We chat with author Kate Heartfield about her new release The Embroidered Book, which is brimming with romance, betrayal, and enchantment.
Hi, Kate! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! I’m a novelist, short story writer, games writer and former journalist. I live out in the country near Ottawa, Canada, and I have a teenage son and a black cat.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t write stories, and I’ve always wanted to be a novelist. My first (unfinished) novel was written on my Dad’s Osborne computer in the mid-80s. All I remember about it was that it was a fantasy in an invented world, and one of the characters was named Camelia.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
First book I remember reading: a board book of The Billy Goats Gruff.
The one that made me want to become an author: I don’t think there was one single book for me, but probably the book that’s had the biggest impact on how I write historical fantasy is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. I think historical fantasy as a genre is divided into Susanna Clarke, and all the rest of us.
The book I can’t stop thinking about is Buffalo Is the New Buffalo, a collection of short fiction by Chelsea Vowel. It examines alternative anti-colonial pasts for what is now Canada, and then moves into possible futures, through an Indigenous (and specifically Métis) lens. I love the way it uses speculative history as a tool for examining the present.
Your latest novel, The Embroidered Book, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Sisters, magic, politics, heartbreak, history.
What can readers expect?
The Embroidered Book is an epic story about the lives of two sisters who become queens of different kingdoms in 18th century Europe. One of the sisters is the very well known Marie Antoinette, and the other is Charlotte (aka Maria Carolina), queen of Naples, who is less well known today. It’s a fantasy, but it follows real history closely.
Where did the inspiration for The Embroidered Book come from?
A few different places! I was thinking a lot about the choices privileged women have made to gain or hold onto political power, and I happened to be reading Antonia Fraser’s biography Marie Antoinette: The Journey. There was a sentence or two early in that book about Antoine (as she was then called) and her sister Charlotte always getting into trouble as children, so that their mother the empress separated them. I was intrigued, and being a fantasy writer, my mind immediately went to magic, which is a useful metaphor for exploring themes of power.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I really enjoyed writing the changing relationship between the two sisters over the decades. My own siblings and I have always been close, even though we don’t live in the same place and can go months without speaking when things get busy. It’s just always there, a relationship that picks up without interruption, decade after decade. I found that sisterly relationship an interesting lens to see these women’s lives through – and in general, it was interesting to write about the close but often strained relationships in the Habsburg family.
What’s next for you?
My next novel, The Valkyrie, is a queer, feminist retelling of Norse and Germanic legends. HarperVoyager is also bringing out a revised edition of my debut novel, a weird medieval fantasy now titled The Chatelaine.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
If you like The Embroidered Book, you might also enjoy A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry. It’s also set during the French Revolution, but is mostly through the eyes of revolutionaries and has a very different sort of magic system. Another recent historical fantasy I just loved was The Adventures of Amina El-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty, which has the middle-aged female pirate captain of my dreams.
