Interview with Susan Higginbotham

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself! By day, I work as an editor for a legal publisher; by night, I write historical fiction and biography. My family and I just moved to Brunswick, Maryland from North Carolina, and we're loving our new surroundings!

2. What do you write? My first novel, "The Traitor's Wife," the story about Edward II's niece Eleanor de Clare, is sent in 14th-century England, and my next four novels were set in medieval and Tudor England. With my most recent novel, Hanging Mary, which tells the story of Mary Surratt, the first woman to be hanged by the federal government, I moved to the American Civil War. My work in progress tells the story of Mary Lincoln and her Confederate half-sister, Emilie Helm. I also write biography and have published two: "The Woodvilles" and "Margaret Pole: The Countess in the Tower." I'm working on books about Margaret of Anjou and Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset. 3. If you could live during any time period, when would you live and why? Although I'd miss the antibiotics of today, I think the Victorian era would have been a very exciting time to live in, full of new ideas and new technology. 4. What's the last great historical fiction book that you read? "A Friend of Mr. Lincoln" by Stephen Harrigan, narrated by a fictional friend of--well, you know. Normally I don't like historical novels where a fictional character takes a major part alongside a historical one, but the author carried the device off beautifully here. 5. What are some of your favorite historical fiction books that you have ever read? Some of my favorites are Jude Morgan's "A Taste of Sorrow," about the Bronte sisters; Thomas Mallon's "Henry and Clara," about the ill-fated couple who shared a box with the Lincolns at Ford's Theater; and Margaret George's "The Autobiography of Henry VIII." By the way, I used to do set-up work for an annual library sale, and it would always amuse me to see George's book pop up on the biography table. 6. If you could bring any three historical figures with you to a deserted island, who would you bring and why? Abraham Lincoln, because he's my historical hero; Charles Dickens, because he's my literary hero; and Richard III, because he'd have to tell us what happened to the Princes in the Tower before someone came to rescue us. I was going to invite Jane Austen, but then I thought, why have another lady along?