Award winning historical romance author, Sandra Worth, garnered high acclaim for The Rose of York Series. Her next novel in the series, PALE ROSE OF ENGLAND: A NOVEL OF THE TUDORS will be released later in 2010. A lover of historical figures, Worth started writing novels to fill the time while her husband traveled--that was over six years ago and she hasn’t stopped since.
The Teaser for Pale Rose of England:
A story that takes a fresh look at the mystery of Prince Richard of England, one of the two little princes who vanished in the Tower of London, and his immortal love affair with Lady Catherine Gordon, princess of Scotland.
The Q&A:
Q: Why have you chosen to write historical romances?
A: For me, history is a search for ghosts, for those larger than life. In many instances, the stories of the men and women I write about are not only fascinating and inspiring, but more powerful and stranger than anything I could ever invent.
Q: How would you describe your type of book?
A: They are dramatic stories, filled with angst and truth, and the poignant love affairs that drive them are most beautiful, and memorable, that history has to offer. Think Romeo and Juliet is pure fiction? Take a look at THE ROSE OF YORK: LOVE & WAR. A hundred years before Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, there was Richard and Anne, a pair of true-life star-crossed royal lovers who may well been history’s real Romeo and Juliet.
Q: What makes your stories unique compared to other romances out there?
A: They are drawn from history, from real people who lived long ago, and who changed our lives with their love. LADY OF THE ROSES, for example, tells the story of Montagu and Isobel, young lovers from warring factions who were the medieval ancestors of both FDR and Winston Churchill. They should never have married, but because they did, they saved our world from the tyranny of Hitler.
Q: How do you handle the isolation of being a full-time writer?
A: It’s a personality thing, and not a problem for me. I’m comfortable with only my own company, and don’t need much interaction, except for my husband.
Q: Tell me your favorite “when I was doing research for this novel you wouldn’t believe what what happened” story:
A: My first book is on the maligned and controversial King Richard III. Before I left on my first Ricardian tour of England, I contacted Peter Hammond, a renowned expert in the field, to request an interview. I explained that I still had unanswered questions after reading every historical text on the period available at the university libraries across the U.S. and I needed his help. He graciously agreed. That day, I was with my long deceased step-mother’s cousin. When she learned I was planning to write a book on Richard III, she insisted that I speak to her cousin who she was sure had written a book on Richard III. Yes - her cousin turned out to be Peter Hammond!
Q: Tell me about your most fascinating inspiration for a book or story.
A: I would have to start with my first novel, THE ROSE OF YORK. I was alone in London and went into the National Portrait Gallery to avoid the rain. The first room I came to was small and gloomy, and housed the portraits surviving from the fifteenth century. The faces on the wall were all dark and somber, and seemed to glare at me. I turned to leave, and that was when I saw a portrait of a young man in a jeweled beret. He was toying with a ring on his finger, a faraway look in his sad, troubled eyes. Yet, in spite of that, the portrait had a glow about it that lit up the room. I looked to see who it was, and couldn’t believe this was King Richard III, the murderer of his little nephews, the princes in the Tower. He wasn’t hunchbacked, and he wasn’t ugly. He had a gentle face that lingered in my memory through the trip home. When I arrived, I consulted the Encyclopedia Brittanica. It said the portrait was contemporary, and that Richard III had been a justician whose reign had held great promise for the future. It turned out Richard III gave us the presumption of innocence that flowered into modern Western democracy three hundred years later. There is no proof he murdered his nephews in the Tower, and no proof even that a murder was committed. He wasn’t even a hunchback.
Q: You’ve received some great reviews--tell me what means the most to you and why?
A: There is an old saying, We are not dead as long as we are remembered. I care about those I write about, and if I do my job well, they rise again from the dust of history. So I love what reviewer Sadie Cass said about my book, THE KING’S DAUGHTER: A NOVEL OF THE FIRST TUDOR QUEEN. “Elizabeth, the Good! Elizabeth, the Beloved! Elizabeth, the King’s Daughter!” You will want to know her. You will want to see her find peace. She will be made a part of you.” THE KING’S DAUGHTER won Best Historical Biography of the Year from the Reviewers at Romantic Times and I suspect Sadie Cass’s review for Two Brooms Up dot com hit on the reason why. Elizabeth of York - history’s forgotten queen – is forgotten no longer.
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