I wanted to write a fictional happy ending to my own tumultuous childhood. From a long distance.
Julie Strong – 25 January 2025
The Back Flap
England, 1541. An ailing Henry VIII reigns from a contested throne. In parallel story lines, The Tudor Prophecy follows two young women, Lady Alice Grantmire and Hester Vaughan, cousins who each suffer greatly from the King’s unjust decrees. Lady Alice and her mother are evicted from their estate and take residence in a cottage where they earn a subsistence selling herbal remedies–until they are accused of witchcraft. After being molested by the King, Hester is summoned to her estranged father’s home in Wales. There she becomes betrothed to a Welsh bard whose mentor has visions foretelling the ascendancy of Henry’s second daughter, Elizabeth. When Hester encounters the eight-year-old Lady Elizabeth, the two forge a relationship whereby Hester can persuade the future queen to temper her own rule with mercy. This epic, literary tale–a Game of Thrones meets Little Women–is also for readers who loved the Wolf Hall trilogy by Booker-Prize winner Hilary Mantel.
About the book
What is the book about?
The Tudor Prophecy is an historical novel which tells the story of two young women who traverse the perilous times of the English Reformation.
It opens in spring, 1541 when the main protagonist, Hester Vaughan, lives with her uncle, Sir Hugh Grantmire, his wife, Lady Maud and daughter Lady Alice, in their home near London. Hester, guilt-ridden over the death of her mother in childbirth thirteen years before, cares for her younger brother, Dickon, who suffers from epilepsy. Sir Hugh is arrested for adhering to the Roman faith and when his family is evicted, Dickon faces incarceration in Bedlam hospital. Hester, trained in herbalism, gains an audience with Henry VIII; she hopes to heal his agonizing leg ulcers, and that, from gratitude he will marry her. Instead, he molests her. While Hester is unconscious, he thrusts a precious ruby ring into her dress pocket.
Alice falls in love with Sir William, a young, dispossessed nobleman she meets at court, but then she and Lady Maud are forced from their home. The women and Dickon find shelter in a cottage and eke a subsistence selling herbal remedies until a neighbor denounces them as witches. William is arrested for wounding a constable and imprisoned in Newgate gaol.
Hester’s dying father recalls her to his home in North Wales where she falls in love with Gareth, a young bard. Gareth’s teacher tells him that Hester will play a role in the ascension of Henry’s younger daughter, Elizabeth. Hester’s Welsh uncle plans to attack Henry, and believes his gods will smile on him only if he sacrifices a virgin of his own kin. Hester narrowly escapes but is married off to her cousin who tortures her to obtain the ring. Gareth rescues Hester and takes her to Holywell, a healing shrine , where the nuns restore her to health. There Hester meets eight-year-old Lady Elizabeth. They form a relationship based on their common experience of early mother loss. Hester persuades Elizabeth to temper her future rule with mercy. Hester and Gareth wed and return to North Wales.
William escapes from gaol and he and Alice marry. The couple and Dickon travel to Wales where they reunite with Hester.
When did you start writing the book?
1999
How long did it take you to write it?
25 years
Where did you get the idea from?
The softness of the clothing; the velvets inspired me to write about Tudor dresses.
I wanted to write a fictional happy ending to my own tumultuous childhood. From a long distance.
No better place than the Reformation for tumult.
My heroines have different characters and different motivations, but after several terrifying experiences find love and peace.
I wanted to show the grief that giving up the beliefs of the Roman Catholic church caused the ordinary people.
The goddesses have always been dear to me. And the Welsh goddesses persisted in the Welsh people’s imagination, when English goddesses were long forgotten.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
The book is two thirds the length of the first three drafts. I struggled to choose which parts to cut out to make it less than 500 pages.
It was hard to synchronize the two heroines’ parallel story lines.
What came easily?
The writing itself.
Imagining how the historical figures would behave under given circumstances.
Researching the culture of 16th century England, such as dress, food, customs, beliefs, remedies, and manners of the time.
Creating the fictional characters, especially the two heroines, and giving them desires, and in the case of Hester, an underlying desire (she thinks she wants power, what she really wants is love) and having them undergo terrible hardships to bring about their fulfilment.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
I used some elements of my early childhood in creating Hester.
Do you have a target reader?
Chiefly women ages 15 and up.
But anyone interested in the consequences to English society of the Reformation or who just wants to read an exciting, uplifting story.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I write free hand whatever comes into my mind without censoring it.
I try to include dialogue but without stopping to put in quotation marks or attribution.
I do this in the morning, then later in the day type up on computer, doing some light editing as I transcribe.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
Once I have characters and some idea of what I would like to happen I just write, and if my characters disagree with me, I let them take the reins.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I do the light editing in transcribing, and will edit a chapter, if I have left gaps for certain details, like dates of events. But the main editing is once I’ve finished.
Did you hire a professional editor?
I did when the book was in its first draft, 18 years ago. Although I received excellent feedback it was far too early in the writing process for it to make sense to hire a professional editor.
A year ago, when I realized I wanted to publish the novel during my lifetime, I hired a professional editor. It was a very positive move and made all the difference between having a manuscript and an actual book.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
No. I prefer total silence when I write.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
Four years ago I queried a few agents.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
I had been attending Anne O’Connell’s (of OC Publishing) Paradise Writing Retreats in Nova Scotia for about seven years and had a sense I would like her to publish my novel. It was in October of 2023 that Anne had invited Marianne Ward, her Associate Publisher, to talk about the editing process.
It was during that talk that I felt that the time had come to bring my novel to light, so worked with Marianne for ten months editing the manuscript, until it was ready for publication.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
It was professionally done. As part of the process with OC Publishing, they contracted Rebecca Wilson, a local artist to create the cover image, and David Edelstein, lead designer at OC Publishing designed the book cover and interior.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
Part of the partnership agreement with OC Publishing includes marketing support during the months leading up to the launch of the book, including a virtual book tour. There are also sell sheets that go out to select bookstores, assistance in developing my author profile for Amazon Author Central and Goodreads (hopefully up soon), an author webpage on the publisher’s site with links to the sales pages at Amazon and other online retailers, assistance in setting up social media (such as an author page on Facebook), sending out advance review copies to podcasters, bloggers, and reviewers, and we have scheduled a launch party for January 25th, the day The Tudor Prophecy is released. I hope to have a website designed and launched in the New Year as well.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
If you have a story inside of you and it won’t let you rest then you owe it to your story and yourself to publish it.
It is reasonable to try the traditional route, but for me, at this stage in my life, my priority was to have the book available to readers and I am grateful that Indie, or as with OC Publishing, hybrid publishing has made this possible.
About You
Where did you grow up?
England
Wales
Australia
Where do you live now?
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
What would you like readers to know about you?
I am a retired family physician who practices shamanism, that is healing illness due to spiritual causes.
I have three grown children and three grandchildren
I give local talks on “The Goddess in Antiquity”
I enjoy the New Yorker comics and pickleball
What are you working on now?
Memoir
When I was 10 my father took my younger sister and myself from Wales to Tasmania to live in an orphanage. It was a pivotal time in my life and inspired me to follow a career in medicine and to study Classics.
End of Interview:
Get your copy of The Tudor Prophecy from Amazon US or Amazon UK.