Vantrease novel‭ ‬The Heretic’s Wife‭ ‬features heroine risking being burned at the stake in order to smuggle Protestant Bibles,‭ ‬meanwhile Anne Boleyn pushes Henry VIII to break from the Catholic church‭ ‬**** 4‭ ‬Stars

by Gabrielle Pantera

The Heretic's Wife, religious intrigue in the court of Henry the VIII

HOLLYWOOD,‭ ‬CA‭ (Hollywood Today) ‬7/6/2010‭ ‬-‭ ‬“The idea for The Heretic‭’‬s Wife emerged naturally as I followed the historical themes of my first two books,‭ ‬The Illuminator and‭ ‬The Mercy Seller,‭”‬ says‭ ‬The Heretic‭’‬s Wife author Brenda Rickman Vantrease.‭ ‬“Although each novel stands alone,‭ ‬when taken together with‭ ‬The Heretic‭’‬s Wife,‭ ‬they form a trilogy.‭”

The Heretic‭’‬s Wife is the story of Kate Gough and‭ ‬her brother John who‭ ‬sell‭ ‬smuggled‭ ‬Protestant bibles in England during‭ ‬the‭ ‬Tudor rule.‭ ‬When John is arrested,‭ ‬he recants and leaves London.‭ ‬Kate continues with their mission alone.‭ ‬She falls in love with Bible translator John Frith.‭ ‬As Thomas More burns heritics,‭ ‬Henry VIII is being‭ ‬influenced by Anne Bolyn to break away from the Catholic church.‭ ‬More is increasingly obsessed with torturing heretics.‭ ‬When‭ ‬Kate and her husband‭ ‬John return to England,‭ ‬will‭ ‬they‭ ‬survive‭ ‬More‭ ‬and not‭ ‬burned at the stake‭?

The Heritic‭’‬s Wife‭ ‬is about the efforts of ordinary people to move religious freedom forward.‭ ‬Henry VIII,‭ ‬Anne Boleyn,‭ ‬Sir Thomas Moore,‭ ‬and Cardinal Wolsey keep the story moving.‭

“In my research of the Reformation,‎ ‏I stumbled across the fact that Anne Boleyn was strongly influenced by Lutheran ideas,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“I discovered there was another side of Sir Thomas More of saintly legend…as represented in‭ ‬A Man For All Seasons.‭ ‬Through several respected sources I discovered that Thomas More was a fierce and manic heretic hunter,‭ ‬to the point of fanatical obsession.‭”

“Then I found the brilliant and charming,‎ ‏and by all accounts quite handsome,‭ ‬young scholar and Bible translator named John Frith,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“Well,‭ ‬I had my heretic.‭

The historical record mentions Frith had a wife but that‭’‬s all we know about her,‭ ‬so I had plenty of license to fictionalize her as my heroine.‭”

“There it was,‎ ‏just screaming to be written,‭”‬ says Vantrease,‭ ‬“a love story about the perils of faith and the dangers of fanaticism and set among the Tudors who never fail to fascinate.‭”‬

“I am essentially a book person,‎”‏ says Vantrease.‎ ‏“I have collected books on arcane facets of English history for all my adult life.‎ ‏Even when I was barely existing on a first year teacher‭’‬s salary I would mail-order books on everything from costumes and flowers,‭ ‬to political histories and social histories,‭ ‬from aspects of peasant life to court customs.‭ ‬I‭’‬d wonder when those books came,‭ ‬why I didn‭’‬t at least include a good novel or two.‭ ‬But those are the books I readily go to now,‭ ‬both to find my stories and to supply the detail I need for historical authenticity.‭”

Religion is a consistent theme in Vantrease‭’‬s novels.‭ ‬The Heretic‭’‬s Wife is a story of the English Reformation and the translation of the Bible into English.‭

Vantrease‭’‬s first novel was inspired by reading of Julian in Norwich‭’‬s‭ ‬Divine Revelations.‭ ‬“I was fascinated by this first woman to write in an emerging English language,‭ ‬fascinated by her ideas about the nature of God and wanted to write about her,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“However,‭ ‬I soon discovered that I wasn‭’‬t holy enough to spend that much time in the head of a contemplative anchoress,‭ ‬so I began to explore her time.‭ ‬Out of that exploration,‭ ‬emerged the ideas underpinning my novels,‭ ‬which I think are as much about freedom and abuse of power as they are about religion.‭”

“I just followed the arc of the history that I had explored in‎ ‏The Illuminator and‭ ‬The Mercy Seller,‭ ‬from the first stirrings in the fourteenth century of trying to make the Bible available in the language of the people with the influence of Wycliffe,‭ ‬to fifteenth century Prague with the influence of Jan Hus,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“For‭ ‬The Heretic‭’‬s Wife,‭ ‬I chose the English Reformation,‭ ‬even though it was more political and less religious in nature than the Lutheran Reformation happening on the continent,‭ ‬because I was specifically interested in the development of the Bible in English.‭”

“I came to realize the value of the internet when I was writing‎ ‏The Mercy Seller,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“After searching through my printed sources for a couple of days to try to find a medieval pregnancy test,‭ ‬I went to the Internet and found what I needed in about five minutes.‭”‬ Many historical documents,‭ ‬such as the love letters of Henry and Anne Boleyn and ancient maps,‭ ‬are readily available on the Web.‭

Vantrease also does research in person.‭ ‬“I love to travel in England,‭ ‬love to crawl through ancient ruins,‭ ‬old castles,‭ ‬dungeons,‭ ‬abbeys,‭ ‬and absorb the hushed and time-laden atmosphere of the ancient cathedrals,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“But I do this more for inspiration than research.‭ ‬Early in the writing of‭ ‬The Heretic‭’‬s Wife,‭ ‬I visited Hampton Court for the first time and was so taken with The Tudor Kitchens that I set a couple of scenes there.‭”

“One of the interesting things I‎’‏ve observed is reader reaction to endings,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“I never realized that many readers are so invested in whether or not a story has a happy ending.‭ ‬Some readers protested the tragic ending of‭ ‬The Illuminator and now others protest the happy ending of‭ ‬The Heretic‭’‬s Wife.‭ ‬I remember that Charles Dickens was so castigated by readers for his less-than-happy ending for‭ ‬Great Expectations‭ ‬he relented and offered a second,‭ ‬happier ending.‭ ‬I don‭’‬t think I could do that.‭ ‬Maybe we should all put warnings on the cover.‭ ‬Caution,‭ ‬only for those who want a good cry.‭ ‬Or,‭ ‬get your happy ending here.‭”

Vantrease‭’‬s agent is Harvey Klinger,‭ ‬of Harvey Klinger Literary Agency.‭ ‬“All the advice books for writers tell you that the best way to find an agent is through networking,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“Well that didn‭’‬t work for me.‭ ‬The Illuminator was rejected by my best writer friend‭’‬s agent and also by two agents I had met at a workshop.‭ ‬I found Harvey the hard way,‭ ‬through a query letter.‭ ‬Looking back,‭ ‬I realize how fortunate that I was to have been turned down by the others because I would never have found the agent I have.‭”

“When I first pitched my idea in very broad terms to my agent and told him that Sir Thomas More was to be one of my main characters,‎ ‏his response was very enthusiastic,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“It seems Thomas More had been one of his childhood heroes.‭ ‬There was a long pause over the phone,‭ ‬and I said,‭ ‬‘Uh,‭ ‬Harvey,‭ ‬Thomas More is more villain than hero in this story‭’‬.‭”‬

With less enthusiasm,‭ ‬Vantrease‭’‬s agent said a few nice things about her writing,‭ ‬and told her to send him some‭ ‬chapters.‭ ‬“Those pages included the second chapter with Thomas More at home,‭ ‬brutally interrogating a suspected dissenter at his whipping post in the heart of his Chelsea garden,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“I was a little anxious as I hit the send button.‭ ‬The story‭ ‬that was screaming to be told,‭ ‬suddenly wanted to whisper.‭ ‬What a relief it was to hear the enthusiasm in his voice once again,‭ ‬when he called a few days later.‭”

“The first good thing my agent did for me was to place me with Hope Dellon,‎ ‏Executive Editor‭ ‬at St.‭ ‬Martin‭’‬s Press,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“It was a good match from the beginning.‭ ‬She has been with me for all three books.‭”

“My editor made the initial phone call,‎ ‏introducing herself,‭ ‬then my agent arranged a meeting with Sally Richardson,‭ ‬the publisher,‭ ‬and Hope Dellon,‭ ‬my editor,‭ ‬along with several other people from marketing,‭ ‬foreign rights,‭ ‬and so forth,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“We met at the Flat Iron Building in New York where St.‭ ‬Martin‭’‬s is based.‭”‬

The actual editorial process began a few weeks later,‭ ‬with a few substantive changes and then after those were completed,‭ ‬the manuscript moved on to copy editing.‭ ‬Editorial suggestions were made on telephone or by email.‭ ‬The final edit was on a printed,‭ ‬copy-edited,‭ ‬typeset copy.

‎“‏Seeing the pages set in type for the first time is always a thrill,‭ ‬and a little scary because you know this is it,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭ ‬“But seeing the cover for the first time is the most thrilling.‭ ‬I am very grateful to St.‭ ‬Martin‭’‬s for giving me such beautiful covers.‭”

Of the three books in the trilogy,‭ ‬so far only‭ ‬The Illuminator‭ ‬has been optioned for film.

Vantrease lives in‭ ‬Nashville,‭ ‬Tennessee.‭ ‬She was born in a small rural town in middle-Tennessee.‭ ‬She‭’‬s currently in research mode probing the history of the English Civil War.‭ ‬“I don‭’‬t know if I‭’‬ll find my next story there or not,‭ ‬although shadowy characters are beginning to emerge,‭”‬ says Vantrease.‭

Her website is brendarickmanvantrease.com.‭

The Heritic‭’‬s Wife by Brenda Rickman Vantrease‭

Hardcover book,‭ ‬416‭ ‬pages,‭ ‬Publisher:‭ ‬St.‭ ‬Martin’s Press‭ (‬April‭ ‬13,‭ ‬2010‭)‬,‭ ‬Language:‭ ‬English,‭ ‬ISBN:‭ ‬9780312386993‭ ‬$25.99