CSFF: Lisa Bergren Interview Part 1 – Day 2

So anyone that knows me knows that if I am comparing something to Stephen Lawhead’s work, somthiing I don’t think I’ve ever done on this blog before, it means I like it a lot. It’s a pretty big deal around these parts.

And Lisa Bergren’s The Begotten, the first of a trilogy called The Gifted, is a pretty big deal.

From chapter one, she tapped my love for church history especially during the time of the Inquisitions. Set during the time of the Iconoclasts, the book opens with two very haunting scenes; one of an illuminated Bible being sentenced to burning, along with its creating priest, and the very next of a valiant band of knights chasing a child-sacrificing sorcerer through the catacombs beneath Rome.

If that’s not enough to hook you, I don’t know what it.

The book so captured my imagination that I couldn’t help but write Lisa. And to my surprise, not only did she reply, but agreed to do an interview for you all!

I’ll post the second and final segments tomorrow. Enjoy!

CH

______________________

CH: What cities in Italy (and elsewhere) did you find of particular interest, especially when crafting The Begotten? For instance, did you spend time in Siena? Likewise, how did your actual visitation of those areas play a part in shaping your novel?

LB: I did a ton of in-depth historical research on politics, daily life, etc, and “coffee table gift book” research for visuals of Italy. I had the rough draft written before I went the first time. But there’s nothing like actually being there…The novel begins in the ancient Christian burial grounds that were truly “lost” for 500 years–very cool to be able to explore the catacombs for myself!

And I realized the piazza (plaza) outside the Duomo (church) in Siena was totally different than I had it pictured–much smaller and oddly shaped, so it impacted what transpired there. And being able to walk the streets, pick out several key buildings as those that appear in The Begotten–marvelous. Siena has one of the coolest piazzas in Italy–shell-shaped and with bands of brick that represented the Nine, their governing body. When you go, be sure to climb the campanile (bell tower)–marvelous views over picturesque, rolling green hills.

Six months later I returned to Venice with my eldest daughter (11), and we spent ten days largely exploring twenty different churches, looking for the peacock in the mosaic floors–an ancient Christian symbol (adopted from pagan mythology) for everlasting life, and also my heroine Daria’s family crest and part of the whole trilogy. We learned that Venice really began on a tiny island called Torcello (another must-see) and that the church across from Venice called San Giorgio, once was toppled in an earthquake. You can see my on-location research more clearly in that book, and was a fab mother/daughter experience to boot.

Six months after THAT (I know, I know, my life is SO hard!), we returned with the whole family and my parents too for a Rome-Tuscany-Venice trip, and then I went on to France. The trilogy’s climactic ending takes place in France (where the pope set up shop for 70ish years) and then back in Tuscany at an abandoned church with it’s own amazing sword-in-the-stone legend that predates Arthur.

CH: Your knowledge of their ancient economy, specifically the guild system and its politics, seems to be very thorough. Inspiration?

LB: Necessity more than inspiration. At the time, Tuscan cities were hugely political and constantly battling one another–the reason for all those big walls and towers. And since Daria is a woman before her time–with means and education–she had to be born of the working class or nobility. I liked that fringe of wealth…and the gifts–as well as pressures–that applies for a person. For instance, both Daria and her “uncle,” Vincenzo, are in dire need of an heir to pass along their family fortunes. The guild and politics of the day gave me tons of opportunity for temptation and sin and heartache and all the fabulous pathos of a great novel. In all my novels, the actual research gives me texture for the characters. Love that.

CH: You have some pretty cool warriors in The Begotten–Hasani and Gianni especially. Did you do any research on knights while overseas or was it just shooting from the hip?

LB: Oh, I love a good, classic hero, and these boys certainly fit the form–I fell a little in love with all of them (but don’t tell my hubby). I certainly had the men of LOTR-on-film heavily in my mind when I began. There wasn’t a lot of research to be done–mercenaries were common, given the politics of the day. But this was before the jousting/court era that we think about, so like so much of my “medieval historical mindset,” I had to toss out what I thought I knew and get back to the basics. It was much more primitive, not so glorious as what most of us think about when we think “medieval.” But the foundation was being laid for what we have in our collective consciousness.

(To be continued…)