Some games are played for mortal stakes.
Gwenna, heir to Ésparias, is summoned by the Empress of Casil to compete for the hand of her son. Offered power and influence far beyond what her own small land can give her, Gwenna’s strategy seems clear – except she loves someone else.
Nineteen years earlier, the Empress outplayed Cillian in diplomacy and intrigue. Alone, his only living daughter has little chance to counter the Empress's experience and skill. Aging and torn by grief and worry, Cillian insists on accompanying Gwenna to Casil.
Risking a charge of treason, faced with a choice he does not want to make, Cillian must con-vince Gwenna her future is more important than his – while Gwenna plans her moves to keep her father safe. Both are playing a dangerous game. Which one will concede – or sacrifice?
What inspired you to start writing?
Reading. I learned to read at three (I had a bored ex-teacher grandmother living with us), and books and stories have been a part of my life since then. It was entirely natural to me that I should write my own; I began at seven or eight, and never really stopped, although I didn’t publish anything except scientific papers and technical documents between my early twenties and mid-thirties.
What was the hardest part about writing this book?
Writing from alternating viewpoints. I’d never done that before; the previous books in the series have a single POV. Father and daughter narrators were a challenge, seeing, in some cases, the same incident through different eyes and interpretations, one the 53-year-old experienced diplomat, one the 18-year-old just starting her diplomatic career, both facing very difficult choices.
Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?
Of the two POV characters, I have to say Cillian. He’s been a central character – the central character, although we’ve never seen his POV before – since the second book in the series, and this is the sixth. He, as the supporting character Sorley says in my third book, Empire’s Exile, is the sun around which the others orbit. He’s the antithesis of the action hero: a philosopher and historian, reserved, ferociously intelligent, physically disabled for much of the series; a subtle, principled man who has both betrayed and sacrificed for those he loves. If that’s not enough reason for him to have a special place in my heart, then maybe it’s just that the MC of the first three books, Lena, loves him.
If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?
Ed Stoppard as Cillian; Aisling Franciosi as Gwenna; Rhona Mitra as Lena; Jordan Waller (although we need to age him 10 years) as Sorley; Wilson Cruz as Druisius.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
Gwenna and Cillian each are trying to protect the other in a city and a court of intrigue and subtlety, of old jealousies and conflicts, with secrets that shape actions. Neither can do this if they put their own wants first. The theme of the entire series is that choices have consequences, intended and otherwise, and how we respond to those consequences – and indeed the circumstances of our lives – defines us. But alongside that is the concept that love – for another person, for our land, for ideas and ideals – can create something new, but only if altruism drives our decisions, and we truly listen to each other.
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Marian L Thorpe
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What a great interview!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for hosting today's tour stop. We really appreciate all that you do.