Author Guest Post + GIVEAWAY: Mistress Shakespeare

Have you heard of MISTRESS SHAPKESPEARE? This book is definitley on my list. Just released, it promises to be a fabulous story...

Today I have the great pleasure of welcoming the author of this enchanting book, Karen Harper.

ENCHANTED BY THE TUDORS

by Karen Harper

for Enchanted By Josephine Blogspot

          I love the name of this informative and inspiring blogspot, Enchanted by Josephine.  It so perfectly summarizes that swept-away feeling readers have while immersed in a really good book.  And it perfectly describes the feeling I get when I research and write my historical novels, such as MISTRESS SHAKESPEARE.

          I’m not sure why, but I have been enchanted by Tudor England and its “rock-star” monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, for almost as long as I can remember.  I am never happier than when I’m writing about her or her kingdom.  I’ve done a nine-book historical mystery series where she is the amateur sleuth, I’ve trekked all over England looking for Tudor sites—and now I am writing the books of my heart set in Tudor times.

          MISTRESS SHAKESPEARE is a novel I’ve wanted to write for a long time.  For fifteen years I taught Brit Lit to high school students and really tried to make Shakespeare and his times come alive for them.  We put on an Elizabethan Festival where students dressed in Tudor garb.  We had a King Henry and Queen Elizabeth and her court, a joust, play scenes—and a (mock!) beheading.  During those years, I was thrilled to discover in my reading that Will Shakespeare could have had another wife or at the very least, the love of his life.

          In a still-extant record book (There is a copy of this on my website www.karenharperauthor.com), Will Shakespeare is recorded as being betrothed to two Annes:  Anne Whateley of Temple Grafton and Anne Hathaway (his well-known wife) of Shottery.  But could Will have had two wives, or at least a Stratford wife and a London wife?  The novel is a love story but it is also a mystery, for many clues in Shakespeare’s life point to a “dark lady” he loved, his inspiration and torment.

          I must admit too that the stunning cover of MISTRESS SHAKESPEARE swept me away.  It is actually a painting of a woman from a later English era, but it so perfectly captures the passion Anne Whateley has for life as well as her beauty and strength.  

          In the movie Enchanted, a storybook princess is swept into a modern era.  Despite the fact that Anne Whateley and Will were products of their time and place, I think they would have done well if they had to adapt to our times.  Their creativity and backbone—and their undying love for each other—would stand them well in any era.  I hope my readers will be enchanted by the characters and the teeming-with-life Tudor world of MISTRESS SHAKESPEARE. 

What a perfectly suited post!  Lovely!  Thank you so much, Karen.

I'd like to thank Kaitlyn of Penguingroup USA for graciously offering 1 copy of this amazing book to1 of my lucky readers- Thanks so much!

On to the GIVEAWAY!

TO ENTER: (US only)

1 chance:  Leave a comment an your email address.


5 extra chances to followers


5 more chances for blogging, tweeting or posting on your sidebar

Winner announced on Jan. 22nd

GOOOD LUCK!!!