Readers, please join me welcoming Julia Gelardi, author of In Triumph’s Wake: Royal Mothers, Tragic Daughters, and the Price They Paid for Glory,who’s guest blogging here today! Exhaustively researched and utterly compelling, In Triumph’s Wake is the powerful and moving story of three royal mothers whose quest for power led to the downfall of their equally extraordinary daughters.
While the mothers ruled in their own right, each daughter was married to a foreign ruler for political reasons. And each endured her share of sadness and suffering in her adopted country. It’s the courage and dignity with which they faced those challenges that made them daughters their mothers could be proud of and earned them their true place in history. IN TRIUMPH’S WAKE is a compelling narrative history, filled with riveting stories that span continents, centuries, and incredible shifts in history.
In Triumph’s Wake follows the tale of three special sets of royal mothers and daughters: Queen Isabella of Castile & Catherine of Aragon; Empress Maria Theresa of Austria & Marie Antoinette of France; and Queen Victoria & Vicky, the Empress Frederick of Germany. What makes these sets of royal mothers and daughters distinct is that the mothers were highly successful monarchs in their own right while the daughters never lived up to their potential as consorts to reigning monarchs. When juxtaposed against their mothers’ triumphs, the sad fates of these daughters make for poignant reading.
In many ways, the stories found in In Triumph’s Wake echo those of my first book, Born to Rule. Also focusing on a set of royal women (this time, five of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters who became consorts of reigning monarchs), Born to Rule, like In Triumph’s Wake, is replete with stories that encompass the full panoply of human experiences.
I’m currently working on a third book, From Splendor to Revolution: Russia’s Imperial Matriarchs, 1847-1928. As the title suggests, this will be another book will tell the riveting stories of yet another set of royal women, this time from the Romanov dynasty of Russia.
I have chosen to focus in these three books on royalty largely because as historical figures, I find them to be a fascinating group. But beyond their value as people who made a historical difference, the lives of these women also make for moving human interest stories. By bringing their tales of tragedy and triumph to light, I hope not only to re-introduce these figures to a new generation of readers, I also hope to encourage readers to learn more about them.
The research, writing and editing involved for each of these books is very involved and time-consuming. Many hours have been spent pouring through books, letters, diaries, etc., in libraries and archives. Translations into English of the some of these material also have to be conducted. Because so much time and effort is spent on projects such as these, it’s always extremely helpful to be somewhat interested in the subjects themselves, otherwise the work can turn tedious! Then there are the other problems all writers run into, such as writer’s block and other distractions that everyday life can bring!
What of my future plans when it comes to writing? Well, I hope still to be able to produce more works of non-fiction on more royal subjects. I shall continue trying to come up with topics that readers might find interesting. And in so doing, I hope that I may be able to take readers on another journey to another time and place to re-visit and re-live the exciting and moving stories of another set of historical figures from the past. Thanks again, and I hope that the new year may a good one for everybody!
Truly the amount of research involved is awe-inspiring. Kudos, Julia, for writing such great books! Readers, your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Have you read these books? What are your thoughts?
Note – This book was received for review/feature consideration.
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