I have always loved literature and the arts. I graduated from Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA, in 1973 with a BA in English Literature and Philosophy. In 1990, I got a second BA from the State University of New York in Applied Music, Piano. After I graduated I ran a private piano instruction studio for fifteen years in the Hudson Valley. I now live in central New York with my husband and my beloved Miniature Poodles and Cocker Spaniels.
While I was studying for my second degree, I worked at the Mid-Hudson Library System, Poughkeepsie, NY where one of my jobs was reviewing for The Children's Book Review Service. It was there that I began work on my four novels, and I have devoted the last twenty-five years to dedicated research, editing and revision. My characters are drawn from real historical figures. They are firmly planted within their real historical times, but, of course, they come not only from historical research but also from my creative imagination.
My initial and all-consuming love was for Imperial Rome. I am constantly reminded of that ancient civilization by the words in our English language. Latin is the backbone of English grammar, my specialty. True, English is a hodge-podge of ancient Germanic tongues and Norman French, and it is still evolving. But the glue holding it all together is Latin.
I have a great love and reverence for the written word. It has mystical power. As Omar Khayyam so elegantly put it ‘the moving hand writes and having writ, moves on,’ which recalls the writing on the wall that spelled doom for King Belshazzar (Not good news), but also ‘In the beginning was the Word...’ (Very good news).
It seemed natural to me to explore this civilization that had influenced the language of the Western World so deeply. I went to my Public Library and opened the index files. (Yes, way back then, before computers, there were index card files, painfully detailed and typed out by your sainted public librarian, sometimes hand-written if the typewriter wasn't working. They deserve a special place in heaven!).
Ah, here we are: Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome. Sounded good. It was. Suetonius, The Lives of the Imperial Caesars. Hmm, add that. It was gossipy, scandalous, great reading. Procopius, The Secret History. Whew! Scurrilous, salacious, I gobbled that one up fast. And then I stumbled across a cross-reference to Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Did I really want to go there? You betcha! Three volumes of superb English, the story of the emergence of the modern world, in sentences that ran a page or more, with primary references from every historian lost to time! The Great Premise of this epic work: That Catholicism caused the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Oh really? We'd see about that.
It meant focusing my research on the birth of the Catholic Faith, specifically when it arrived in Rome. That put us squarely into the Imperial Court of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, known to us all as Nero. Well now, let's see. Nero was a very young man when he ascended to the throne, and he needed guidance. His mother, Agrippina, had appointed the eminent statesman, philosopher and orator Seneca. Boring! Enter Gaius Ofonius Tigellinus, a ruthless and canny politician. Cool! Nero also needed a favourite consort. She was Greek, and he named her Claudia Acte. But Emperors cannot dally with slave-girls forever. Emperors must marry eligible patrician women...like Poppaea Sabina, for instance. And in a bid to balance his influence against Poppaea's faction, Tigellinus could have scooped up Nero's favorite courtesan for himself... I rolled a piece of paper into my trusty old Royal and began to type.
The novel that evolved went nameless for a very long time. Through all the years of revising and editing, re-checking event sequences, throwing real people and events into the blender and adding a generous dash of creative imagination, the title eluded me. It was only when I decided to throw my hat into a writing contest sponsored by AuthorHouse that I was forced to give it a name. I finally settled on Axios, the accolade of the ancient Greeks for a theatrical performance well-done. This book has placed first in that competition.
What fascinates me most about History are those moments when something new slips into human history and evolves into a way of life for myriad peoples. Christianity was such an historical event. The rise of Christianity also features in another of my novels, The Highest Destiny.
The Shadow of the Phoenix takes place at the eclipse of the Roman Empire. Gizeric, the Vandal king, introduced a new way into the course of history. He rejected Rome’s offer to call him ‘foederati,’ a vassal who ruled for Rome, and called Africa his ‘kingdom.’ It was the first of its kind in Imperial annals. He paved the way for the Germanic kingdoms to follow, all of which have evolved into modern Europe and its nations. Northwind is set in another turbulent era and the clash of cultures, this time between the pagan Vikings and Christian Ireland.
The creative imagery in my four historical romance novels is each set around one of the four ancient Alchemic symbols that govern life on earth:
The Shadow of the Phoenix : fire
Northwind: air
Axios: earth
The Highest Destiny: water
I chose the four elemental symbols that govern life on earth because, while we can’t live without them, they are ultimately beyond our ability to control. When they arise in all their power they cause great destruction, but they also create new conditions for new ways of life. It is a concept that I find fascinating.
However, if you were to ask me about the deepest inspiration for my novels, I would say it is Love. In creating within the genre of Historical Romance, there has to be Love. There cannot be true Romance without true Love. And so the author who wishes to create a unique and enduring romance has to first define for him or herself what that little word means. It is personal; it is the definition that sets one author’s voice apart from every other’s. Under scrutiny it slips away and defies every attempt to define it. It has to move and evolve; it has to live. It has to seek its expression within the minds, hearts and above all, the actions, of the characters within the romance novel.
The Shadow of the Phoenix and Northwind are available from my website, and together with Axios are also available through AuthorHouse.