An Adventurous Heroine in Medieval England from Allison Knight

Please welcome Allison Knight, author of medieval romances. Today she shares about her adventurous heroine in her “song series, Heartsong, Battlesong, and Windsong.

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Catherine is the last of my medieval heroines from the song series. The book is currently with the publisher awaiting a decision. But, I asked if I could post on the 27th of January, because the song series was dedicated to my father who was born on the 27th of January, many years ago. He loved music and celebrated his birthday with a great composer, Mozart. So all of my Welsh characters in the song series sing well.

But that’s not what makes Catherine an adventurous heroine. First, she was married at a very early age, tradition in those days, to an abusive husband. After he died, she decided,

never again. She took up the art of healing, ran her father’s home, and wasn’t afraid to tackle most anything. To escape another unwanted marriage, Cat, as the hero calls her, takes off for London in the company of three men. Unheard of for a lady to do such a thing. She cares for a small pox victim and then leaves London for Scotland. All through her adventures, she’s telling people what to do, for my Cat is a bossy babe.

She’s fond of her father’s estate. It’s where she grew up, running wild, again something not done by a Lady during that time. But Cat is different. She’s not afraid of much, even though her first husband destroyed some of her confidence. However, throughout the novel, she gets a lot of it back, especially when she outsmarts a couple of the bad guys.

Heroines who are not willing to take some risks aren’t much fun. They aren’t fun to read about, nor are they fun to write. If a heroine is willing to just take what life hands her, then, as far as I’m considered, the lady is boring. Who wants to read about a boring heroine. Not me.

When I first starting writing, my heroines always seemed to have real tasks to surmount. The bigger the task, the more fun I had trying to get her out of trouble. Surprisingly, there always seemed to be a way. Cat’s a great example of that. She takes matters into her own hands and just takes off.

Although I write about England, I’ve never been there. I always wanted to go, but something always seemed to interfere, job, or kids, or husband’s work. Now my health precludes making the trip, so I’ll just have to dream about it, and do lots of research.

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Allison Knight began her writing career when she read a book she didn’t like. Today, with her husband’s support, she writes the genres she loves, muses about her life on her blog and enjoys blogging for others. Her fourth ‘song’ book awaits publisher’s approval as she works on her next historical.