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Guest Post with Robert Parry, author of The Arrow Chest & Giveaway

February 15, 2011 by Darlene


Please join me in welcoming Robert Parry, author of The Arrow Chest, here to Peeking Between the Pages today. I reviewed The Arrow Chest yesterday (my review) and really enjoyed it for it’s ghostly and dark elements along with the historical fiction aspect which I always love. Today Robert Parry joins us to talk about when his interest in Tudor history began and why…

The title ‘The Arrow Chest’ refers to one of the most peculiar incidents in English history. After her execution in 1556, the body and head of the second of Henry VIII ‘s wives, Anne Boleyn, was placed inside an old arrow chest and buried, unmarked and without ceremony, beneath the floor of the Chapel in the Tower of London. The chest itself was large enough for the purpose – made of elm wood, and long enough to accommodate bow staves as well as arrows – but hardly a dignified burial. What a terrible conclusion to a glittering life! What a dreadful way to treat an anointed Queen and someone who, after all, had been instrumental in the Reformation of the Church of England!

For quite some time now I have wanted to write about this most enigmatic, mysterious and unjustly maligned of women. I wanted to try to get beneath the surface of what the history books and the movies tell us and try to fathom what might really have taken place in the relationship with King Henry. What was the chemistry, the dynamics that existed, and why after almost a decade of steadfast courtship did he abandon her and come to loathe her in so short a space of time? I also wanted to include within the story the character of Thomas Wyatt, a handsome and clever courtier, poet and musician (who might well have been Anne’s childhood sweetheart, and was certainly viewed by Henry as a rival for her affections in later life). Thomas makes the third corner of a very special love triangle in fact.

It became pretty clear, however, early on in the process of sketching the plot that this couldn’t be just another Tudor love story. I wanted, instead, to try and make sense of the characters by moving the whole thing forward in time, to a place just a little closer to home and to the wonderful, extravagant and exciting era known as Victorian Gothic. Not so bizarre as it sounds, this change of scenery to 19th century England. The Victorians underwent their own crisis in faith – the advent of Darwinian evolution that threatened the Church and its teachings – just as the Reformation once threatened the established Church way back in the 16th century. In Victorian England, moreover, there were always plenty of powerful men at large – leaders of industry and ‘kings’ in their own right. And the Victorian age also gave us the fabulous poets and painters of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. It seemed, therefore, the perfect environment in which to speculate on just what might have taken place between Anne Boleyn, Henry and Tom Wyatt.

The significance of the Arrow Chest, meanwhile, becomes a little more clear when we appreciate its symbolic importance in Tudor times. Much of the poetry of Thomas Wyatt alludes to Cupid and his love-arrows. The ‘chase’ – the hunt and the hunted – these were all metaphors for courtship and sexual desire. Meanwhile, in one of his love-letters to Anne, Henry describes himself as being struck by cupid’s dart. So arrows were important tokens. The King also liked to associate himself with the archer-God Apollo. At the time of Anne’s coronation in 1533, the artist Hans Holbein was commissioned to produce a tableau for the procession in which Henry was depicted as Apollo, seated on a dais surrounded by the Muses.

So there you have it. It is a Tudor story – only moved forward a few centuries in time. The novel opens in London, in 1876, the year in which the skeletal remains of Anne Boleyn first came to light during a renovation of the Chapel of St Peters ad Vincula in the Tower of London.

(Robert Parry is an independent UK writer with special interests in Tudor and Elizabethan history, Victorian Gothic and Pre-Raphaelite art. His debut novel in 2009 was ‘Virgin and the Crab,’ a story about the astronomer John Dee and Elizabeth Tudor. ‘The Arrow Chest’ was published in January of this year.)
__________

Thank you so much for joining us today with this wonderful guest post Robert! Tudor history is my favorite so that was most certainly an intriguing aspect of your novel for me.
__________

About the Book

London, 1876. The painter Amos Roselli is in love with his life-long friend and model, the beautiful Daphne – and she with him – until one day she is discovered by another man, a powerful and wealthy industrialist. What will happen when Daphne realises she has sacrificed her happiness to a loveless marriage? What will happen when the artist realises he has lost his most cherished source of inspiration? And how will they negotiate the ever-increasing frequency of strange and bizarre events that seem to be driving them inexorably towards self-destruction. Here, amid the extravagant Neo-Gothic culture of Victorian England, the iconic poem ‘The Lady of Shalott’ blends with mysterious and ghostly glimpses of Tudor history. Romantic, atmospheric and deeply dark.

Check out the book trailer…

About the Author


Robert Parry is an independent UK writer of historical fiction with special interests in Tudor and Elizabethan history, Victorian Gothic and Pre-Raphaelite art.

Be sure to visit Robert Parry’s website as well!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have 1 copy of The Arrow Chest by Robert Parry to share with my readers courtesy of the author. To enter…

  • For 1 entry leave me a comment with a way to contact you.
  • For 2 entries follow my blog. If you already do, let me know. The extra entry is yours as well.
  • For 3 entries blog or tweet about this giveaway to spread the word.

This giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents as well as those in the UK and Europe (no PO boxes) and I will draw for the winner on Saturday, March 5, 2011. Good luck everyone!

© 2010, Darlene of Peeking Between the Pages. All Rights Reserved. If you’re reading this on a site other than Peeking Between the Pages or Darlene’s Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Wall-to-wall books says

    February 15, 2011 at 11:29 am

    Wow, sounds like an interesting book! It has a gorgeous cover, and the Author's not so bad either!
    Please enter me in this great giveaway!
    I am a follower.

    forevereading at gmail dot com

  2. Linda says

    February 15, 2011 at 12:09 pm

    I agree that the cover is beautiful. The book sounds intriguing; I like stories about artists and their muses.

    extra entry – Google follower

    lcbrower40(at)gmail(dot)com

  3. Bethie says

    February 15, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    I would love to win this. Thanks for the giveaway.
    I follow on GFC.

    lizzi0915 at aol dot com

  4. KimberlySue says

    February 15, 2011 at 2:18 pm

    I would love to own this book, it's on my "to-read" list!
    kimbers10[at]yahoo[dot]com

    I'm already a blog follower.

    I will make sure to tweet this giveaway!
    @kdaze10

  5. Zibilee says

    February 15, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    I love the Tudors as well, and found this post to be fascinating. Thanks for sharing it with us. The book also sounds great, and although I have already won one of your giveaways, I think I will enter this one as well!!

    zibilee(at)figearo(dot)net

  6. PoCoKat says

    February 15, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    I love the Tudors…sounds like an awesome book!

    littleone AT shaw DOT ca

  7. PoCoKat says

    February 15, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    I follow on GFC

    littleone AT shaw DOT ca

  8. Sandra K321 says

    February 15, 2011 at 4:17 pm

    I would love to read this since I enjoy historical fiction.
    seknobloch(at)gmail(dot)com

  9. Sandra K321 says

    February 15, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    I follow your blog with google friend connect.
    seknobloch(at)gmail(dot)com

  10. BRNTerri says

    February 15, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    Please enter me. I'd love to read this.
    +2 for being a follower.
    +3 for blogging, http://bit.ly/f3d6RZ

    Thanks,
    brnterri at gmail dot com

  11. Moonlight Gleam says

    February 15, 2011 at 5:22 pm

    I love the cover and I am a very big fan of historical fiction. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity<3

    moonlightgleam(at)gmail(dot)com

  12. Moonlight Gleam says

    February 15, 2011 at 5:22 pm

    GFC follower 🙂

    moonlightgleam(at)gmail(dot)com

  13. Colleen Turner says

    February 15, 2011 at 7:58 pm

    This book sounds so good! I love anything dealing with the Tudors. Please include me in the giveaway.
    Thanks,
    candc320@gmail.com

  14. Colleen Turner says

    February 15, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    I am a GFC follower (Colleen Turner).
    candc320@gmail.com

  15. Rebecca Rasmussen says

    February 15, 2011 at 9:59 pm

    This looks great honey!

  16. Brenda says

    February 15, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    I would love to win the book it sounds great!
    Please include me.

    Thank you!
    dancealert at aol dot com

  17. Brenda says

    February 15, 2011 at 11:59 pm

    I'm a gfc follower!

    dancealert at aol dot com

  18. Brenda says

    February 16, 2011 at 12:00 am

    I posted this giveaway/interview to my blog and here is the link:

    http://dancealertreads.blogspot.com/2011/02/peeking-between-pages-is-giving-away.html

    My blog – DanceAlertReads.blogspot.com

    dancealert at aol dot com

  19. Rachel says

    February 16, 2011 at 1:01 am

    I'm a follower! Thanks for the giveaway!

    Rachelhwallen@gmail.com

  20. throuthehaze says

    February 16, 2011 at 4:52 am

    This definitely sounds interesting! Thanks for the giveaway
    throuthehaze at gmail dot com

  21. throuthehaze says

    February 16, 2011 at 4:52 am

    follower
    throuthehaze at gmail dot com

  22. Kaye says

    February 16, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    Wow, this sounds like a good one. Stories set in Victorian England really fascinate me.

    florida982002[at]yahoo.com

  23. Kaye says

    February 16, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    GFC follower

    florida982002[at]yahoo.com

  24. Margie says

    February 17, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    This book sounds very intriguing. Thanks for the giveaway.
    mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

  25. Margie says

    February 17, 2011 at 4:46 pm

    blog follower via GFC
    mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

  26. naida says

    February 19, 2011 at 2:49 pm

    I had no idea about The Arrow Chest. This sounds fantastic!

  27. JerseyGirl22 says

    February 21, 2011 at 1:08 pm

    Hi! I'm a follower.
    http://bagofbutterflies.blogspot.com/2011/02/giveaway-8.html – blog post
    and my e-mail: petra_socaciu(at)yahoo(dot)com
    Thanks!

  28. Veronica says

    February 22, 2011 at 5:44 am

    what an interesting sounding book! i'd love to read it.

    veronicasbooks at gmail dot com

    i'm a follower

  29. Tea says

    February 22, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    I would like to read The Arrow Chest.

    I follow your blog already.

  30. Tea says

    February 22, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    I tweeted about the giveaway at buttons and pins.

    http://twitter.com/buttonsandpins

    Thank you.

  31. Lady K says

    February 22, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    I love the Tudors <3 So great !
    anais.styling[a]orange.fr

  32. Tribute Books Mama says

    February 22, 2011 at 3:53 pm

    I would love to win

    I am a follower, thanks for the giveaway.

    tributebooksmamagmaildotcom

  33. Anonymous says

    February 22, 2011 at 5:29 pm

    Hope I win….
    RJB
    loki304(at)tds(dot)net

  34. nan says

    February 23, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    I love the idea of a story evoking comparison to the fateful Tudor love triangle, particularly when each era is so different, each far removed from the present. Would love to win this book.

    nanze55(at)hotmail(dot)com

  35. Atypical Girl says

    February 24, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    My mom would love this book (as would I!)

    +2 I'm also a follower!

    Amy // artsyrockerchick at aim dot com

  36. Linda P says

    February 25, 2011 at 10:15 am

    I love the idea of the symbolism of the arrow chest with a link to cupid's arrow. It sounds an intriguing book. Please count me in the draw.

  37. mamabunny13 says

    February 25, 2011 at 6:49 pm

    I would love to read this book. Please enter me
    mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

  38. mamabunny13 says

    February 25, 2011 at 6:50 pm

    I follow you via gfc
    mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

  39. mamabunny13 says

    February 25, 2011 at 6:57 pm

    tweet @mamabunny13
    http://twitter.com/#!/mamabunny13/status/41210086927896576
    mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

  40. Terry says

    February 25, 2011 at 7:05 pm

    This sounds like a great book – please enter me. I am a follower.

    tmrtini at gmail dot com

  41. ChristyJan says

    February 27, 2011 at 8:55 pm

    I would love to win a copy ~ sounds like a great read!

    + I'm a follower

    hawkes (at) citlink.net

  42. maria says

    February 28, 2011 at 12:38 am

    Count me in!

    billiondollarprincesss@hotmail.com

  43. Susan says

    February 28, 2011 at 9:28 pm

    I would really like to win this book.

    susanbillietaylor [at] gmail [dot] com

  44. Susan says

    February 28, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    1. I've been following you for awhile now on gfc.

    susanbillietaylor [at] gmail [dot] com

  45. Susan says

    February 28, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    2. I've been following you for awhile now on gfc.

    susanbillietaylor [at] gmail [dot] com

  46. dianabanana says

    March 3, 2011 at 2:08 pm

    well here goes!

    I follow through facebook 🙂

    dianatangx3 (at) gmail.com

  47. Robert Parry says

    March 4, 2011 at 10:53 am

    Thank you Darlene for your wonderful review, and thank you everyone for all your comments. Good luck with the draw tomorrow!

  48. Sarah E says

    March 5, 2011 at 4:46 am

    I would love to read this book! Please enter me in the giveaway.

    bookloversarah1 at yahoo dot com

    Sarah E

  49. Sarah E says

    March 5, 2011 at 4:47 am

    Follow via GFC.

    bookloversarah1 at yahoo dot com

    Sarah E

  50. Sarah E says

    March 5, 2011 at 4:48 am

    Tweet: http://twitter.com/BookLoverSarah/status/43895529079443456

    bookloversarah1 at yahoo dot com

    Sarah E

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