The Siege Winter
Ariana Franklin and Samantha Norman, 2015
HarperCollins
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062282569
Summary
A powerful historical novel by the late Ariana Franklin and her daughter Samantha Norman, The Siege Winter is a tour de force mystery and murder, adventure and intrigue, a battle for a crown, told by two courageous young women whose fates are intertwined in twelfth century England’s devastating civil war.
1141. England is engulfed in war as King Stephen and his cousin, the Empress Matilda, vie for the crown. In this dangerous world, not even Emma, an eleven-year-old peasant, is safe. A depraved monk obsessed with redheads kidnaps the ginger-haired girl from her village and leaves her for dead. When an archer for hire named Gwyl finds her, she has no memory of her previous life.
Unable to abandon her, Gwyl takes the girl with him, dressing her as a boy, giving her a new name—Penda—and teaching her to use a bow. But Gwyn knows that the man who hurt Penda roams free, and that a scrap of evidence she possesses could be very valuable.
Gwyl and Penda make their way to Kenilworth, a small but strategically important fortress that belongs to fifteen-year-old Maud. Newly wedded to a boorish and much older husband after her father’s death, the fierce and determined young chatelaine tempts fate and Stephen’s murderous wrath when she gives shelter to the empress.
Aided by a garrison of mercenaries, including Gwyl and his odd red-headed apprentice, Maud will stave off Stephen’s siege for a long, brutal winter that will bring a host of visitors to Kenilworth—kings, soldiers...and a sinister monk with deadly business to finish. (From the publisher.)
Author Bios
Diana Norman (aka Ariana Franklin)
• Birth—August 25, 1933
• Where—London, England, UK
• Death—January 27, 2011
• Where—London, England
• Awards—British Crime Writers' Assn. Historical Dagger Award
Diana Norman was a British author and journalist. She is well known for her historical crime fiction, written under the pen name Ariana Franklin.
Personal
Norman was born Mary Diana Narracott. She lived in London until World War II when her family moved her to Devon to escape the blitz. Her father wrote for the (London) Times, and although she lacked formal education—she left school at 15—she followed in his journalistic footsteps. At 17 she returned to London to work for a local newspaper in the East End.
At 20 Norman was hired by the Daily Herald, becoming the youngest reporter on Fleet Street. She covered royal visits, war exercises with the Royal Marines (she wore camouflage), and an occasional murder.
In 1957 she married a fellow journalist, Barry Norman, now a well-known media personality and film critic for the BBC. The couple raised two daughters. Their marriage is the subject of a 2013 memoir published by Barry, See You in the Morning.
Writing
After becoming a mother Norman gave up journalism and devoted herself full-time to writing, first medieval history and later historical fiction. Her first book, nonfiction, came out in 1963: The Stately Ghosts of England. Two more nonfiction works followed—Road from Singapore (1970) and Terrible Beauty: Life of Constance Markievicz, 1868–1927 (1987).
In 1980 Nornam turned to historical novels, still writing under her own name, Diana Norman. Her first novel, Fitzempress' Law, set in Henry II's reign, came out in 1980, and she followed it with 10 more.
In 2006, with City of Shadows, she began writing under the name Ariana Franklin, eventually publishing seven Franklin books, three of which featured the fictional medieval pathologist, Adelia Aguilar. Mistress of the Art of Death, published in 2007, won the British Crime Writers' Association Historical Dagger Award for the year's best historical crime novel. Her final work, The Siege Winter, a stand alone, was written with her daughter Samantha Norman; it was published posthumously in 2015.
Norman died in 2011 after a long illness from vasculitis, a rare autoimmune disease. (Adapted from The Guardian obituary and from Wikipedia. Both sources accessed 3/23/2015.)
Samanatha Norman
• Birth—December 28, 1962
• Where—Datchworth, Hertfordshire, England, UK
• Education—N/A
• Currently—lives in London, England
Samantha Norman began working life in publishing as a junior editor in children's books before moving in to freelance journalism. She became variously a boxing correspondent, feature writer, travel writer, theatre critic, film critic and showbusiness columnist for most national newspapers and magazines before falling in to television where she worked as a presenter for many years. Nowadays, as well as writing, she is an interviewer for Celebrity Productions, specifically their Audience With ... series.
She completed The Siege Winter, a historical thriller written by her mother Diana Norman, aka Ariana Franklin. The book was published in 2015, four years after her mother's death in January, 2011 (see above). According to an interview with Bookish, Norman credited her mother for teaching her how to write:
Shortly after leaving university, I found myself in a rather dull office job with the ambition—although, alas, not the opportunity—to become a journalist. As in all times of crisis, I went home to mum—a trained journalist herself—who sat down with me and patiently taught me how to research a subject, conduct an interview, and craft a story. Under her tutelage I went on to have the most wonderful career traveling the world and visiting extraordinary places to interview remarkable people.
(Author bio adapted from the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Readers will note Franklin’s hand in the storytelling and see the freshness Norman brings to the tale, filled with fascinating characters who drive the plot as much as the tempestuous backdrop. With its bit of intrigue, historical setting and lovely characters, readers will be captivated by this compelling tale.
Historical Novels Review
(Starred review.) Norman ably fills the hole in historical fiction left by the death of her late mother, Franklin by bringing the author's final manuscript to fruition with aplomb.... Norman and Franklin excel at showing how the war impacts everyone in this richly researched, female-driven historical mystery. —Liza Oldham, Beverly, MA
Library Journal
Franklin and Norman draw a tale of intrigue and violence from the Anarchy, the 12th-century struggle over the right to rule England between Stephen of Blois and Empress Matilda.... [A] thoroughly captivating tale.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they more one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you, the reader, begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers are skillful at hiding clues in plain sight. How well does the author hide the clues in this work?
4. Does the author use red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray?
5. Talk about plot's twists & turns—those surprising developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray. Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense? Are they plausible? Or do the twists & turns feel forced and preposterous—inserted only to extend the story.
6. Does the author ratchet up the story's suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? How does the author build suspense?
7. What about the ending—is it satisfying? Is it probable or believable? Does it grow out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 2). Or does the ending come out of the blue? Does it feel forced...tacked-on...or a cop-out? Or perhaps it's too predictable. Can you envision a better, or different, ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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