LIVING THE HISTORY: March 2011

Saturday, March 12, 2011

RNA Awards 2011

I'm still trying to find time to do everything, but wanted to post this before another week goes by.
Back in December, TO DEFY A KING was longlisted for the Best Romantic Novel of the year and Best Historical Novel of the year by the Romantic Novelists Association in the UK.
In February it was shortlisted and last week, it won the Historical Prize. Needless to say I am still on cloud 9. To be recognised in the genre is just the greatest feeling. The judges were Richard Lee, founder of the Historical Novel Society, Diane Pearson, president of the RNA and a historical novelist herself, and Elizabeth Hawksley, historical novelist and writing tutor.

This is how the titles are chosen initially.
Taken from the RNA website
"Eighty members of the public, all keen readers, then settle down to some very enjoyable entertainment. Each title is read and scored three times—with criteria including romantic content, readability, characters, plot, dialogue, style and ending. From these scores, a long list of twenty titles is selected. A panel of RNA members then selects the shortlist of six titles. Three external judges read each of the shortlisted books and select the overall winner. The award is presented at the Pure Passion Awards in March."

The awards event, a champagne and canapes reception, was held at The Liberal Club, 1A Whitehall Place in the Gladstone Library, and what a stunning venue it was! I'm going to just let it all hang out with the photographs now. Some are a bit blurred due to lighting levels and excitement, but I've put them up anway. Click to enlarge. Anyone who wants pics for their album, feel free to use. Sorry about the formatting. It seems to have gone particularly insane tonight! To try and mitigate its effects, I've listed the photo identities at the foot of the blog.

Back to historical stuff next time round.

All best
Elizabeth.

Pics with me in them.

Picture list
Me
1. The winning screen when the Historical Novel of the Year was announced
2 Me, posing by the Pure Passion Poster
3 Me with my agent Carole Blake
4.Me with Carole Blake again - a matching pair in purple!
5. The winning authors with Katie Fforde in sea-green in the middle
6. In the palatial loos with Kate Furnivall and Jane Judd
7. Me and Liz Fenwick
8. Me and Elizabeth Hawksley

Other folks
9. Diane Pearson, Richard Lee and Elizabeth Hawksley, the Historical Prize judges
10. Jan Jones
11. Jan Jones
12. Jane Jackson
13 Val Loh
14. Sarah Duncan and JoJo Moyes
15. Julie Cohen
16. L to R JoJo Moyes, Moira Briggs, Jan Jones, Roger Sanderson, Jill Mansell
17. Joanna Maitland, Christina Courtnay, Sue Moorcroft
18. Christina's shoes!
19. Jo Dickinson, friend and editor at Sphere
20. Penny Jordan receiving her lifetime award

Objects
21

21. The reception room
22. Mural in reception
23. The Gladstone Library, LittleBrown table
24. Chandelier, Gladstone Library
25 and 26. Plates of canapes
27. The Gladstone Library
28. Fabulous staircase

Out-takes
29 Liz Harris
30 Christina Jones (neither of us had had a drink!)
31 Christina Jones and Jill Mansell

Friday, March 11, 2011

Next stop on my blog tour: History undressed.

I have a couple of posts waiting in the wings, but in the meantime, I am still on blog tour for the Sourcebooks publication of To Defy A King. Today I was speaking at History Undressed about Medieval marriage and sexuality.
http://historyundressed.blogspot.com/2011/03/guest-author-elizabeth-chadwick-behind.html

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

The Blog Tour next post

Here's the next article I wrote for my blog tour in the USA. Published today at Martha's Bookshelf. http://marthasbookshelf.blogspot.com/2011/03/guest-post-digging-for-gold-choosing.html It's a post all about choosing my subjects.

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

The Blog Tour

Today marks the official USA publication of To Defy A King and I'm on the blog tour circuit on and off for the next month. Okay, blog tours exist to promote the novels, but they're also a chance for an author to add in bits of background information and research that might not otherwise see the light of day. So each time there's a blog published, I'll post the url here.
My first stop off is at The Broken Teepee blog and I've written a post about medieval food - what people ate and how they were governed by the seasons and what was available. Url here if anyone is interested. http://www.brokenteepee.com/2011/03/guest-post-from-elizabeth-chadwick.html

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING

" Wow! I feel like someone used to watching movies in black and white but has just seen the first one in technicolor! " A personal letter from a reader.

"The Winter Crown ...will, I have no doubt, become the definitive fictional account of this remarkable woman.' ..." I’ve read a fair few fictional depictions of Henry II over the years and I must say that his portrait in The Winter Crown has the most authentic feel of them all."
Kate Atherton, author of For Winters Night blog.

"Eeanor’s life story has been told many times over in historical novels but rarely with such insight, emotional intensity and page-turning readability." Pam Norfolk, Lancashire Evening Post.

"In the world of the arts, the Black Legend and the Golden Myth still hold sway, as seen in novels, such as Alison Weir's, which seek to portray both the scandalous, adulterous queen of legend and the powerful female ruler. Historians may shake their heads at the perpetuation of such myths, but many historical novelists such as Sharon Kay Penman and Elizabeth Chadwick are seeking to apply modern scholarship to their fiction, and consequently avoid the most egregious of the legends that surround Eleanor."

Professor Michael R. Evans in Inventing Eleanor - Bloomsbury Academic.

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE SUMMER QUEEN

"What I loved about this novel, and I have felt this way about all of Elizabeth’s novels that I have read, is that she does not pander to stereotypes or write scandal for the sake of it. The historical Eleanor is defamed beyond belief- a whore chasing anything in trousers, a woman who committed incest with her uncle, a woman who was ‘ahead of her time’, and so on. Elizabeth’s Alienor is none of these things. She is treated fairly, as a woman of her own time, written in a believable way. Elizabeth does not go for scandal because she does not need to- the writing in this novel makes that very clear. Her scene setting is lovely, her character development top notch, and the book is a compulsive page turner. I couldn’t put it down." Sarah Bell

."The Summer Queen is a fabulous novel based on the most up-to-date and meticulous research. This is historical fiction at its best and I loved every page of it." Kate Atherton, blogger.

"I have read just about everything I can about Eleanor and enjoyed both biographical and fictional accounts of her life but I must say that your creation of Eleanor is the most compelling." Reader from Australia

"I loved the story; I loved the way the author wrote Alienor as a woman of her times instead of a thoroughly modern independent woman, or a slut in chase of anything in pants. As with all Chadwick novels, there's also the added plus of being sucked into another century with the sights, smells and sounds that wrap up a darn-near perfect reading experience. I couldn't put it down, and very sorry I'm going to have to wait for the next installment. Reader from the USA

"Meticulous research and strong storytelling." Woman & Home
"A rich and compelling read. " Candis Magazine

"I often see the expressions, `fleshing out the history' and `making it real', and they more than apply here...the main aspect that made me keep turning the pages and burning the midnight oil? The things that I didn't know about Alienor.." Reader from Australia

"Chadwick has succeeded where many other novelists have failed by giving us not just the legend but the very human young woman – intelligent, determined, witty and sexy." Pam Norfolk. Lancashire Evening Post.