Cassandra Clark
Cassandra Clarks Blog
The dark side of Chaucer’s London
Nov 2nd
The dark side of Chaucer’s London is a rich source for plots and vivid characters who fill the c hronicles of the time with their passions and ambitions. Wth more thn riches and reputations at stake, their lives were often in jeopardy as a glance at the archives of the City of London shows. The mayor is said to have had his own gallows out at Lewisham at a place called the Foul Oak. When called to account he didn’t run as many did but stayed to face the music. He put up a good show in the Commons. It made no difference. He was beheaded on Tower Hill. What times.
Terry Jones
Oct 10th
To Burlington House to hear Terry Jones smash a few misconceptions about the middle ages. A man after my own heart. With his usual style he asked: did they believe the earth was flat? No. Did they believe in witches? No. Were women forced to wear chastity belts? No. And so on. He produced plenty of evidence, excellent footnotes, and a lot of laughs. If history was taught like this in school every child would be an historian. And if you want to know who brought in the idea of witches it was bloody Henry VIII. If you want to know who organised the first public burning it was Bolingbroke, Richard II’s murderous cousin. and if you want to know about chastity belts, it was meant as a joke. I was also delighted to hear him mention a little known fact about Anne of Bohemia. After being crowned as Queen of England, she asked her young husband, Richard (they were both just sixteen years old) to stop the judicial killing of anyone involved in the rising of 1381. This official bloodbath was the brain child of the duke of Lancaster, Bolingbroke’s father. Not many people mention the civilising Plantagenets. Presumably not enough gore for 21st century taste. If you get chance to hear Terry Jones do his thing, don’t delay. I guarantee your enjoyment.
Oxford Crime Weekend
Oct 5th
I was delighted to be at a conference of Crime Writers in Oxford recently, especially as the college I stayed in is named after one of my heroines, St Hilda of Whitby – a distant namesake of my medieval detective and spy, Hildegard of Meaux. St Hilda convened the synod of Whitby in Saxon times, establishing the calendar we use to this day. She also ran a double monastery and no doubt kept the brothers in order. She also fostered the work of the first English poet, Caedmon, and is therefore much to be praised. St Hilda’s college is idyllically placed on the river, punts langorously passing and the bells of Magdalene clearly ringing over the meadows. A great weekend.
Read on…
Sep 29th
Have you ever wondered what the characters get up to once you close the pages of a book? I thought I’d like to find out so from Monday I’m going to write Hildegard’s Apocrypha: the out takes from the series.
To begin with, Hildegard is thirty-four. She’s a Cistercian nun. She lives in Chaucer’s England. She solved the riddle of two murders, was sent on a secret mission to Rome, and then retired to a grange in the country. But not for long. Soon she was recruited as a spy by the Archbishop of York and witnessed a horrific beheading…More later.
And another thing…
Sep 22nd
Have just been invited to a wake on October 30th. Only one thing strange, the ‘corpse’ isn’t dead. Who hasn’t wanted to be at their own funeral in a living capacity? You can see who’s there and who isn’t, who’s dancing and who’s weeping, who’s throwing themselves on the coffin, sobbing piteously, and who’s concealing a smile behind a gloved hand. At the same time, isn’t it going to tempt the grim reaper to step closer? Would you risk it? This will take place on 30th October in Staithes, North Yorkshire and it’s for the landlord of the best pub in the village, the Captain Cook. In The Law of Angels there’s a scene where the villagers of Staithes (unnamed in the book) give a ship burial to their dead. They’re tough, descended from Vikings, and set the ships ablaze in the bay. Are you going to up the ante?
A sentimental journey
Sep 22nd
To York again after some time. The minster is still glorious, the walls intact, several wonderful buildings remain but the rest of it is so changed I felt as if I was visiting an entirely new place. It was still buzzing however and great to be there. Did an interview for BBC Radio York and Russell Walker was as lovely as everyone had said. Thanks, Russell. Then for some signing of the new paperback, The Law of Angels, at Waterstone’s and to meet their helpful and charming staff and after that over to the West Riding to David Ford’s great little bookshop in Myrtle Place close to David Hockney’s gallery in Salt’s Mill to meet some of his customers. All in all a really good day. Thank you everybody for making it so enjoyable.
Reviews to delight the heart
Jul 1st
“I did not want this book to end.” A recent Eurocrime review and surely the best response any writer could wish for. I did not want to stop writing it either and was lucky enough to be able to go onto the fourth book The Parliament of Spies. Publishers’ Weekly also called it ‘this stellar series’ and The Bookseller praised it in their historical crime round-up on May 27th. I could not be more happy. Thank you for reading about Hildegard, thank you for engaging with the series. Thank you.
Mother’s Day
Mar 24th
Went into Waterstone’s this morning to sign copies of the Law of Angels and was delighted to see that the publishers have produced a beautiful edition. I hope the contents live up to it. Ether books have a long way to go! A brilliant cover and that lovely feel of good paper, the smell of fresh print…mmm. Better than ice cream.
Good enough to give to your ma on her special day maybe?
Hildegard is back!
Mar 13th
It’s been a long time (again) but with good reason. I’ve just had two bouts of eye surgery and sandwiched between them I wrote the fourth of Hildegard’s sleuthing adventures in medieval England. This time she was in London during the autumn parliament when Richard’s enemies made the first moves to get rid of him. It’s called The Parliament of Spies. All the usual suspects are there, of course – plus the real historical figures from a fascinating period of English history. Lies, ambition, greed, fashion, stabs in the back – it’s exactly like today. As well as that Hildegard falls for a London bad boy…
A week after finishing it the third book was published to very muted (inaudible) fanfares. In fact, I’m not sure anybody but me, Amazon, and a few friends know it’s out there. But hey! what’s wrong with being exclusive? I’m delighted with the new look cover design. It’s sinister enough to convey the dark power of the king’s enemies. I hope you enjoy it.
So, what is THE LAW OF ANGELS? You could read it and find out. Shall we have a competition?
Can you judge a book by its cover?
Nov 9th
Sometimes not. I remember my first ever book cover way back when I was tender-hearted. The hero-protagonist looked like a thug. I wept. After that I had a spate of novels published with covers the colour of boiled flesh, the sort you would’t want to pick up without gloves on your hands. Then I’ve had covers with strange people on them who never appear in the story ‘Who is this tudor person in red?’ I’ve been asked. Don’t ask, I’m only the author. Now I’m looking forward with great excitement to the cover for book three in the Hildegard series THE LAW OF ANGELS. Watch this space!!
