Today, I am delighted to welcome Tony Riches back to Yarde Book Promotions with a rather special behind-the-scenes look at the audiobook edition of Queen Anna.
Bringing a historical novel to audio involves more than simply reading the words on the page. The narrator must find the voices of its characters, navigate unfamiliar names and languages, and capture the atmosphere and emotions of another time.
For Queen Anna, Tony chose actor and voice artist Ruth Urquhart to bring Anna of Denmark's story to life. Today, Tony tells us a little about the inspiration and research behind the novel before turning interviewer himself and asking Ruth about her experience of narrating Anna's remarkable story.
Over to you, Tony...
A crown won in the eye of a storm. A queen who refuses to be broken... Princess Anna of Denmark sails for Scotland to marry King James VI, but storms ravage her fleet, igniting a deadly obsession with witchcraft in her new home. Arriving in a strange and paranoid court, Anna finds her new husband’s bed is a treacherous place.
After fourteen years researching and writing the twelve books which tell the story of the Tudors, it seemed natural to explore the succession in more detail and understand the rise of the Stuarts.
I discovered Anna’s story while writing about Bess and Walter Raleigh, and like most people, knew little about her life. I’ve enjoyed the year of research behind this book, uncovering primary sources – and even learning a little Danish.
With notable exceptions, Anna is largely overlooked by historians, and I found myself wondering about the image of her as shallow, with little influence. I don’t recall her being mentioned in my history lessons at school, but Anna was the daughter of a king, wife of a king and mother of a king.
Tell us a little of your background and how you
decided to go into audiobook narration?
decided to go into audiobook narration?
My background is as an actor and after many years touring in small scale theatre, my kids came along and it seemed a natural progression to go into voice acting as something I could do from home and still spend time with my family. When I did I was amazed at the scope of work available and I've loved it ever since!
How much did you know about Anna of Denmark before you began the narration?
Very little. I have previously narrated a non-fiction book called 'Scottish Queens' by Rosalind K Marshall which had a section dedicated to Queen Anna. But that was the extent of my knowledge. Tony's book has made it much more personal and made me realise that so little is focused on the queens and consorts of the past
What most surprised you about Anna’s life?
I suppose her resilience even from such a young age, dealing so well with being shipped off to another country and then the seemingly never-ending pregnancies with so much heartache and loss. She also has a surprising amount of agency with James and when he proved disappointing, she carved her own way to benefit both her children and to a lesser degree herself. I admire her greatly.
How did you approach preparing for the narration process?
The first thing I do as with any book is read it cover to cover. Then I go through and make notes. Of course there were lots of tricky Danish pronunciations to unpick as well as the accents of various foreign nobles. I also watched the documentary 'Queen James' although that of course focuses more on James than Anna.
There are plenty of Danish phrases in the book, so how did you deal with them?
With this I had my Danish Sister-ln Law (another Anne) on speed dial! It is quite a tricky language to pronounce for non-natives but I was very lucky to have this resource at hand.
Ruth Urquhart
Listen to an excerpt from the audiobook
A huge thank you to Tony Riches and Ruth Urquhart for giving us this fascinating glimpse behind the audiobook edition of Queen Anna.
Tony Riches
Tony Riches is a full-time UK author of historical fiction. He lives with his wife in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and is a specialist in the lives of the early Tudors. As well as his Elizabethan series, Tony’s historical fiction novels include the best-selling Tudor trilogy and his Elizabethan series.
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See you on your next coffee break!
Take Care,
Mary Anne xxx