Shadow of Persephone
Page 52
Gemma Lawrence
2019
About The Author
I find people talking about themselves in the third person to be entirely unsettling, so, since this section is written by me, I will use my own voice rather than try to make you believe that another person is writing about me to make me sound terribly important.
I am an independent author, publishing my books by myself, with the help of my lovely proof reader. I left my day job in 2016 and am now a fully-fledged, full time author, and very proud to be so!
My passion for history, in particular perhaps the era of the Tudors, began early in life. As a child I lived in Croydon, near London, and my schools were lucky enough to be close to such glorious places as Hampton Court and the Tower of London, allowing field trips to take us to those castles. I think it’s hard not to find characters from history infectious when you hear their stories, especially when surrounded by the bricks and mortar they built their reigns and legends within. There is heroism and scandal, betrayal and belief, politics and passion and a seemingly never-ending cast list of truly fascinating people. So when I sat down to start writing, I could think of no better place to start than a time and place I loved and was slightly obsessed with.
Expect many books from me, but do not necessarily expect them all to be of one era. I write as many of you read, I suspect; in many genres. My own bookshelves are weighted down with historical volumes and biographies, but they also contain dystopias, sci-fi, horror, humour, children’s books, fairy tales, romance and adventure. I can’t promise I’ll manage to write in all the areas I’ve mentioned there, but I’d love to give it a go. If anything I’ve published isn’t your thing, that’s fine, I just hope you like the ones I write which are your thing!
The majority of my books are historical fiction, however, so I hope that if you liked this volume you will give the others in this series (and perhaps not in this series), a look. I want to divert you as readers, to please you with my writing and to have you join me on these adventures.
A book is nothing without a reader.
As to the rest of me; I am in my thirties and live in Cornwall with a rescued dog, a rescued cat and my partner. I studied Literature at University after I fell in love with books as a small child. When I was little I could often be found nestled halfway up the stairs with a pile of books in my lap and my head lost in another world. There is nothing more satisfying to me than finding a new book I adore, to place next to the multitudes I own and love… and nothing more disappointing to me to find a book I am willing to never open again. I do hope that this book was not a disappointment to you; I loved writing it and I hope that showed through the pages.
This is only one of a large selection of titles coming to you on Amazon. I hope you will try the others.
If you would like to contact me, please do so.
On Twitter, I am @TudorTweep and am more than happy to follow back and reply to any and all messages. I may avoid you if you decide to say anything worrying or anything abusive, but I figure that’s acceptable.
Via email, I am tudortweep@gmail.com a dedicated email account for my readers to reach me on. I’ll try and reply within a few days.
I publish some first drafts and short stories on Wattpad where I can be found at www.wattpad.com/user/GemmaLawrence31 . Wattpad was the first place I ever showed my stories, to anyone, and in many ways its readers and their response to my works were the influence which pushed me into self-publishing. If you have never been on the site I recommend you try it out. It’s free, it’s fun and it’s chock-full of real emerging talent. I love Wattpad because its members and their encouragement gave me the boost I needed as a fearful waif to get some confidence in myself and make a go of a life as a real, published writer.
Thank you for taking a risk with an unknown author and reading my book. I do hope now that you’ve read one you’ll want to read more. If you’d like to leave me a review, that would be very much appreciated also!
Gemma Lawrence
Cornwall
2019
Select Bibliography
Catherine Howard, Lacey Baldwin-Smith
Thomas Cromwell, Tracy Borman
All the King’s Cooks, Peter Brears
The Tudor Cookbook, Terry Breverton
Henry VIII’s Last Victim, Jessie Childs
Maladies and Medicines, Jennifer Evans and Sara Read
The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Antonia Fraser
Jane Boleyn, Julia Fox
History of Childbirth, Jacques Gelis
Discovering Tudor London, Natalie Grueninger
House of Treason, Robert Hutchinson
Thomas Cromwell, Robert Hutchinson
The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, The Most Happy, Eric Ives
The Other Tudors, Philippa Jones
Women in Tudor England, 1500-1760, Anne Laurence
Medieval Women, Henrietta Leyser
Catherine Howard, David Loades
The Six Wives of Henry VIII, David Loades
Inside the Tudor Court, Lauren Mackay
Book of Fire, Brian Moynahan
Tudor Women, Alison Plowden
Mary Tudor, Linda Porter
The English Year, Steve Roud
Young, Damned and Fair, Gareth Russell
The Midwives Book, Jane Sharp
Food and Feast in Tudor England, Alison Sim
Pleasures and Pastimes in Tudor England, Alison Sim
The Tudor Housewife, Alison Sim
Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII, David Starkey
Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen, Giles Tremlett
The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Alison Weir
The Lady in the Tower, Alison Weir
Katherine Howard: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII’s Fifth Queen, Josephine Wilkinson
Katherine of Aragon, Patrick Williams