As a long-time contributor to the Unusual Historicals blog, I’m pleased that it
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| RWA Conference 2013 |
You write historical
romance, a pretty conventional genre.
What makes your historicals unusual?
First,
I select unusual time periods. The
English Regency (think Jane Austen) is the most popular period for historical
romance. I write primarily in the
medieval period. And even there, the
most popular part of the medieval period tends to be the earlier periods, the
1100s and 1200s. Although I have written
primarily Fourteenth Century settings, I’ve also written books set in the
Sixteenth and now Seventeenth Centuries.
And
although England is a popular setting, I’ve traveled afield from the norm. When I slipped across the border to write a
Scottish setting, I chose the Borders, not the more popular Highlands. And I believe, though I cannot prove, that I
am the only author of historical romance to ever set a book in Flanders.
Another
thing that is unusual about my books for romance, though not for straight
historical fiction, is that I tend to include real history, and often real
historical characters in my books.
English kings Edward III and Richard II and James V of Scotland are
among those who have played a part in my stories.
What draws you to a particular
setting?
I
tend to be interested in periods that fall through the cracks and haven’t been
fully explored (or overdone!). Time and
time again, I’ll find myself needing a particular fact about a specific two
year period that just isn’t covered in detail in the history books. When I decided to do a Scottish Borders
trilogy, for example, I did not set it during the era of Mary, Queen of Scots,
but in the reign of her father. James V
was a Scottish king so relatively obscure that there was only one full-length
biography of him!
Any time periods you
haven’t written that you would like to explore?
One
of the challenges of the time periods I write is that my female characters have
such limited options. Society was extremely stratified, both for men and women.
As I grapple with the heroine’s journey, I ultimately have three options:
marriage, the church, or prostitution. And only one of those constitutes a happy
ending! I’ve several ideas for American
settings (talk about unusual in romance!), particularly late 19th century and
early 20th century, but nothing on the drawing board at the moment.
So what’s new?
I’m
about to release my first self-published book, THE WITCH FINDER. (Any day now!) While it remains a romance, it is darker and
more historically focused than my work for Harlequin. The story takes place on the Scottish
Borders, right after the Restoration of a king to the throne after a period of
political and religious conflict that devastated the country for years. Amidst all this uncertainty, Scotland had its
worst witch hunting, particularly along the Borders. The story is of a witch finder and a woman
suspected of being a witch. That’s about
the biggest conflict between hero and heroine I’ve ever had to overcome!
What’s next?
My
next books for Harlequin will return to the English court of the Fourteenth
Century. The Royal Wedding stories
center on the real weddings of the king’s two oldest children, both of whom
married for love. My couples are caught
up in the events surrounding them.
SECRETS AT COURT will be out in March of 2014 and WHISPERS AT COURT
later that year.
You’ll
be hearing more about all these as I blog here!
Webpage:
www.blythegifford.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/BlytheGifford
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/BlytheGifford
Pinterest:
www.pinterest.com/BlytheGifford
Fourteenth Century
Stand
alone stories. King Edward III appears
in those marked s
INNOCENCE UNVEILED –
1327 s (Flanders)
HIS BORDER BRIDE – 1356
s (Scottish Borders)
THE KNAVE AND
THE
MAIDEN – 1357
(Southwest England)
SECRETS
AT COURT – 1361 s
(Coming in 2014)
WHISPERS
AT COURT – 1363 s
(Coming in 2014)
The
Weston Daughters (King Richard II appears in both books.)
THE HARLOT’S
DAUGHTER –
1386 (England)
IN
THE
MASTER’S BED
– 1388 (Cambridge, England)
Sixteenth Century –
1528-29
The Brunson Clan Trilogy - Scottish Borders (James V appears in Books Two and
Three)
RETURN OF THE BORDER WARRIOR
CAPTIVE OF THE BORDER LORD
TAKEN BY THE BORDER REBEL
Seventeenth Century – 1661-62
THE WITCH FINDER
After many years in public relations, advertising and marketing, Blythe Gifford
started writing seriously after a corporate layoff. Ten years and one layoff later, she became an overnight success when she sold her first book to the Harlequin Historical line. Since then, she has published eight romances set in England and on the Scottish Borders, many featuring characters born on the wrong side of the royal blanket. THE WITCH FINDER will be released in the fall of 2013. For more information, visit www.blythegifford.com
Author
photo Jennifer Girard
