November is the month of Thanksgiving in the U.S., when Americans remember Native Americans with gratitude for their assistance to new immigrants, which helped them survive difficult times in a new land in the early 1600s.
Over the next few centuries, the roles of these two groups were reversed— immigrants’ lives stabilized or even prospered while Native Americans struggled to survive, often in new places not of their own choosing. Each group presented a challenge to the other, but courageous individuals in each group helped the other in time of need (as shown in the novel discussed below).
From this background comes a new historical novel, The Healing of Natalie Curtis. I’m privileged to feature a short interview with the author, Jane Kirkpatrick, who weaves the historical details of this late 19th-century woman’s life with fictional elements into a fascinating true-to-life novel.
Natalie, the protagonist, an actual historical character, grows up on the East Coast devoting her life to musical performance, with little knowledge of life (particularly for Native Americans)in the American West. Her sudden loss of confidence and her future as a professional musician leave her devastated for years. Then she discovers with her own eyes the realities of life for Native Americans (around the time of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency).
The two themes of this novel—Natalie’s healing and her crusade for improvement of conditions for the first (Native) Americans—animate a story of courageous adventure that’s also a tapestry rich in period details. I strongly recommend The Healing of Natalie Curtisto readers who enjoy not just entertainment, but inspiration and heroism. (I would rate this novel as mild, in terms of heat, violence, and profanity.)
Readers, may we find much to be grateful for in this season, and someone to help in their time of need!
Author interview with Jane Kirkpatrick:
Q: Natalie Curtis isn’t well-known to most Americans. How did you find out about her, and what inspired you to write The Healing of Natalie Curtis?
Jane Kirkpatrick: I had the privilege of hearing Lesley Polling-Kemps speak about her book Ladies of the Canyon at a Women Writing the West conference in New Mexico ten years ago. Natalie was one of those ladies and I was intrigued so sought more information about her. We shared a life having spent years living within a Native culture and that interested me.
Q: As you read and learned more about Natalie, what particularly captivated you about her?
JK: There is always an “unanswered question” for me that drives me in a story. This one was “How did this white woman manage to record Indian songs, get President Roosevelt to hear her concerns and challenge a terrible law.”
Q: Your novels frequently feature main characters from outside the cultural mainstream. What kinds of sources do you consult to gain understanding about their lives and perspectives?
JK: I scour ancestry records, try to meet descendants I can interview to hear family stories. I look at other things they might have written (or made speeches about), visit libraries which might hold obscure materials, speak with historical society people, read books about the time periods and read books my characters might have read. I look at maps of the time, have spent time in the basements of courthouses evaluating property records, read essays about a landscape that’s relevant. I research “work” a character might have done. If I can find articles written by hunters and fishermen living at that historical time, I feel like I’ve found gold because those folks are very detail oriented. In a story about a Florida woman (Mystic Sweet Communion) I found a book titled “My 50 Years of Hunting the Everglades.” Oh my, such great information for someone who never lived in Florida! I also look at You Tube videos of a place, visit if I can, check out the history of little towns my character might have visited. I’m weaving threads of landscapes, relationships, spiritual and work.
Q: What was your biggest surprise in researching this story?
JK: It may sound obscure, but I loved hearing that her brother George wanted to write a book—and that he did, under a pen name. I was able to buy a copy. It’s lovely. Titled “The Wooing of a Recluse.” Otherwise, it was discovering that the Indian Rights movement was so active during that time. And of course the horror of the Code of Indian Offenses and reading actual Indian Agent reports.
Q: When you’re writing about real people from the past, how much do you need to alter their life details to make their stories work as novels?
JK: A biography tells us what a person did and when they did it. A novel looks at why they might have done what they did and how they might have felt. I stay close to the facts of what and when and take literary license for the why and feelings a character might have expressed. The motivation and the feelings still have to be presented in ways that the reader will believe that “yes, it could have happened that way.” So it’s a challenge but I don’t alter the facts very much. I also have to decide what facts to leave out so a reader won’t fall asleep.
Q: What were the most challenging aspects of writing this novel?
JK: The travel/place issues. Natalie and George traveled to so many reservations and to New York and to the ranch in Arizona George had worked on and to Pasadena to Indian Activist folk and then to Washington D.C. and by train to the World Fair in St. Louis, etc. It made my head spin! So I had to try to identify what was critical about which place she visited and how that experience moved the story forward without readers feeling like they were part of the Travel Channel!
Q: As a native of the western U.S., I’m fascinated that many of your novels are set in places I’ve lived or traveled through. How did you find this focus in your writing?
JK: I always love Oregon Trail stories and was drawn to the West after my sister moved to Oregon in 1960. My parents drove from Wisconsin to Oregon every Christmas to visit her. That’s how I spent Christmas vacation for four years! Eventually I came west during the summer and knew I wanted to come back, which I did in 1974. I’m a product of all the Oregon Trail stories and pioneering challenges I read about (and later experienced with my husband). I took strength from reading about historical women in particular and didn’t want their stories to be forgotten. Hence (I love that word!) my life in historical women’s stories.
Q: What would you like readers to take away after reading The Healing of Natalie Curtis?
JK: That they might pay attention to the power of following your heart and the importance of listening to the stories of others and our own stories.
Thank you, Jane, for sharing about your story and writing process!
What would you do if you were a David in a small nation, facing down a Goliath, a giant enemy who appeared to be coming to destroy your town and kill everyone you loved?
Would you try to reason with him, run, hide, or fight?
The Dutch people confronted this dilemma in the last half of the 1500s:
Many of the Dutch had left the Roman Church. Now they followed the teachings of Jean Calvin. They were desperate to keep their freedoms—religious and political.
Emperor Charles V, the Dutch ruler, didn’t interfere with their religious diversity
When Philip II, Charles’s son and a fanatical member of the Roman Church, took overin 1555, he showed the Dutch no tolerance and sent in Spanish troops to consolidate his power.
How did the Dutch respond?
Depending on their ages, occupations, and religions:
Some tried to negotiate with the Spanish
Some fled as Spanish armies approached
Some fought, on land or sea
Dutch Sea beggars were viewed by some as patriots, by others as pirates, and yet by others as a combination of both (similar to Francis Drake in England).
This month I discuss Cecelia’s novel, Sea Beggars. It not only entertains but can help us reflect on how such choices impact the lives of individuals and nations.
Readers, what would you have done? Would you judge the characters as heroes or villains?
Were the Sea Beggars brave freedom fighters or evil pirates? The answer to this question will determine if you view this novel’s characters as heroes or villains.
This novel immediately sets readers in the midst of big trouble, as the vastly under-armed Dutch struggle for independence from the Western world’s dominant military power, Spain, and its ally, the Roman Church.
What’s the magic of this story? Author Cecelia Holland skillfully portrays how ordinary people cope with war’s brutal consequences—in this case, how Spain’s domination dramatically changes the lives of the (fictional) van Cleef family members, each in a unique way. The story follows and builds upon each character’s journey through the tumultuous era.
In particular, the transformation of the youthful characters especially kept me hooked—the daughter, Hanneke, a bright girl who chafes at the restrictions she faces due to her gender, and the son, Jan, who rebels against his father’s approach to life, viewing it as too conservative. I found this novel hard to put down as I became invested in the characters’ fates.
I recommend Sea Beggars to readers who enjoy a well-crafted historical novel with lots of action, accurate to history (except when noted), with period details, and don’t mind some battle scenes, violence, and a bit of sex (all true to the era).
How would you describe the current mood in your part of the world?
In many places, today’s theme might be division rather than unity.
Is our time unique?
Over the centuries, internal divisions accelerated the decline of many powerful civilizations—ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China’s Shang Dynasty, the British Empire, among many others.
Today’s book review focuses on France, with a riveting novel, The Brethren, (first of 13 in the Fortunes of France series) painting a picture of how religious and political conflicts between Catholics and Protestants led to decades of religious wars, many deaths, and the dissolution of French national unity.
To help our nations avoid these pitfalls, may we treat our neighbors with love and respect, whatever our differences!
Readers, what ways have you found to show compassion to your neighbors?
Pierre de Siorac, the second son of a fervent Protestant father and no less devout Catholic mother, tells the story of his Protestant (Huguenot) family in Périgord, France. Through his adolescent eyes and the difficult choices he, his family members and household face, readers see how the religious conflicts between Catholics and Huguenots threaten to tear France (and Pierre’s family) apart. This novel shows the very real impact of religion on the lives of common people as well as elites in 16th-century France—for instance, converts to the Huguenot faith lost 50 holidays (celebrating Roman Church saints) each year.
The Brethrenbegins a saga about France’s history. Although the novel’s rich background is closely based on facts, the author labels it as historical fiction, allowing him to fictionalize the family at the heart of this story. The author’s detailed portrayal of life details, history, and religious practice lays the groundwork for the French religious wars and their aftermath.
Clearly-drawn characters with strong, distinct perspectives and goals breathe life and emotion into this novel, drawing readers through decades of shifting policies of rulers, military commanders, clerics and lay religious leaders.
I recommend The Brethren to readers who enjoy an expansive story that transports them to a bygone era, and I look forward to reading the next volumes of this saga.
My rating: Life in this era was often messy and violent, so readers shouldn’t be surprised to encounter violence and intimacy outside marriage in The Brethren.
How will you relax, if you have the opportunity, after many difficult months?
I offer two suggestionsfor your reading enjoyment, both historical fiction, but each quite unique, followed by an interview with author Maryann Philip.
Who would have thought that Martin Luther, Machiavelli, the Renaissance artist, Raphael, and various cardinals and popes would feature as characters in the same mystery story?
Author Maryann Philip uses her creative magic to weave these diverse historical personalities, as well as major fictional characters such as Machiavelli’s mistress and their daughter, Nicola (the protagonist), into an imaginative yet not incredible plot.
This novel will appeal to readers who enjoy an engaging, sometimes earthy, Renaissance-era mystery that will keep you guessing until the end.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH MARYANN PHILIP:
What led you to set your novels in the High Renaissance period?
The High Renaissance was my focus as a history major at Stanford, because it was the dawn of the modern age and an optimistic period of extraordinary intellectual and artistic achievement.
Why did you choose Renaissance Rome as the main setting for this novel?
It didn’t happen that way. I focused on Niccolò Machiavelli as the hub to my historic wheel, because he went everywhere and knew all the powers-that-be in Renaissance Italy. Machiavelli is very well-documented once he lands on the historic stage, however, so he could not be my primary character.
Instead I chose his fictional mistress (he had several) and illegitimate daughter (none known but certainly possible) as my protagonists. Why? Primarily because I love stories of strong women, and include real ones in these “real history mysteries” whenever possible.
The first story I wanted to tell was that of the Borgia family, and their interaction with Leonardo da Vinci. That required placing Machiavelli’s fictional daughter Nicola in Rome, at the convent where Lucrezia Borgia hid out while her first husband and father Pope Alexander VI fought about her divorce, and she gave birth to the child of another man. (Real history. Too racy not to tell! I have actually been to the convent, which still exists.) Nicola’s mother had to be in Milan, where Leonardo da Vinci was at the time, until he went to Rome to work for Cesare Borgia, as historic fact. All roads lead to Rome and ultimately all the characters ended up there. I made Caterina’s husband the last murder victim, so she could remain there as a widow working for the next “warrior” pope, Julius II. That gave me the backstory that continues through the rest of the series.
Does this novel work well as a stand-alone, or do you recommend reading A Borgia Daughter Dies and Da Vinci Detectsfirst?
All the novels in the series were drafted to read as stand-alones. The backstories of the main characters are consistent and evolve with the characters, however. You will recognize them and know their histories if you read any other book in the series.
What’s your process for creating plots involving famous historical figures? How do you keep their characters true to what’s known about the real people?
The plots derive from the story I want to tell. For example, in Martin Luther and Murder, I wanted to describe what horrified Martin Luther when he traveled to Rome as a devout young monk in 1509, inspiring him later to equate the Pope with the anti-Christ. That led me to dive into what was happening in 1509 in Rome, a story complicated by the fact that Pope Julius was actually leading papal armies against Bologna when Martin Luther was there, waiting with other monastics for him to return so they could meet with him. I therefore had to send Nicola’s mother Caterina to Bologna in order to write about Pope Julius II.
To get their personalities right, I read the best biographies I can find, and compare them. I also read some original documents. I have read many though certainly not all of the commentaries in Leonardo da Vinci’s famous codices, for example. And many of the writings of Martin Luther.
What sources helped you fill in the details of daily life for this story?
That’s hard. There are not too many social histories of ordinary life in Renaissance Italy. Two books I have found helpful are Law, Family and Women: Toward a Legal Anthropology of Renaissance Italy by Thomas Kuehn and The Structures of Everyday Life 15th-18th Century by Fernand Braudel.
Did you know how this novel would end before you began to write? Did your plot change as you wrote?
For each book I have to know first what real history I want to explore. That dictates who my murderer and murder victim(s) will be, which I have to know before I can start writing. That and the real history are the constraints that drive the plot. I knew, for example, exactly when Martin Luther arrived in Rome and when he left, a fact derived from his correspondence. The mystery had to be solved between those two dates. And the first victim had to be someone high in the Church to introduce the scandals that Luther was exposed to while visiting Rome.
How much did you have to deviate from history to create a satisfying story?
I try not to do it at all. I will take sides and often minority positions on historical controversies, which is more fun than simply repeating the conventional wisdom. I will also fill in gaps in the historical record. But I disclose when I am taking a minority view and any “cheats”–even down to minor discrepancies in dates— in the Afterword at the end of each book.
What were the most challenging aspects of writing?
The hardest work is being consistent with the real history, especially squeezing or expanding the story to comply with the dates. Some authors of historical fiction don’t bother, but this is important to me.
What did you enjoy most about writing this novel?
The money I made from A Borgia Daughter Dies allowed me to travel to Bologna and Pavia to envision these cities for the book.
What do you hope readers will take away from this story?
I call my “real history mysteries” candy-coated history and my hope is always that readers will learn some real history that is new to them. Many Catholics have been taught that Martin Luther was a monstrous revolutionary, who destroyed a church that would have remained whole, but for him. I tried to show him as I believe he was: a traditional and earnest Catholic scandalized by the terrible corruption in Rome, concerned with the sale of indulgences and increasingly uncertain about the worship of relics, both practices that Catholicism has since abandoned. Understanding this background helps explain how much tinder was lying around when Luther unwittingly struck the match.
Is there anything else you’d like to say to my readers? If you read any of my books and like them, please put up a review. The reviews are the only advertising I do. Martin Luther and Murder has not sold well. I would love to change that!
Readers, please share your favorite historical fiction reads this summer!
What do you think of when someone mentions France?
The Eiffel Tower, fantastic cuisine, stylish clothing, or romantic movies?
What about a breeding ground for the Reformed branch of the Protestant Church?
How can this be? France is a Catholic nation.
Jean Calvin, a Frenchman, was a key figure of the Reformed (as opposed to the Lutheran) branch of the church that broke away from Roman Catholicism. He fled to Geneva, Switzerland, for his own safety.
Believe it or not, hundreds of Protestantchurches sprang up throughout France, and as much as 10% of France’s population considered themselves Huguenots (Reformed Protestants) before persecution began in earnest.
But kings, popes, and powerful families wanted to stay in control, so 36 years of religious wars resulted, followed by more Huguenot rebellions.
Eventually, the Catholic French kings prevailed, and surviving Protestants had to flee or hide their beliefs.
The City of Tears, (The Burning Chambers Series Book 2) an engaging new novel by Kate Mosse, takes place during that volatile period of French history.
Although this was a difficult time for Protestants in France, it’s a very exciting story that I found difficult to put down. Here’s why:
Plot—A wonderful weaving of historical events with emotional arcs, this is a riveting story of a family’s struggles through two decades of France’s religious wars.
Setting—The fully-created world made me feel like I was there, with details about life and locations, but it wasn’t overloaded with description.
Characters— I loved the strong, three-dimensional characters. but I wished I could prevent some unfortunate choices by the heroes. I could sympathize even with the villains.
I haven’t yet read Burning Chambers (Book 1 in this series), but hope to soon so I can fully understand the backstory of City of Tears.
I would give City of Tears a moderate rating, as it includes significant violence (fitting for that time) and fade-out love scenes.
Readers, imagine yourself as a resident of France during this time period. Whatever your beliefs, how would you have responded to religious conflicts—fled, helped your neighbors, hidden your beliefs?
Today I have a historical mystery for you, based on my novel research, with a few questions and clues to help solve it.
Who were the Huguenots?
French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism
At their peak,they made up as much as 10% of the French population
Why did they go missing from France?
The French Roman Catholic clergy could not accept the Huguenots’ increased influence and worked to deprive them of their rights
King Louis XIV believed that unity in the state was extremely difficult to maintain where two or more churches were tolerated.
The king intensified the persecution of Huguenots:
Dragonnades—soldiers were billeted in Protestant homes with permission to behave as brutally as they wished
Churches were destroyed
Certain professions were put out of their reach
Their children were taken away from their parents and brought up as Roman Catholics
On Oct. 18, 1685, Louis XIV pronounced the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which had guaranteed political and religious rights
Where did they go?
Netherlands
Switzerland
England
Ireland
Scotland
Prussia
Denmark
Sweden
Finland
America
South Africa
What was the result in France?
Huguenot persecution greatly damaged the reputation of Louis XIV abroad, particularly in England. Both kingdoms became bitter enemies and fought each other in a series of wars
Many Huguenots had been urban people in commerce and industry, so their absence hurt France in the Industrial Revolution
In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, German sociologist Max Weber, argued that the supposedly Protestant values of hard work, thrift, efficiency, and orderliness contributed to the economic success of Protestant groups in the early stages of European capitalism.
Alain Peyrefitte, the French Catholic author of Le Mal Français, argues that the absence of supposedly Protestant values (hard work, thrift, efficiency, and orderliness) caused France to lag behind other nations socially and economically.
Many novels have been written about Huguenots, and I’ll highlight one from the 19th century and one from the 21st century:
Believe it or not, the author of the Sherlock Holmes mystery stories also wrote this novel focused on Huguenots and where some emigrated during the reign of Louis XIV. I just discovered this novel, and I look forward to reading it soon.
Based on a true story, this novel follows one French Huguenot family as King Louis XIV consolidated his power by whittling away Protestants’ rights, tolerating no political or religious opposition, impacting individuals of all ages and ranks of society.
Shows how ordinary people’s toleration of injustice on a small scale can lead, step by step, to great evil
Could have used more light moments, but, as with stories about the Holocaust era, humor and good times would not ring true with the facts of history
Hindsight shows us the tragic choices made by France’s leaders hundreds of years ago and their impact on that nation and the world. They couldn’t embrace the idea that a cultural melting pot could enrich their society.
We can learn from their mistakes and reach out to people of diverse backgrounds, breaking down stereotypes and prejudice.
I wish you peace and health in this holiday season.
