Author Interview: SE Morgan / The King Over The Sea
JMR-Welcome to the Books Delight, Sarah. Tell our readers where
you live, what you do for fun and what does the perfect day look like?
SEM- I live in Wales, in
Cardiff which is a lovely city close to both the mountains and the sea. For
fun, well, of course I write, but hill walking and photography are other
passions.
JMR-What’s your favorite historical time period? Why?
SEM- I enjoy most periods.
I guess I’m torn between imagining what it must have been like to live in
Iron age Europe and the Victorian era. It’s the hardships people overcame that
inspire me.
JMR-Who is your favorite historical figure? Why? If you could ask
them one question, what would it be? If you did not choose a female- Who is
your favorite female historical figure?
SEM- With times being as they are, I think I’d go for Jenner ,who
first used cowpox pustules to inoculate for
small pox, or Alexander Fleming and his discovery of penicillin.
As for women, I’ll pick Elizabeth Garret Anderson, the first
woman in England to become a doctor. I was shocked to discover women were only
allowed entry to English university in 1868, and after gruelling sets of exams
were only granted certificates of achievement, not degrees. It was not until a
decade later in 1879 they were awarded degrees like men.
Elizabeth Garret Anderson after years of study finally passed the
Society Of Apothecaries examination and achieved a licence to practice, in 1865 but the
apothecaries, appalled, changed the rules to stop women being able to enter
medicine that way. It wasn’t until 1876 women and men were allowed to enter
medicine. Similarly after being elected to the British medical association in
1878, the BMA voted to bar women from applying. This stayed in place until
1892.
My questions? Elizabeth
what kept you going in the face of such vehement male opposition? Was it your belief women needed women doctors
or sheer bloody mindedness in the face of male stupidity?
SEM- In school I always
wanted to write, but was good at science; enjoyed physics, chemistry and maths,
found them easier in fact. The pathway
to medical school was open, and I’ve never regretted that choice. I loved both
my clinical career as a consultant psychiatrist and then working with
politicians to improve mental health provision in Wales. I retired early, in
part due to my parents declining health and that gave me the chance to write.
JMR- Sarah, tell us about your book, The King Over The Sea?
SEM- It is set in 5th century Wales and Ireland, and blends what historical facts are known with legend. When you have saints as characters in a novel, it’s important to remain respectful of beliefs so that was part of the challenge. Here is my blurb;
“Be careful in your dealings with your uncles,” Maelon, pagan Irish prince and younger son is warned by his father, High King Niall. Aged twelve, he is sent from his home and everyone he loves to study for a priesthood he despises, with his faithful wolfhound Kira.
In Wales, he befriends Maewyn Succus, later better known as Patrick. When Maelon’s father dies, his worst fears are realised; his school is destroyed. He is forced to flee deep into the mountains, where he becomes besotted by his flame-haired cousin, Dwynwen. She must marry whoever her Christian father, King Brychan, dictates.
Dwynwen, Welsh patron saint of lovers and Saint
Patrick of Ireland are well remembered, but Maelon’s name is long forgotten.
Their fates are entwined by loyalty, betrayal and redemption. A Celtic love
story that has echoed through centuries of re-casting, but was this the
original?
SEM- Yes, the second novel
about my Morgan ancestors is undergoing final editing and formatting, and I’ve
just received an initial cover design, which I’d like to share with your
readers.
It’s called A Welsh Not. The government attempted to
suppress the Welsh language by using The Not, a piece of wood or board passed
between children if they were heard speaking Welsh. The child holding the not
at the end of the day was beaten.
My novel is about family and ties that bind, and escaping the
constraints of Victorian Wales; class religion and politics. It’s about Love,
loss and longing. Here’s the blurb;
Bess Morgan’s choices are limited, for all that she was educated with Magistrate Edwin Davies’ daughter. Her only options to earn her keep, are working as a dairymaid or shop assistant. If she decides to marry, might she end up in the newly built asylum, like her poor mother? Bess envies her brothers and yearns to continue her education, resentful that the idea is laughable. Reformers demand votes for men, but not for women, and girls are barred from university.
Her handsome brother, Richard hates the flattery and fawning needed as a draper’s apprentice and longs to study then teach. Besotted by Magistrate Davies’ flirtatious daughter, somehow he must find a way to earn enough to marry a girl way above his station in life.
Can Bess and Richard escape the constraints of Victorian Wales? While coal is king and the Welsh valleys boom, Carmarthen stagnates. The Morgans must adapt to survive.
JMR- I am an avid reader of historical fiction but I don’t see
much set in Wales. Is Welsh history overshadowed by England and Scotland or am
I not looking in the right places?
SEM-I think that’s fair, relative to England and Scotland it is
often overlooked, although Welsh writers are trying to correct that.
JRM- If readers wanted to check out more books on Welsh history,
fiction and nonfiction, what ones would you recommend? What resources did you
use in your research?
SEM- For fiction, I’d
recommend Alexander Cordell’s; Rape of the fair country, its a fantastic
story of hardship in the Blaenavon iron works during the early industrial
revolution, maybe AJ Cronin’s The Citadel, about a Scottish doctor working
in the Welsh valleys and later London. It’s the book that informed Aneurin
Bevan when he formed the NHS. As wild
cards, how about Aberystwyth Mon Amour, and Last Tango in Aberystwyth
by Malcolm Pryce. They are the first two in a spoof 50’s noir detective crime
novel series, and very funny.
In non-fiction readers might enjoy the Mabinogion, our ancient
folk tales.
In teams of research, the list is long, as I get rather obsessed
with detail. For The King over the Sea, it was easier, in that there is little
written documentation for the 5th century. Even so I dipped into St Patrick’s Confessio,
and drew on later sources such as c. 828, Historia Brittonum and the
slightly later Anglo Saxon Chronicles, an amalgam of sources that was altered
constantly until the eleventh century, as well as Welsh and Irish legend and
academic resources.
For the Victorian novels, it’s easier and totally absorbing. I
start with the fantastic resource of Welsh newspapers on line which have local
newspapers from across Wales from 1804-1919. For my first novel which was set
over 4 months in 1843, I read the weekly Carmarthen local newspapers and tried
to experience life as a Victorian, as well as contemporary diaries and
novels.
SEM- I have a blog, https://semorganhistoricalfiction.wordpress.com,
which is a mix of historical snippets, book reviews and quite a bit of music,
jazz, rock and folk. I post when inspired rather than several times a week. I
don’t really use facebook, twitter etc. I can’t keep up. I am a keen member of
the Goodreads community however and enjoy that. My author profile is S E Morgan
JMR- What question were you hoping I’d ask but didn’t?
SEM- ‘How do you find support when you write,’ seems an important one. I am very
fortunate, to have an active writers’ circle in Cardiff. We have about 30
regular attendees with 20 in the meetings most weeks, (and have managed to keep
going over lockdown with zoom ). It
really helps having a group to keep encouraging
and supporting you and giving feedback on your work. It’s as useful
seeing what other writers get right and get wrong.
JMR- Thank you, Sarah for stopping by today. Good luck with your writing. Readers, I have included a link to Amazon for you to check out Sarah's books.
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