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Novel set in London and France. The author talks about her research.

25th June 2016

The Medici Mirror by Melissa Bailey, novel set in London and France.

The overarching storyline of The Medici Mirror focuses on Catherine de Medici, the Italian wife of the French King, Henri II and her connection to an old, darkened, seemingly magical mirror which is passed down through the centuries and unearthed in the present day”….

novel set in france and londonOne of the great things about reading new (to me) authors is the not knowing what is in store. Will it be good? Will it entertain me? Will it make me want to stay up long into the night to find out what happens? Are the characters believable? Will I want to finish the book?

Well having finished The Medici Mirror, I can wholeheartedly say that the answer is a resounding ‘yes’ to the above!

Melissa is akin to a chef. She takes a number of ingredients, a little bit of this, a little bit of that and lots of others things. Then she mixes them up and adjusts them slightly to result in something deliciously readable and captivating.

So, what are the ingredients?

  • A chance meeting
  • Duplicity
  • Friendships – or not as the case may be
  • Interesting relationships
  • Intrigue
  • Suspense
  • Interesting locations
  • A fair bit of mystery, leading the reader to attempt to make what could be misleading conclusions
  • Alchemy – scary!
  • Extremely good writing
  • A bit of history thrown in – (enough for me to check some of the historical events!)
  • A wee bit of memory for me of some of the places incorporated in the tale

Although the main part of the tale is based in London, anyone who has visited the beautiful château at Chenonceau or who has been whisked by water taxi round the Venetian lagoon marvelling at the magnificent architecture and glorious Murano glass, will love to briefly reconnect; the snippets of reference to these places make the tale interesting and evocative.

So Melissa, my thoughts on your concoction? A MasterChef without doubt!

KAGA for the TripFiction Team

And over to Melissa who shares the backstory to the novel:

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Catherine’s bedchamber at Chaumont.

The overarching storyline of The Medici Mirror focuses on Catherine de Medici, the Italian wife of the French King, Henri II and her connection to an old, darkened, seemingly magical mirror which is passed down through the centuries and unearthed in the present day.

Catherine de Medici was a fascinating woman – many sided, contradictory. She was a fervent Catholic and yet simultaneously deeply superstitious – she believed in the power of the stars and sought solace from astrologers and soothsayers. In her early life, she developed an interest in pagan magic which developed later into something somewhat darker – a fascination with the black arts and necromancy. She was also fairly adept, it is said, at despatching her enemies through poisoning.

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Fontainebleau – the horseshoe staircase built for Henri II

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Corridor Fontainebleau

While I was writing The Medici Mirror I visited lots of Catherine’s chateaux to try to get a sense of mood and place – the rooms Catherine had inhabited, the corridors she had walked down – so that I could echo that as much as possible in the narrative of the book. Fontainebleau is thought to be the palace at which the infamous scene which opens the novel took place – Catherine staring down through holes made in the floor of her bedchamber to see her husband and his mistress making love. At this time in her life, Catherine was failing to conceive a child (despite her self-administered magical potions) and it is said had actually started to believe that she was sexually inadequate in some way. So the steely willed woman decided to watch Henri with his mistress to see if she could learn anything. It is amazing to imagine as you walk around the grandeur of a palace like Fontainebleau that such human emotions were playing out behind the gilt doors and highly decorated walls. And that some people were drilling holes in the ornate ceilings and spying on those below!

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The apothecary of poisons – Blois

I also went to Blois, where it is said that Catherine kept an apothecary of poisons – 237 secret compartments hidden behind wooden panelled walls in the room beside her private chapel and bedchamber. It’s a small intimate space and you can walk right around it and touch and open the panels where Catherine’s armoury of arsenic and other poisons were supposed to have been hidden. That was great for tapping into and later capturing a mood of intrigue and plotting.

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Chaumont

I also visited Catherine’s chateau at Chaumont where evidence of occult practices were found after Catherine vacated the premises after Henri’s death – pentacles drawn on the floor, altars decorated with skulls, the remains of animal sacrifices. It is also said that a black magic ceremony took place there, with Catherine’s friend, Nostrodamus present. Even now, 400 years on, that chateau felt to me more sinister, more claustrophobic and creepy than the others and I could completely imagine such a ritual having taken place. Experiencing that heavy atmospheric mood first hand made it easier for me to bring it to life in the book.

© photos Melissa Bailey

You can connect with Melissa on Twitter, Facebook and her website

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