Susan Higginbotham's 'Hugh and Bess' looks at arranged marriage in 14th century England

September 17, 1:22 PMBaltimore Literature ExaminerAnna Horner

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In the follow-up to The Traitor's Wife, Susan Higginbotham continues the story of the Despenser family, focusing on the son of Hugh le Despenser the younger.  In Hugh and Bess, Bess de Montacute, the 13-year-old daughter of William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, is betrothed to 32-year-old Hugh le Despenser.  Bess is less than pleased about the engagement as Hugh is the son of the notorious traitor, and Hugh, while interested in rebuilding the family name following his four-year imprisonment at the hands of Queen Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer, is in love with someone else.

Hugh and Bess is a touching love story about an arranged marriage that turns into something more and the evolution of a young girl into a strong woman who commands respect.  Higginbotham packs a lot into the short novel, with scenes both amusing and heartbreaking.

Photo credit:  Tim Broyer

Higginbotham was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to talk about Hugh and Bess:

What inspired you to continue the tale of the Despensers, which you started in The Traitor's Wife, and focus on the marriage of Hugh le Despenser to Bess de Montacute?

I was casting around desperately for a subject for a second novel (the dreaded "second novel syndrome") and after some false starts, I finally decided that because I had become very fond of Hugh from The Traitor's Wife, I would tell the story of his marriage to Bess.  I admired Hugh because he'd managed to make a good life for himself in circumstances that might have embittered or emotionally shattered another person, and I was curious as to what Bess, the daughter of a newly made earl, must have thought of her marriage to an older man from a notorious family.

How much research did you do before writing Hugh and Bess?

Much of the research I'd already done for The Traitor's Wife carried on to Hugh and Bess, so I didn't have to do a lot of additional digging.  Most of the research done specifically for Hugh and Bess involved finding out more details about Hugh's military career and the battles in which he fought.  I was lucky in that there are some excellent books about Edward III's military campaigns and the early years of the Hundred Years War.

Are you working on another book right now?  Any hints?

I just started my fourth novel, which is about Margaret of Anjou, queen to Henry VI.  Margaret is, I think, one of the most maligned queens in English history.  Though historians have started to take a more sympathetic view of her, many historical novelists continue to depict her as vengeance-crazed and sexually promiscuous, and give her very little credit for the difficult position in which she was placed, with a mentally ill husband and a young son whose right to the throne she was determined to protect.

What do you enjoy doing when you're not writing?

I like traveling, scouring flea markets for old Barbie dolls and out-of-print books, exploring old graveyards, and hanging out with my husband and two children (as far as the latter two will let me).

What are your five most favorite books and why?

Three of them -- Bleak House, David Copperfield, and Our Mutual Friend -- are by the same author, Charles Dickens!  I love his blend of comedy and tragedy, his writing style, his characters, and his anger at social injustice.

Another favorite is Jane Austen's Persuasion.  I enjoy all of her novels, but Persuasion is a particular favorite because Anne, having seemingly sacrificed her happiness by refusing a proposal from the man she loved, gets a second chance.

I also love Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler.  It's the story of a young man who turns to religion after a careless remark he makes as a teenager leads to two deaths.  In another author's hands, this could have been a maudlin tale or a patronizing one, but Tyler makes it both poignant and very funny, without ever mocking her hero's religious faith.

To learn more about Susan Higginbotham and read excerpts from her novels, visit SusanHigginbotham.com.