author in the Eboracum Roman Festival in York. The author group was wonderful; banter, knowledge and mutual support as well as discussing body count, 1st century medicine, tribes vs. Romans, murderous innkeeping, spies and tough-guy warriors. We Roman authors are very refined…

June is a funny month in some ways – school terms ending, holidays in view, summer sunshine. Some people turn to reading more, others just want to be outdoors enjoying the weather so interest in reading can dwindle. At least, we’re no longer restricted to the old instruction from my parents in the 1960s, “Six books maximum each.” Now, we just load up our readers or phones.

I’m getting ready to go to a new festival, this time in Colchester, Roman Camulodunum an important town that Boudicca’s hordes completely trashed in AD 60/61. It was rebuilt, reaching its zenith in the 2nd and 3rd centuries with possibly a 30,000 population. The town was home to a large classical temple, two theatres (including Britain’s largest), several Romano-British temples, Britain’s only known chariot circus, Britain’s first town walls, several large cemeteries and over 50 known mosaics and tessellated pavements. So, plenty to see!

Fingers crossed there won’t be a train strike meaning I have to spend seven hours in coaches from Stansted to York and stand all the way back on the Monday train as two-thirds of services were cancelled due to some ne’er-do-wells stealing the copper signal cables. 🙄

Today, I’m listening to a webinar from the Society of Authors – a bit of continuous professional development – then it’s back to my maps for JULIA PRIMA. Making maps is not as easy as it looks. And I salute those who do it professionally. Thank goodness there are royalty free templates you can download from the Internet. But then you have to decide which of the experts’ views on the location of an obscure mansio to accept as you go to label the map with the Roman name.

Back to the ploughshare.