Guest Post with Helene Harrison

Today I welcome Helene Harrison to my blog. Helen and I shared a very special day last year, in fact it was one year ago today. That day was the publication day of our debut books! Since then it has been a pleasure to get to know Helene, and now you can find out a little bit more about her yourself.

Tell us a little about yourself.

Thanks for having me as a guest on your blog, Amy! I’m Helene (pronounced like Helen) and I’m a historian, author, and blogger. I write my blog at TudorBlogger.com though writing my books does take time away from being able to blog as much as I’d like. I have master’s degrees in history and library management from Northumbria University and in my spare time I enjoy cross stitch and blackwork embroidery, reading, and visiting historical sites.

How did you get into writing?

I started my blog when I finished my history undergraduate degree back in 2012 as I felt a little bereft even though I was going on to do my master’s degree. I wanted to share my love for history with others which is how it started. Then I started posting reviews of history books on my blog which led to Pen and Sword getting in touch. I was commissioned to write my first book at the beginning of 2021 and ‘Elizabethan Rebellions: Conspiracy, Intrigue and Treason’ was published in January 2023.

What era do you write about and what drew you to that time period(s)?

As the name of my blog, TudorBlogger.com, suggests I focus largely on the Tudor period, though I also enjoy going a little further back into the Wars of the Roses and the reigns of Richard III and Edward IV. I didn’t really start to write and research into the Tudors properly until my undergraduate degree, building on modules on Tudor Rebellions and Elizabeth I that I did during my A Levels. My GCSE in history was 20th century history so I didn’t get to delve into medieval and early modern history until the age of 17 or 18. And I loved this earlier period so much that I didn’t really want to leave it again!

Can you tell us a little bit about your most recent book?

My first book ‘Elizabethan Rebellions: Conspiracy, Intrigue and Treason’ was published in January 2023 by Pen and Sword Books. This examines rebellions that Elizabeth I had to contend with during her reign, including the Northern Rising of 1569, the Ridolfi Plot of 1571, the Throckmorton and Parry Plots of 1583, the Babington Plot of 1586, and the Essex Rebellion of 1601. Studying these rebellions can help to understand a bit more about Elizabeth I’s state of mind and her method of governing.

Where can people order your book(s)?

My book can be ordered direct from my publisher at Pen and Sword or from your usual retailer including Amazon, Waterstones, Hive, Bookshop.org or Barnes & Noble. It may well be available from other retailers, so check with your local bookshop as you may be able to request it if they don’t have it.

Are you working on something at the moment? If so, can you spill the beans a little?

My second book, ‘Tudor Executions: From Nobility to the Block’, will be published in July 2024, also by Pen and Sword Books, though not yet available for pre-order. Keep an eye on my social media for when it’s available to order. It is in the final stages of editing and indexing now. The book came from a single thing that I discovered which was that, by the end of Elizabeth I’s reign, there were no dukes left in England. I wanted to know why and how this happened. I am currently working on my third book, about Anne Boleyn, though not a biography but looking at a different angle. I hope people will enjoy this one as well when I can tell you a bit more about it! That one will hopefully be out around summer 2025.

How do you go about your research?

It’s always interesting to hear about other people’s research and methods. For myself, I try and get a brief overview of whatever I’m writing about first, choosing a key book or two to read cover to cover. Once I know the basics, I will go to the primary sources, looking at letters and artefacts and parliamentary acts, often referring to the sources used in the books I read for the overview. I always look at where other authors whose opinions I’m looking at have gone for their sources, and go back to the originals, never taking an author’s opinion at face value as I might read a source differently to someone else.

Do you have a favourite historical source?

I love British History Online

It was one of the first places I discovered for primary source material relating to the Tudors. It’s the home of the digitised Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, and the State Papers of Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, as well as Spanish and Venetian State Papers, so it’s a really handy resource to have access to, particularly for those who don’t necessarily have access to documents in physical archives or who, like me, find it difficult to travel and access new things. Archive.org is also a great resource for old books out of copyright.

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring authors, what would it be?

I think I would have to say to get yourself out there – start a blog or a Facebook page or an Instagram and just share your passion with others. You never know what might come out of it. I’d wanted to write and publish for so long, but I’d given up thinking it would ever happen. But it did! I was 30 years old when I signed my first contract, and there seems to be almost an assumption that things should have happened before then but sometimes things come later than you think, and you just have to persevere and not lose your belief that it can happen for you.

Can you tell us your favourite fiction and favourite non-fiction book?

This is a tricky one! My favourite non-fiction books on the Tudors would have to be ‘Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I: The Mother and Daughter Who Changed History’ by Tracy Borman, and ‘The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn’ by Eric Ives, an older biography but what I consider the Anne Boleyn ‘Bible’. I also love the books that accompany the recent exhibitions at Hever Castle by Owen Emmerson and Kate McCaffrey – ‘Becoming Anne: Connections, Culture, Court’ and ‘Catherine and Anne: Rivals, Queens, Mothers’. I’m afraid I can’t narrow it down to just one! Fiction-wise, I think it would have to be ‘The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’ by Stuart Turton, and ‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig. I also have a soft spot for the ‘Kindred Spirits’ series by Jennifer C. Wilson which has the ghosts of the likes of Anne Boleyn, Richard III, Elizabeth I, and Mary Queen of Scots in various historical places in the modern day.