I took many liberties in telling Ransom’s story compared to actual history, but so many of the major points of this series are true to William Marshal’s life. His injury while fighting off knights trying to kidnap the queen. Like Ransom, he was saved by a mysterious woman, but Marshal never found out who it was who’d saved him. His service to four Plantagenet kings (Henry the Young King, Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, and King John) was not an invention, and I believe the Plantagenet dynasty—which lasted to 1485, and perhaps longer if you count the Tudors—would not have survived for centuries were it not for Marshal’s direct efforts to preserve it against all odds. There was also a sizable age gap between him and Isabel de Clare, which I adjusted for this series. The poisoner, Alix, was inspired from history as well. One of Eleanor of Aquitaine’s daughters was named Alix, although she was not illegitimate, as she was born during Eleanor’s marriage to the King of France. As I studied the era of these four kings, it seemed quite possible that all four of them had been poisoned.
While I was doing research for this series, my wife and I had a date night at our favorite frozen dessert shop (this was before Covid). A song came on while we ate there, and the words and the melody were just haunting to me. I pulled out my phone and asked Siri to identify it. It was Calum Scott’s “You are the Reason.” I’d never heard it before (sadly, I don’t watch Britain’s Got Talent very often), but I ended up listening to it over and over again. It became Ransom and Claire’s love song. After the virus struck the United States, a father-daughter duo began singing songs on Facebook and became an internet sensation. When Mat and Savanna Shaw recorded their cover of “You Are the Reason,” I loved it so much. It captured all the feelings that I wanted to express in this story. If you haven’t heard either version, please look it up. Mat and Savanna are amazing singers, and their music is one of the truly beautiful things to have emerged during this global pandemic.
One of the things I really enjoyed about Ransom’s story is that it gives us a peek at what might have happened if Owen and Evie had ended up together. So many readers have expressed to me how much they wished those two had gotten together. Pairing Ransom and Claire also gave me a welcome opportunity to explore family life and the drama associated with it. Children were used as hostages back then, and it must have been impossibly hard for William Marshal and Isabel de Clare to give up their sons as hostages to a king they knew had murdered his own nephew. Especially since William had been a hostage himself, nearly hung from a rope in front of his father’s castle.
It is also interesting to me how much Arthurian legends peek out from medieval history. The great King Andrew is, of course, my Arthur prototype. During the era of history upon which these books are based, stories of the knights of the round table became more and more common, although different versions existed. In my research, I watched Professor Dorsey Armstrong’s lectures about Arthurian legends and thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being back in grad school again.
Now that this series is done, perhaps you’re wondering what’s next?
Ideas come to me in many ways. One idea, in particular, came during a concert with the Piano Guys. While they played their awesome music, there was a screen behind them showing different images. One image of a small castle in Scotland amid a vast lake resonated with me. Ideas began to bubble and stew. I’ve been thinking on that image and the story idea that came with it for almost two years now.
It’s a story that goes back to Muirwood. Back to the beginning of Muirwood Abbey.
I think you’re going to like it.