Welcome to my Blog Series, Historical Fiction Author of the Month.
Each month, I will showcase a different historical fiction author. Their books will range from romance to mystery and adventure to crime, and will be from many different eras. I hope you discover a new author and their work to enjoy. Happy reading!
In this post, I am delighted to feature author Elizabeth St. John.
Elizabeth St. John
Elizabeth St.John’s critically acclaimed historical fiction novels tell the stories of her ancestors: extraordinary women whose intriguing kinship with England’s kings and queens brings an intimately unique perspective to Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times.
Inspired by family archives and residences from Lydiard Park to the Tower of London, Elizabeth spends much of her time exploring ancestral portraits, diaries, and lost gardens. And encountering the occasional ghost. But that’s another story.
Living between California, England, and the past, Elizabeth is the International Ambassador for The Friends of Lydiard Park, an English charity dedicated to conserving and enhancing this beautiful centuries-old country house and park. As a curator for The Lydiard Archives, she is constantly looking for an undiscovered treasure to inspire her next novel.
Elizabeth’s books include her trilogy, The Lydiard Chronicles, set in 17th Century England during the Civil War, and her newest release, The Godmother’s Secret, which explores the medieval mystery of the missing Princes in the Tower of London.
What enticed you to write in this genre?
Growing up in England where the weather promotes reading and the countryside is full of castles and ancient churches, I spent much of my childhood buried in old books, family papers and walking around ruins. My parents loved history and reading and passed those genes on to me. Our favourite days were spent “St.John-hunting” where we would follow some thread in our family tree and end up in a forgotten churchyard or country house, face-to-face with an ancestor. When I came to write The Lydiard Chronicles I felt I knew the characters intimately because of my familiarity with their correspondence, wills, diaries and portraits preserved at our ancestral home of Lydiard Park and within The Lydiard Archives.
I’m very fortunate since my family kept many personal documents, and an extensive family tree preserved on great pieces of Antiquarian sized paper which had been handed down by generations. Those inspired me to want to write only relying on primary sources, and so I then visited museums and libraries where records might be stored. The Lydiard Chronicles draw on Lucy Hutchinson’s seventeenth century memoirs, which are archived at Nottingham Castle. When I first encountered them thirty years ago, they were hidden in a battered file cabinet in the castle offices, and by asking and poking around I was thrilled to see the notebooks first hand. Now they have a beautiful dedicated display within the Castle.
When I was looking for inspiration for my latest novel, The Godmother’s Secret, I literally entered my own name into our digitised family tree to see who else was recorded. About half a dozen Elizabeths appeared—Victorian, Georgian, and Tudor women; some who had lived at court, others who led simple lives in the English countryside. But I was intrigued to find Elysabeth St.John who lived in the 15th century – and over the moon when I discovered she was aunt to Henry Tudor and the godmother to Edward V – the eldest brother of the missing Princes in the Tower. I had a new family story to investigate!
Explore Elizabeth’s Books
The Godmother’s Secret
If you knew the fate of the Princes in the Tower, would you tell? Or forever keep the secret? Bound by blood and rent by honour, Lady Elysabeth Scrope is torn between the crown and her family, knowing that if her loyalty is questioned, she is in peril of losing everything—including her life.
https://geni.us/GodmothersSecret
The Lydiard Chronicles: A True Family Saga
The Lady of the Tower
Love should set you free. Not send you to the Tower of London. Lucy St.John, a beautiful highborn orphan at the court of King James, faces a devastating betrayal, forcing her to fight for her survival—and her honour—in a world of deceit and debauchery.
By Love Divided
Allen and Luce Apsley are swept up in the chaos of war as they defend their opposing causes and protect those they love. Will war unite or divide them? And will they find love and a home to return to—if they survive. In the dawn of England’s great rebellion, love is the final battleground.
Written in Their Stars
The rebel. The spymistress. The courtier. As the women work from the shadows to topple Cromwell’s regime, their husbands fight openly for Charles II’s throne on England’s bloody battlefields. Separated by loyalty and bound by love, Luce, Nan and Frances hold the fate of England—and their family—in their hands.
You can find out more about Elizabeth and her work by checking out her social media links below:
Website: http://www.elizabethjstjohn.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElizStJohn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethJStJohn
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethjstjohn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethjstjohn/
Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/elizabeth-st-john
Amazon Author Page: https://geni.us/AmazonElizabethStJohn
Goodreads: https://geni.us/GoodreadsElizStJohn
Pam Lecky Books 
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