I’ve been thinking about this series because it’s still popular and it’s been out a while. (That’s one advantage to writing historical fiction–it’s never dated, because it started OLD.)
The Cahira O’Connor series was born when Lisa Bergren, novelist and editor extraordinaire, was acquiring fiction for WaterBrook. She knew I was writing historicals, so she contacted me to see if I’d want to do a historical series for them. I was interested, but I told her I’d be bored setting an entire series in just one time period. So I suggested historical books that were linked by a theme . . . maybe from the medieval time period? (Since I’d already written three from that time.)
And she said yes, that would be fun. In fact, she’d been thinking about maybe a female knight. And I said that’d be really hard to pull off, seeing as how knights pretty much lived together round the clock. And all those feats of strength, you know . . .
And then that lovely serendipity thing kicked in and we started brainstorming. Maybe an entire series of women who leave the traditional female role to survive by their wits in a male world. Lisa laughed and said we could call it the “women in drag” series. And so we did (but only in a whisper).
And so was born the Heirs of Cahira O’Connor series. Cahira is an Irish princess who, on her deathbed, begged God that her descendants would do amazing things . . . and so they did. Every 200 years, an O’Connor woman (marked by red hair with a white streak) leaves traditional womanhood in order to:
*become a female knight and fight in the Hussite Wars (1400s)
*sail the world in a voyage of exploration (1600s)
*fight in the Civil War (1800s)
*and record their adventures (year 2000).
For The Silver Sword, I looked for something interesting in medieval times . . . and discovered Jon Huss and the Hussite Wars. I’d never heard of them, but as I read about the struggle, I found myself in complete agreement with those who were rebelling against the corruption in the church. Jon Hus lived and preached during a time in which indulgences were bought and sold with impunity, and dissidents were punished with spiritual consequences. It was a fascinating and dangerous time, and I was eager to write about it. He wanted reform before Martin Luther.
Most of the dialogue in the scene of Huss’s trial comes directly from eyewitness manuscripts–the actual history was so fascinating and complete that I didn’t have to invent many details. And so I began to write and research a time before the invention of the printing press, a time when men and women who dared to disagree with the church leaders could pay for their differing opinion with their lives. Fascinating time, and men and women risked their lives for the truth of God’s word.
We have been so spoiled by modern times. Truly.
The Heirs of Cahira O’Connor are available as single books or as one whopping e-book. 🙂
~~Angie
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Thanks for sharing. The role reversals for women sounds interesting. I’d never heard of the Hussite Wars, either.
It really was a fascinating time in history–the Hussite Wars, Jan Huss, etc. Martin Luther gets all the attention, but Huss predates him. I didn’t know anything about the time period until I wrote that first book! 🙂
I think it’s always smart in fiction to take something familiar (knights, explorers, etc) and make it fresh–in this case you did so by making these characters female. What a fantastic premise for a series!
Love that series!