Yesterday I signed a contract my agent, Katelyn Detweiler of Jill Grinberg Literary Agency, negotiated with Turner Publishing Company for my debut novel, Cities of Women, which will be published in September 2023!
It’s been a long journey along a bumpy road, but I’m excited that my book will finally make its way into the world and into the hands of readers of this blog and well beyond.
The idea for Cities of Women tracks back more than two decades ago when I first became intrigued with the writing of Christine de Pizan, a remarkable woman who became an accomplished author in the 15th century. Coming across Christine’s mention in The Book of the City of Ladies of an artist named Anastasia — “so learned and skilled in painting manuscript borders and miniature backgrounds that one cannot find an artisan in all the city of Paris who can surpass her”—doubled the intrigue and planted the seed for my novel’s story about a modern woman’s obsessive quest to overturn conventional wisdom that the master illuminators of Christine’s medieval manuscripts were men.
Christine de Pizan in her study (detail), for The Queen’s Manuscript, c. 1410–1414, f. 4r (Harley MS 4431, British Library)
My novel, Cities of Women, explores themes of religious scandal, political corruption, catastrophic disease, and gender and class conflict through the lens of a late medieval era the historian Barbara Tuchman called “a distraught age whose rules were breaking down under the pressure of adverse and violent events,” a time remarkably similar to our present. Against the background of this disordered time, the medieval character in my novel, Anastasia, struggles to sustain her art. Intertwined with her story is the modern character’s (Verity) quest to rediscover beauty’s truth.
I’ll be working with the publisher in the coming months on the publication process and hope to reach out to folks when advance review copies (ARCs) are available for help with reviewing, marketing, and getting the word out on various social media platforms.
In the mean time, I’m already at work on a second novel in which another illuminated manuscript—the Book of Hours of Jeanne de Navarre—plays an intriguing role in Paris during World War II and the two decades following the end of the war. More on that to follow!