A Tale of Turmoil and Triumph: Julie Strong's Tudor Prophecy | Author Interview | Episode 124

Good morning, Julie Strong. Welcome to the Bookaholic podcast. Thank you, dear Drew. I'm very happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Yes, I'm glad you're here. I always love talking to debut authors because I always want to see what drew you to writing and made you want to put a book out there to put your thoughts out there. Before we dive into your debut novel, The True Prophecy, which is a great title, by the way, let's go ahead and dive into why did you want to become a writer? I think it's because I'm afraid of dying. [Music] Make you stay. [Music] [Music] Yes. Yeah. Pretty much that's the general consensus amongst us all the cost of that. and and I had this story inside of me and I I had to get it out. Yes. You know what? When you put it that way, I think all of us have something inside of us to say, "I've got to do this before I die." And so therefore, you have bucket list. Okay. So, we're so glad we're so glad you made it and got the story out because you have you have a have had a great career and so you just had to your thing is you just had to get the story out. Yes. Okay. So, what drew you to want to write? I have different people that I talk to and some people like to create worlds and it's in the fantasy realm and all of these things and I'm a person I am drawn to historical fiction like what you have written but what drew you to write a historical fictional novel and one filled with plot twists. So it's a thriller of sorts is it not? Oh yeah, there's a lot of violence and just the right amount of sex to make people sit up and take interest. Yeah. Well, tell us a little bit about why you were drawn to write about this specific period because this is the reformation period. Henry a and Henry VII for as we know historically was not a good guy but he always makes for fascinating books in movies. Yep. He have six wives and you go down in history as if you do if you chop off a couple of heads along the way. Oh yeah. He was a terrible man but he did seem to get England cohesive in some way. And the plot for my story is how his daughter Elizabeth when she becomes queen, she can put to rides a lot of the terrible things that Henry did. That Elizabeth as queen gives us freedom of conscience and is able to undo some of the tyranny, the tyrannical laws that her father put in place. So, and I think that the turbulence of that time where people didn't know what to think, Dri, one day you were a Roman Catholic and you were worshiping Mary and the saints and you knew exactly what you said at mass and you knew that masses would be said for you after you died and you had security, right, Henry? He abolished all that. And so one day you were a heretic if you didn't follow Rome and the next day you woke up and you were a heretic if you didn't follow Henry. And people were so bereff of everything that they held dear to them. In the that time we were close to the ground. We touched things. I would have to be with you in New York City communicate. It would you could only travel 30 miles a day but it would take me weeks to get to you. And I think technology is great and at the same time I think we have lost touch with some basic connection with the earth that they had in that time. Not to get off track. agree with you with that because I've been thinking about a lot of things and about how distracted we all are because of phones and social media and we scroll but yet people in ancient times were able to build the pyramids and they were able to even concept the pyramids and I've gone to the I've been blessed to go to the Lou twice and you go in there and you see the ancient Romans and Greek statues which are just incredible with marble and they make garments look like they're flowing. It's incredible. And I'm like, could we could this society put together something like that anymore? I don't think so because we don't have the presence of mind. But anyway, that's another subject. I do agree. And in the Judah prophecy, I bring in the Greek myth a lot because you may know I certainly know from experience that if you've had adverse early childhood events, you have to have some place to go with your mind. Myth is a good place to go because there's beauty there and there's violence there. Yes. Have one without the other. Well, my heroine Hester, she's she immerses herself in Greek myth. And the young Elizabeth as a child, her mother is beheaded, and Berlin is beheaded for adultery and witchcraft, right? So, young Elizabeth immerses herself in myth. It's a way to be motherthered in some way. You got worries for protection, for safety, for escape. And yes, I think that the Greek with their beautiful statues and you say the lure is full of them, they're still with us and we there when we need them. Yes. And prophecy brings that in as well as the ancient goddess that of course the ancient world revered for many thousands of years before patriarchy took over. Let's not talk about patriarchy. You turn please. I can't do that one right now. But what we will do is I want you to tell us all about the Judor prophecy and our characters and the storyline. Okay, dear. What I'd like to do is to be able to give you like the condensed version. Oh, most definitely. Most definitely. We don't want to give away anything, but we need to do the general story line. So, what's it all about? Okay. So, the year is 1541 and it's the tombs of Henry VII's Reformation. And I have two cousins and they're herbalists. And one is arrested for witchcraft. Yes, of course. Yep. What? I know what that's dreadful. And then the other one is molested by Henry VII. Uh, what? But she goes on to become betrothed to a bard whose mentor has visions prophesying the ascent of Queen Elizabeth to the throne. So that deed is a tutor prophecy in a nutshell. Yes. Yes. But so that puts her I would think in danger. Oh, the heavy that my heroins barely go five pages without a new peril besetting them. Yes, of of course it is a happy ending. And Dry, I have to emphasize the fact that the Judah Prophecy is a happy book. It's a story and courage and overcoming adversity. And the main characters all end up happily at the end. It's a story for well for time. Yes, that's good to know. That's good to know. I will tell you again because I am a lover of historical fiction. I just loved the cover and I love the title because just because of the word prophecy, you already know, oh goodness, what is the mysterious prophecy and what will that mean? So, it already intrigues you. So, I you can't judge a book by the cover, but this cover I think Oh, yes, you can. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. The font style matches that error from what we know does and it just is very lovely. It's not super busy or anything, but it just seems like it really encapsulates the story. Thank you. And here I'm very grateful to Anna O' Connell of OC Publishing not just for publishing the book but for finding me a wonderful editor Marian Ward who's her associate publisher now who edited the book and found me the artist local Rebecca Wilson who designed the cover and then David Edstein who put it all together. It's I'm thrilled, dear, with the way the book has is now out to people. Yes. And you have it. It's out on all platforms. It's on Amazon. It's in your bookstores. It's everywhere. It's accessible everywhere because it came out when in January early. It is the launch date for the hard copy and it's available on on websites as an ebook right now. I think people want to wait have it in their hand. It's because I the 16th century was a very tactile century. Like the wool and the furs, they're all you touch them. I'd like to be able to hold the book and touch it all the pages. When I think about that period when you we're talking about tactile, I think about tapestries, right? gest and like you said furs and feathers and that type of thing. Yes, most definitely. And I think this is a perfect winter read. Do you have a lot of winter scenes in there? But anything historical and twisty plotty should be a great read for January, February, and early Oh, okay. But I suppose there's a bit of birding at the stake which would warm one up on a winter cold night. But but that's a very small part. But the book I go into a lot of nature and a lot of and the coming of spring and the dawning of hope. Ah yes with Elizabeth. Because my heroine Hester her mother dies when she's young. So when she meet the young lady Elizabeth, they can form a bond over their common experience of early maternal loss. Right. Yes. And Hester, my heroine, can in a way extract a promise from the young Elizabeth that when she does come to be queen, she will rule with mercy. What is is central to to the book? this idea that there is hope at the end of the winter. Oh yes, that's always good to have. Now, let me ask you this. What made you want to first of all write a book that takes place in this particular era? And then how did you formulate your characters in and around real life historical figures? I wanted something wanted a turbulent time. a time where your beliefs could take you to the block. Why? Yeah. And so then my characters, I wanted I wanted one to be a little bit like myself and suffer certain adverse events and then I wanted my other character to be a more a maternal figure. A lot of healing has to happen both for my main protagonist and also for for Elizabeth. That will be in the next book because Elizabeth had a terrible childhood with her mother and Elizabeth worshiped her father who basically was a monster. Right. Correct. Correct. Wow. need my heroine to be able to address those problems for Elizabeth so she can become the ruler England needs. H wow, this is a great setup for the next book and there will be a sequel. Is it a sequel as it were or will it be a standalone but yet after this time period? Oh, there has to be a sequel because the last page demands demands a sequel. This is very exciting, Julie. When you get that sequel written and done and published, come back to so we can continue this timeline of the tudor prophecy. Yes. Yes. The Lady Elizabeth's Secret is the name of the sequel. Oh, we have a name for it. Oh, I can't wait. Another great and shrieking title, Secret Prophecy. You're hitting the nail on the head, Julie. Julie, thank you so much for joining me today. And I encourage all of my viewers to check out the two door prophecy. I'll have a link to it in the podcast show notes as well as the video description box below. Thank you so much for joining me today, Julie. Welcome. Thank you very much. Lovely to have this meeting. Yes. Wonderful. Thanks, Sure.