Interview with Eva Stachniak, author of THE WINTER PALACE

I'm delighted to welcome Eva Stachniak back to Historical Boys for an interview about her bestselling novel THE WINTER PALACE, one of my favorite historical novels this year and a riveting account of the rise to power of Catherine the Great. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Eva!

1. Congratulations on the publication of THE WINTER PALACE! It's an honor to have you with us. Set in Russia during the era of the Czars, this novel offers us two different characters—Catherine the Great and her spy and maid-servant, Barbara—each of whom is linked to the dramatic and ultimately deadly struggle for the throne. What inspired you to write about Catherine? Why did you choose a fictional character through which to tell Catherine’s rise to power?

Thank you, C.W.

Catherine the Great tempted me for a long time. Or I should rather say, her many incarnations. Catherine, or Sophie, for such is her birth name, arriving in Moscow at 14 to marry the Crown Prince, with just a few Russian words at her command and a meager supply of linen in dire need of mending. Catherine a vulnerable immigrant who has to reinvent herself and find friends who will not betray her. Catherine an unloved wife of a not too stable and mature husband who—jealous of her abilities—constantly threatens to push her aside.

But there is also another Catherine, the enlightened empress who reforms Russia’s institutions and strengthens its army, turning her adopted country into a formidable European power. Catherine the usurper, a woman who stole her husband’s crown and condoned his murder. Catherine a masterful politician, with steady nerves, foresight, and courage, demanding her place at the political gaming table of the 18th century Europe.

My fictional narrator? I wanted to tell Catherine’s story from an observer’s point of view in order to show the essence of Catherine’s power over people. I wanted the reader to experience Catherine’s spell over those around her, show how this Prussian princess managed to command the hearts of so many. In addition, my narrator, Varvara/Barbara, is an immigrant to Russia. Most outsiders make excellent observers, readers of clues, and hidden intentions. And, of course, she is also a spy, a perfect tool for a writer.

2. THE WINTER PALACE shows the seamy underside of life at court, especially the constant scheming, intrigue, and relentless quest for power. And Catherine’s own actions as she fights for the crown are controversial. What types of challenges did you encounter while researching this story? What surprising or interesting facts did you discover about Catherine’s role in history?

For me, born and raised in Poland, Catherine is the empress who, with the help of Prussia and Austria, wiped Poland off the map of Europe for over a hundred years, and made my own ancestors reluctant subjects of the Russian tsars. She was the one who crushed the last Polish uprising and made Poland’s king—her one time lover—her prisoner. I grew up hearing stories about her, bitter stories of a woman feared and despised, hated and cursed. What I have uncovered through my research was the more authentic Catherine, a woman behind the politician, passionate, clever, but also sometimes at a loss.

3. Barbara is both the narrator and key player in the novel. Her struggle to find her independence as a woman and a human being is an important part of this story. Because your book is centered on women and told through the eyes of a woman, do you believe it can also resonate with male readers? Is there anything in particular that you do in your book to address this issue?

I assume that the book will resonate with anyone, man or woman, fascinated or troubled by the issues of power. Catherine often referred to herself as being of “a manly” turn of mind. She certainly stood her ground against male monarchs and politicians of eighteenth century Europe. Her world is not particularly feminine, even in the sexual terms, for as empress she chose her lovers —younger and younger as she grew older—and let them go when they no longer pleased her. Not unusual for male monarchs of Europe, but still quite revolutionary for a woman.

I try to write from a universal perspective—show women and men navigating their worlds, reaching for their dreams, but there is also another reflection. The ambitious vision Peter the Great had for Russia was fully realized by two women rulers: Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine the Great. Would Russia have been a stronger, more just, or even only more prosperous country, if it were ruled by men?

4. Please tell us about any methods that you employ to give your characters authenticity.

I try very hard to see my characters, imagine their physical characteristics, hear them speak. To do it, I scrutinize all existing portraits of my historical characters looking for anything that might help: facial expressions, background scenery, the pattern on a dress. If they have written memoirs and letters—like Catherine did—I read and re-read them for the turn of phrase, the patterns of thinking.

With fictional characters I spend time writing a short biography of their lives, and when I know what they did in life and when, I look for a portrait that would help me see them. Often I find their likeness among the many portraits in a museum—hanging there to tease and temp the writer in need—and when I do, I get a good copy of this portrait and keep it on my desk when I write.

6. How do you think your novel speaks to today’s reader or how do the events you evoke resonate for today’s world?

I have a persistent sense that the Iron Curtain separated the West and the East not only politically but culturally and spiritually, and that eliminating this division is a slow and laborious process. I like to think that the stories I tell—stories that come from behind the former Iron Curtain—make this process easier. I also like to think that if you read my novels you will understand something about Russia, Poland, and other countries east of the Oder river, something you might have missed in history books.

7. Please, tell us about your next project.

The Winter Palace is the first of two novels of Catherine the Great. The second, Empress of the Night will be written from Catherine’s point of view, and the two books will, I hope, complement each other. In Empress of the Night Catherine is an absolute monarch, a sole autocrat of a great and thriving empire. I want to explore how having power has transformed the empress herself.

Thank you, Eva. We wish you much success with THE WINTER PALACE.

Eva Stachniak was born in Wrocław, Poland, and came to Canada in 1981. She has been a radio broadcaster and college English and Humanities lecturer. Her debut novel, Necessary Lies, won the Amazon.com/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and her second novel, Garden of Venus, has been translated into seven languages. Her third novel, The Winter Palace, is a #1 bestseller in Canada (Doubleday) and has also been published in the US (Bantam) and the UK (Transworld) and will soon appear in Holland, Germany, and Poland. Eva Stachniak lives in Toronto, where she is working on her second historical novel about Catherine the Great. Please visit her website.

C.W. Gortner interviews Sandra Worth and vice-versa

To celebrate tomorrow's release of THE TUDOR SECRET and of my friend Sandra Worth's new novel, PALE ROSE OF ENGLAND, I invited Sandra to be interviewed. Nothing is nicer on a release day than to take the pressure off by talking about someone else's book, but Sandra wanted to interview me, as well, so we decided to make this a joint celebration.

C.W. Gortner interviews Sandra Worth:
1) Congratulations on your new novel, PALE ROSE OF ENGLAND. Please tell us what inspired you to write this story.
Hi, Christopher! Thank you for having me here today.
Pale Rose of England relates the story of the Pretender that the Tudors called “Perkin Warbeck” and his love affair with the beautiful Scottish princess, Lady Catherine Gordon. I had written five previous novels on the Wars of the Roses, and never believed that Richard III had strangled his two nephews to death. I was one of those who thought he had smuggled the younger prince out of the country for his own safety—a narrative I presented in The Rose of York: Fall from Grace.

When a wonderful new book came out recently on the Pretender, I found a great deal of information there to confirm my sense that the Pretender really was King Edward’s younger son, Richard, Duke of York. So I asked myself, What would have been like for him?
Pale Rose of England was the result.

2) This book closes out your series of novels set in time of the Plantagenets. What do you find so fascinating about this particular era?
The Wars of the Roses is a colorful time of knights, and girls in long dresses, intrigue, and war. It has an Arthurian feel, maybe because Sir Thomas Malory who wrote Morte d’Arthur lived and wrote his tales of King Arthur’s court during this time. The love stories that populate the period bear amazing resemblance to those we cherish. There’s Romeo and Juliet, where young a pair of lovers are swept apart by the family feud and reunited through the power of love. And there’s Cinderella, where a handsome prince rescues the girl he loves from the kitchen where she has been enslaved. There’s also so much more. It’s hard to resist the allure of the Wars of the Roses!

3) Do you travel to see the sites you write about? If so, why do you find it important?
For me, travel is the best part of writing. I make it a point to visit the places I write about and find it vitally necessary to retrace my character’s footsteps. It gives me a feel for the lay of the land, the vegetation, the scent of the air, and what my characters may have seen and felt as they went about their lives. It never fails to help. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, standing there where they stood, and gazing on what they saw, a scene will leap into my mind. Those are the most rewarding moments.

For Pale Rose of England it was St. Michael’s Mount that proved invaluable. Climbing those massive stone steps hewn into the mountainside with the fierce wind from the sea blowing in my face, I was aware with every breath and every step I took that Catherine and Richard had climbed those same steps before me five hundred years earlier. I had the strongest sense of them in that place. Not only did I see what they saw as they looked around, but I felt what they might have felt as they made their way up to the fortress on the Mount with the dreams that lived in their hearts.

4) What do you find most challenging about recreating the past in fiction?
Not changing the historical record to suit my convenience! Many times I’ve wished I didn’t have to jump the hurdles that facts put in my way, and many times I just wanted to change the ending. That’s an emotional reaction, because history can be so cruel, but I always stick with the facts as best I can. It’s just a question of taste and style. There are authors (and readers) who prefer stories where imagination predominates, and authors like me (and readers like mine) who prefer stories where accuracy prevails.

5) Can you give us a hint of what you're working on next?
I’m halfway through a novel set a long way from England—in a time of war, tumult, drama, upheaval and great passion. I can’t say more than that right now because I’m superstitious and don’t want to jinx my book. But it’s one amazing story and I’m having so much fun writing it!!
Thanks so much, Christopher, for having me here, and good luck with your Feb. 1st release!

Sandra Worth Interviews C.W. Gortner:

1) Congratulations on your new novel, THE TUDOR SECRET. This is a spy novel and quite a different genre from your historical fiction novels on Juana La Loca and Catherine de Medici. Can you tell us why you felt you wanted to try a new direction? What is the attraction of writing a political thriller set in Tudor times?
Hi Sandra, thanks for interviewing me!

I hadn’t planned to write a political thriller set in Tudor times. Actually, I was researching another character for a possible novel when I stumbled upon research about the birth of the Tudor intelligencer, or espionage, system. I was fascinated. I knew that Elizabeth I had been protected by one of the most sophisticated intelligence systems in the world but I’d never stopped to consider the details of what being a Tudor spy might entail, or what the seeds of that service might have looked like before Elizabeth assumed her throne. While the Tudors have been covered from nearly every angle, nothing I’d read explored the possibility that Elizabeth may have had her own intimate spy, someone devoted to her special interests— and someone who had his own deadly secret. I was so inspired that I started drafting the outline for THE TUDOR SECRET; while unsure about embarking on a new direction, once I began writing I realized that I really enjoyed some of the liberties working with purely fictional characters allowed. While my book interweaves factual people and storylines, I could also give rein to my imagination.

2) This book opens an entirely new series for you. How can you keep a spy series going when you are also doing research for another Historical Fiction novel? Do you ever feel overwhelmed? Do you ever confuse the characters?
I don't get the stories or characters confused because the books are so different. I also don’t work on them at the same time! Also, I try to keep my Tudor series separate from my stand-alone novels, in that I won’t write a stand-alone book set in the same time-frame as one of the Spymaster books. Earlier or later is fine, but not the same.

3) Do you visit the places you write about? If so, why do you feel it’s important, and what is the most memorable thing that happened to you during a research trip?
I always travel to the places I write about. For me, it’s vital to see the actual sites where my characters lived, no matter how much they may have changed. I often return from research trips revitalized; landscape, internal and external, is very important to me. The most memorable thing that happened to me during a research trip was at the Chateau of Chenonceau in the Loire valley. I was researching Catherine de Medici and the manuscript was not working at all for me. I kept feeling as if Catherine herself eluded me. But when I visited her chateau and saw for myself the uniquely feminine Renaissance spirit she had infused into it, it opened my mind. I realized I’d been seeing Catherine just as her legend described— unemotional, ruthless, devoted solely to the pursuit of power. Her chateau revealed a secret side of her to me, a Catherine I think very few got to see, and it inspired me to delve further beneath her exterior, to discover the woman she might have been.

4) What do you like most about- and dislike most - about recreating the past in fiction?
I like creating the sensation – sound, smell, taste, sight— of the past in fiction, to walk through Tudor London with my lead character, Brendan, and experience the city in all its squalor and glamour, just as he does. I dislike having to depict some of the harsher realities of the time, especially cruelty to women and animals. I often say that while I love visiting the past, I don’t want to reside there permanently.

5) Can you tell us what you're working on now?
I just finished a stand-alone novel about Isabella of Castile, which is currently with my editor at Ballantine Books. I’m now writing the second book in the Spymaster series, which takes Brendan back to court in the months before Mary Tudor’s marriage to Philip II and embroils him in another deadly plot against Elizabeth. This time, however, Brendan is savvier and believes he knows what he’s up against. He’s in for some very dark surprises.

Thank you, Sandra, and I wish you much success with your new book!