Jude Grayson: I have always been interested in history, but more in the people behind it than the events themselves. What someone was thinking in the moment they made a decision that changed everything has always interested me.
Writing grew out of that. It started as something I enjoyed in my own time and gradually became something I wanted to take more seriously. Blood and Bronze is probably the clearest example of what I am trying to do, take a story people feel familiar with and bring it back to something more human and grounded.
Mary Anne: What first drew you to retelling the story of the Trojan War, and what inspired your particular approach in Blood and Bronze?
Jude Grayson: It is one of those stories that is always there in the background. Most people know the broad outline, even if they have never read it properly.
That made it interesting to me. I was less interested in retelling the legend as it is usually told, and more in what it might have felt like to actually be there. Once you look at it that way, it becomes less about myth and more about people making decisions they have to live with.
Mary Anne: The novel centres not just on war, but on the choices that lead to it. Why was it important for you to focus on that initial spark, the moment everything begins to unravel?
Jude Grayson: Because that is the part that feels most real to me.
Wars are often talked about as if they were inevitable, but they are not. They begin with smaller decisions, often made for reasons that make sense at the time. I wanted to spend time in that space, where things could still have gone another way.
Mary Anne: This is a story many readers will already be familiar with. How did you make such a well-known legend feel fresh and engaging?
Jude Grayson: I tried to stay close to the characters and their perspective.
Most people know what happens, but not necessarily how it feels as it unfolds. When you focus on that, the story changes slightly. It becomes less about big moments and more about how those moments come about in the first place.
Mary Anne: You explore iconic figures such as Achilles, Hector, and Helen. How did you approach reimagining such well-known characters while still honouring their legacy?
Jude Grayson: I tried not to overthink them as legendary figures and instead approach them as people first.
They all come with a lot of history attached to them, but underneath that they are still dealing with very human things. Pride, loyalty, fear, expectation. If those elements feel right, you can keep them recognisable without turning them into something completely different.
Mary Anne: Paris is often portrayed in very different ways across retellings. How did you interpret his character, particularly as someone torn between desire and duty?
Jude Grayson: Paris is interesting because he is often simplified, but he sits right at the centre of everything.
I saw him as someone trying to follow what he wants, while also being pulled by expectation and responsibility. He believes in his choices, but he does not fully understand what they will lead to. That gap between intention and consequence felt important to explore.
Mary Anne: The novel brings together multiple perspectives across both sides of the conflict. How did you decide whose voices to highlight, and what each would add to the story?
Jude Grayson: I wanted to avoid a single point of view.
Each perspective brings a slightly different way of looking at the same situation. It helps build a fuller picture and avoids the story feeling one-sided.
Mary Anne: The story highlights both personal and political consequences. How do you balance intimate character moments with the scale of an epic war?
Jude Grayson: I tend to stay with the smaller moments and let the larger ones build around them.
If the characters feel real, the wider events carry more weight naturally. The war is always there, but it matters more when you see how it affects individual people.
Mary Anne: What kind of research or source material did you draw on when building your version of this world?
Jude Grayson: The original sources were the starting point, but I also looked at what we know about the period itself.
Things like how people lived, how they fought, and what their world might actually have felt like. It was important that even though the story is fictional, it still feels grounded.
Jude Grayson: What are you working on next, and what can readers look forward to from you in the future?
I am continuing the story beyond the fall of Troy.
The war is only part of it. What happens afterwards, the journeys home and how people deal with what they have been through, is just as interesting to me. That is where I am focusing next.
Mary Anne: Was there a particular character you found yourself drawn to more than you expected while writing?
Jude Grayson: Without giving too much away, I found Aeneas becoming a much bigger part of the story than I originally planned.
He is often not given the same attention as characters like Hector or Achilles, but when you look at what happens after the fall of Troy, his role becomes much more significant. That was something I did not fully appreciate at the start, but it developed naturally as I worked through the story, and it is something that will carry forward into future books.
Scroll down to find out more about Jude's fabulous novel:
Publication Date: 8th January 2025Publisher: Independently Published
Print Length: 447 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
The war that destroyed a world began with a single choice.
When Paris of Troy steals Helen from Sparta, he sets in motion a conflict that will pull kings and armies into a war no one can escape.
Across Greece, rival rulers unite. Armies gather, oaths are sworn, and old grudges begin to surface. At the center of it stands Achilles, the most feared warrior of his age, and Hector, the prince sworn to defend Troy at any cost.
But this is not just the story of a war.
It is the story of:
a prince torn between desire and duty
a queen whose choice will shape the fate of kingdoms
and warriors who will chase glory, whatever the cost
As the walls of Troy rise against the might of Greece, ambition, pride, and loyalty will decide who survives—and what is lost.
Because legends are not born. They are made in war.
Head back to the Trojan wars and start your reading adventure
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Jude Grayson
Jude Grayson writes epic historical fiction where war, ambition, and betrayal shape the fate of empires. From the battlefields of ancient Troy to the fractured kingdoms of early China and the rise of the Mali Empire, his novels bring history to life with intensity and realism.
His stories explore the brutal choices of kings and warriors, the clash of loyalty and power, and the human cost behind the rise of nations. Grounded in historical detail and driven by compelling characters, his work is ideal for readers who enjoy immersive, action-driven fiction.
He is the author of Blood and Bronze, Tyrants and Traitors, and Lion of Mali.
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