We chat with author Holly Race about Six Wild Crowns, which is a breathtaking epic fantasy of dragons, courtly intrigue, sapphic yearning, and the wives of Henry VIII as you’ve never seen them before.
Hi, Holly! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Of course! I live in Cambridge in the UK, and while I’ve always worked in stories, I didn’t originally want to be an author. I used to work in television as a script editor, finding new talent and working with screenwriters on their ideas. It’s a job I loved, but about fifteen years ago an idea for a YA urban fantasy knocked on my door and refused to leave, so when I was made redundant I took the opportunity to turn the idea into a book, and it became my debut trilogy Midnight’s Twins. I haven’t looked back since, and now adore being a full time fantasy author.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed with stories. I’m an only child, and I grew up in a little village surrounded by animals and history (my childhood home was a 16th century thatched cottage that used to be a teapot museum, so we were constantly finding shards of antique pottery in the garden!). I think that kind of childhood lends itself to a love of stories and imagination, especially when you have two creative parents who encouraged whimsy, as I do. One of my most treasured possessions is a copy of Roald Dahl’s The Minpins, which my parents gifted to me for my seventh birthday. They had highlighted the final words in the book: ‘And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.’
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Hunger Games (I’m sure I’m not alone in this!)
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: So many! But most recently: A Song of Legends Lost by M H Ayinde (which is out now) and This Vicious Hunger by Francesca May, which is published in August.
Your latest novel, Six Wild Crowns, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Six the Musical but fantasy.
What can readers expect?
Feminine rage, a queernormative world, Tudor easter eggs, lapdragons, an underwater palace, rivals to BFFs, sapphic yearning, is she crazy or does she just exist in a patriarchy?
Where did the inspiration for Six Wild Crowns come from?
Anne Boleyn was my childhood heroine (she and Aragorn were my first crushes). My obsession with the Tudors was so strong that when I was seventeen I wrote a play, imaginatively titled BOLEYN, and made my friends act in it. Twenty years later, I was brainstorming ideas for my next book and wrote ‘Six wives of Henry VIII, but fantasy’ and my skin tingled with pleasure at the thought of immersing myself in two worlds that I adore – the Tudors and fantasy – and calling it work.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
All six queens wormed their way into my heart during the process of writing this. The main characters in this first installment are Boleyn and Seymour, and their dynamic was a real joy to explore: Boleyn is an outspoken firecracker on the outside, but quite soft on the inside, whereas Seymour has a vulnerable and quiet shell that masks a backbone of steel. Playing them off against each other and seeing how they change and come to understand each other is at the heart of Six Wild Crowns.
Howard and Cleves are my favourite secondary characters, and I’m delighted that I get to make them POV characters in book two. We don’t know much about Catherine Howard or Anne of Cleves unfortunately, and that gave me a certain amount of freedom to fill in their backstories, but I like to think I’ve remained fairly faithful to what we know of their personalities, without reducing them to the cliched, misogynistic ideas that have been peddled about them over the centuries.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Six Wild Crowns was actually the easiest book I’ve ever written, and I think that’s because I wrote it at a real low point, when I thought my writing career was probably over. It gave me a certain amount of freedom and a lot of rage, which fuelled my writing! I felt as though I had nothing to lose.
Henry, the king, was probably the toughest to write. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that he’s the villain of the book, but it was so important that he was three dimensional. I ended up taking inspiration from the messed up dynamics of the current British royal family, and in particular Prince Harry. I asked myself: what would Harry’s feelings have been if he’d ended up becoming heir to the throne? Because that’s what happened to Henry – his brother Arthur was supposed to become king, but died when he was a teenager. That must have been so devastating and confusing for Henry. It must be a strange position to be in: part of this huge institution but also, by dint of being the ‘spare’, being an outsider of sorts. So I ended up having a lot of sympathy for Henry, although that doesn’t excuse what he did in real life and what he does in the book!
What’s next for you?
I’m busy editing book two, and drafting book three in the series, as well as working on something YA romantasy-shaped.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?
It’s a really exciting year for books! As well as the books mentioned above, I loved Hungerstone by Kat Dunn, The Book of Heartbreak by Ova Ceren, and The Second Death of Locke by Tori Bovalino. I’m also looking forward to reading A Beautiful Evil by Bea Fitzgerald, who is a must-read author for me, both in fantasy and crime.
