Fresh Chat | Samantha Norman and the Legacy of THE SIEGE WINTER

THE SIEGE WINTER, by New York Times bestselling author Ariana Franklin and her daughter Samantha Norman, is a gripping historical novel set in the age of a devastating English civil war. The novel’s strong and sympathetic characters, sharp setting, and masterful writing make this the type of journey readers love to take.

In today’s Fresh Chat, Samantha Norman joins Features Editor Pasha Carlisle to discuss this extraordinary story.

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Pasha: Thank you so much for joining us, Ms. Norman. THE SIEGE WINTER was first begun by your late mother, Ariana Franklin, before her passing in 2011. How were you first approached to complete this project?

Samantha: It’s a great pleasure to be reviewed and interviewed for Fresh Fiction, so thank you very much for including me.

My Mum, who was a really great person, was also a terrible nag and she always had it in her head that I should be writing novels. I did lots of other stuff, I was a television presenter, journalist and interviewer but she never felt that was quite enough. So when she died, half way through her novel it just seemed natural to me that I should be the one to finish it. I’d never written anything longer than a feature article before so it was quite daunting, particularly since she wrote fairly long novels.

Pasha: I hear you and your mother were quite close. What was it like to carry on her story through finishing THE SIEGE WINTER?

Samantha: We were incredibly close and actually finishing The Siege Winter was a gift. It meant that I could hang on to her for a little while longer which really helped with the grieving process. For more than a year I inhabited her world and had a sort of dialogue with her. It was a very strange experience but really cathartic and I got to know her even better than I did before.

Pasha: Your mother’s voice and yours blend so beautifully in this novel. Prior to completing THE SIEGE WINTER, did you have ambitions of writing your own novels?

Samantha: I think like lots of people I had a sort of conceit that I had a novel in me and that one day I’d casually get around to writing it. I suspect, however, that that day might not have come if my mother hadn’t forced my hand. Sometimes I think she had a plan.

Pasha: Can readers expect to read more novels written by you in the future?

Samantha: I hope so. Apart from anything else I don’t want to waste all the research I’ve had to do and actually I think I’ve developed a taste for it even though I now know how hard novel writing is. There’s at least one more book in me though because Mum -- who was best known for her Mistress of The Art of Death novels -- left the series on rather a cliff-hanger so I’m writing the next one in the sequence to put all her fans out of their misery. I know all the characters so well and adore them but I’m also adding a few of my own

Pasha: Thank you again for joining us, and we have one last question. Fresh Fiction readers want to know: When you are not writing, what do you enjoy reading?

Samantha: I absolutely love thrillers and read as many as I can. I’m on the hunt for the next Reginald Hill – who, alas, died around the same time as my mum – he was a terrific writer and I haven’t yet found anyone as good as he was but I keep trying and that’s fun.

About THE SIEGE WINTER

England, 1141. The countryside is devastated by a long civil war that has left thousands dead. With no clear winner in the conflict, castles and villages change hands from month to month as the English king, Stephen, and his cousin, the empress Matilda, battle for the crown.

Emma is the eleven-year-old redheaded daughter of a peasant family. When mercenaries pass through their town, they bring with them a monk with a deadly interest in young redheaded girls. Left for dead in a burned-out church, Emma is one more victim in a winter of atrocities until another mercenary, Gwil, an archer, finds her by chance. Barely alive, she cannot remember her name or her life before the attack. Unable to simply abandon her, Gwil takes her with him, dressing her as a boy to avoid attention. Emma becomes Penda—and Penda turns out to have a killer instinct with a bow and arrow. But Gwil becomes uneasily aware that the monk who hurt his protégée is still out there, and that a scrap of a letter Emma was found clutching could be very valuable to the right person . . . or the wrong one.

Maud is the fifteen-year-old chatelaine of Kenniford, a small but strategically important castle she's determined to protect as the war rages around them. But when Maud provides refuge for the empress, Stephen's armies lay siege to Kenniford Castle and Maud must prove that she's every bit the leader her father was. Aided by a garrison of mercenaries— including Gwil and his odd, redheaded apprentice—they must survive a long winter under siege. It's a brutal season that brings everyone to Kenniford, from kings to soldiers to the sinister monk who has never stopped hunting the redheaded girl . . .