In the process of writing historical fiction, the challenge is often to integrate research about the period into a story that captivates the reader. In my novel The Throne in the Heart of the Sea and its sequel, The Stars in their Courses, one of my characters becomes a physician, so I first had to […]
Author Archive | Martha Shelley
The Hurricane Headed for Cuba
Cuba has been big news this week. What I’ve gathered from the papers, including readers’ comments, is there seem to be three points of view: 1) Most Americans are happy about the prospect of normal relations between the U.S. and that island nation. 2) A handful of aging anti-Communist exiles, and their Republican supporters, are […]
Assyrian Empire: Blood at the Banquet
By Martha Shelley on December 14, 2014 in Assyria, Empire, Jezebel, Middle East, The Throne in the Heart of the Sea
This week the big news in the U.S. has been about torture, as conducted by the C.I.A. after 9/11. I’ve spent some time with the comments section in my hometown newspaper: the majority of readers are outraged, while some defend the practice. Some even seem naïve enough to be shocked. However, most ruling elites, ours […]
Elijah and Olive Oil
By Martha Shelley on December 7, 2014 in Elijah, Israel, Middle East, Researching a Historical Novel, The Throne in the Heart of the Sea
People have asked me how I went about researching a historical novel. Here’s one example. Developing Elijah was a major challenge, both in my first and second novels. He appears in the Bible quite suddenly, a full-blown champion of justice, complete with miracles. All we know about his past is that he was from a […]
Blood Sacrifice in Israel
Thirty years ago I visited Israel for the first time, partly to do research for my novels about Jezebel. In Jerusalem I passed a store window with small but colorful posters—artistic imaginings—of the ancient Temple, supposedly built by Solomon. The storefront was the information center of a religious group that wanted to tear down the […]