Today is the 1st of May. Here in Sweden, the cherry trees stand in flower, and the magnolia buds are just about to burst into short-lived flowering. I love magnolias. So does my little grandson, but only because magnolias have been around since the dinosaurs. He hasn’t quite grasped that “his” magnolia is not as old as the dinosaurs, but hey, he’s only four.
1st of May is also when Sweden’s university students assemble to “sing in the spring” –this after a long and rather wet celebration the preceding evening, when we stand around bonfires and hail longer and warmer days. Not that it always is warm: I’ve celebrated April 30th in snow flurries…
One of my favourite spring songs is called Under Rönn och Syren (Under Rowans and Lilacs). Like many Swedish songs, there’s a melancholic strain to it—we are rather fond of music in a minor key.
May is the month of budding birches and ground carpeted with white anemones. It is the month when the braver among us take our first dip in the lake for the year, the month when summer is still a promise of ever-lighter days and the cuckoo wakes us at dawn. A wonderful month, all in all, and this month I am celebrating it with a NEW release!
I give you Queen of Shadows, the story of King Alfonso XI of Castile and his beloved mistress Leonor. Yes, he had a wife, too, which makes all this a rather complicated situation. Not because he had a mistress—14th century kings and nobles often did—but because he openly expressed his preference for the fair Leonor, thereby humiliating his wife. Repeatedly.
I’ve been working on this book off and on for ten years. At first, I just couldn’t quite get the tonality right—my intended POV characters just refused to cooperate. I was quite annoyed with them all, to which they mostly responded with a shrug and long monologues in Castilian. Seeing as I’m a persevering sort, I finally managed to sort them all out—“Sort us?” Leonor raises her brows. “Remember who you’re talking too!” She can be a tad entitled, Leonor, but what else to expect of a woman who has 37 linen chemises—way more than any woman needs!
But being a mistress is not always easy, as described below:
Sometimes, she wished she didn’t love Alfonso. Sometimes, she wondered what her life would have been like if she’d never met him, this force of nature that so easily dominated whatever room he entered, who rode as well as he fought, who was loud and boisterous but also thoughtful and caring.
A man easily dismissed as volatile and headstrong, who excelled at keeping his own counsel and rarely revealed just what his intentions were before acting upon them.
A man ruthless enough to assassinate those he considered threats, but with endless patience and gentleness towards those he loved.
As if her thoughts had conjured him, Alfonso was suddenly at her door. He was bareheaded, his light brown hair ruffled and messy. He brought with him the scents of forest and sea, of water and sun. Tucked into his belt was his falconer’s glove, and one of his favourite hounds came padding after him.
“A good day?”
“Very.” He leaned against the doorjamb and smiled at her. “Even better now.”
Six years on, and he could still make her blush just by the tone of his voice.
“Alma?” She did not look away from her man. “Take Sancho to his nurse.”
“Sí, Doña Leonor.”
The young girl darted off, clutching her charge to her chest.
Leonor patted the bed. “Come here, my love.”
The blurb:
She should have stayed in the shadows—but Leonor de Guzmán yearned for the sun
Castile in the 1330s is a place of constant turmoil. King Alfonso must contend with the incursions from the Muslim Marinids eager to reclaim Al-Andalus while struggling with repeated rebellions against his firm rule.
When Alfonso needs respite, he finds it in the arms of his Leonor—the most beautiful woman in the realm. But while he may love Leonor over all others, his lawful wife, Maria of Portugal, is tired of being constantly displaced by the fair Leonor.
Leonor loves her man. She gives him healthy sons, a place to be himself. But she is only a mistress, even if Alfonso treats her like a queen. Leonor’s enemies watch and hate.
Flying too close to the sun comes at a high price. How much will Leonor’s love cost her?
Based on the true story of Alfonso XI and his complicated relationships to wife and life-long mistress
PREORDER YOUR COPY HERE!
I am offering a giveaway: two paperback copies of my latest book baby! But bear with me, because it will take some time before I will be able to send them to you. If you want a chance at winning one of the copies, send me an email (or comment below) and tell me which is your favourite spring flower.
To those who have as yet not discovered my series about Robert FitzStephan and Eleanor d’Outremer, how about you take the opportunity and pick up the first book in the series – His Castilian Hawk –for only 0.99?
With that, lovely peeps, I leave you to enjoy May. I know that for some of you, May is actually an autumn month, so instead of bright green leaves you’re enjoying foliage in red and yellow. One of Sweden’s most famous poets once wrote “nu är den stolta vår utsprungen, den vår de svaga kallar höst” which translates ”now comes that mighty spring, the weak-hearted amongst us call autumn.” We must assume this poet was fully aware of the difference between spring and autumn—but that his favourite season was autumn.
Warm hugs from a Sweden of bright green, honking geese and dancing cranes!
Anna
My favorite spring flower is lilac