I'm going to have to beg off here--I wrote The Silver Sword about ten years ago, so my memory is a little foggy. I do know that I loved learning about Jan Huss and church history--I learned so much that I had not known about that time.
I also loved handling the challenge of how to have a female character pass for male in a time when men lived together constantly. As a knight, Anika would have faced an incredibly tough challenge--first, her strength was no match for a man's. Second, how did she attend to her personal feminine needs? Third, how could she even walk wearing all that armor?
I took what I had learned about knighthood, chivalry, and daily life and tried to be as logical and rational as possible. What Anika lacked in brawn, she made up in brains, so I ran with that angle.
And, of course, you'll notice that the castles in this book are guarded by mastiffs! That, too, is an accurate fact, as mastiffs were bred to guard castles and keep their masters company. :-) In other words, exactly what they do today.
Tomorrow: questions and answers. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments box so I can answer them!
~~Angie
1 comment:
Maybe it's because of my nursing background, but I also wondered about managing those "personal feminine needs"! That's one thing about many historical novels that just blows my mind, whether the woman is disguised as a man or not, but here it's just magnified. It was a whole 'nother world!
And an ominous-looking castle guarded by huge mastiffs? I would definitely keep my distance!
This has nothing to do with the book, but did you have the dogs when your kids were little? If so, did the dogs and kids always do well with each other? Did it ever make you nervous, especially at the beginning?
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