Joanna Margaret: On Ancient Discoveries Inspiring Literary Mystery
Art historian Joanna Margaret discusses how her research discovery led to her debut literary mystery, The Bequest.
Joanna Margaret is an art historian whose previous writing and scholarly work has focused on Florentine aristocrats in 16th-century France. She holds a PhD from the University of St. Andrews and an MFA from NYU, where Joyce Carol Oates served as her thesis advisor. The Bequest is her first novel. Learn more at Joanna-Margaret.com, and find her on Instagram.
In this post, Joanna discusses how her research discovery led to her debut literary mystery, The Bequest, her hope for readers, and more!
Name: Joanna Margaret
Literary agent: Jody Kahn
Book title: The Bequest
Publisher: Scarlet
Release date: October 18, 2022
Genre/category: Literary Mystery/Thriller
Elevator pitch for the book: The Bequest follows a group of historians in Europe as they unravel a 500-year-old mystery with eerie repercussions in the present.
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What prompted you to write this book?
I have always loved mysteries and Gothic stories, which often take place in historical locales, and feature strong, smart women characters who must solve puzzles and overcome major obstacles. I have a PhD in 16th century history and am therefore very familiar with the academic world. I’ve spent a great deal of time in Scotland, France, and Italy studying history and languages, and also conducting research in numerous libraries and archives.
Historical mysteries have always fascinated me, along with the idea that old documents might contain knowledge that is still waiting to be uncovered centuries later. I’m intrigued by the idea of voices from the past resonating in the present, of information that real people wanted to impart back then, and eyewitness accounts somehow connecting their distant world with ours.
The idea for this novel first came to me eight years ago, when I was conducting research in the Archivio di Stato in Florence. By chance I discovered a 16th century woman’s personal key for decoding her own correspondence, which sparked my interest in what kind of secret information people might have exchanged back then. I wanted to write a dual timeline story, where modern day historians are forced to solve a mystery contained within 16th century letters.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
It’s been eight years since I first found the deciphering key in Florence. There were several iterations of the novel, the first one involving one of the characters, Rose, as a kind of spectral figure, a scholar and predecessor of the protagonist and narrator, Isabel. Then I decided to bring Rose into the story itself.
The historical portion of the book evolved quite a bit, although that started with the idea of a love affair between an Italian Catholic man and a French Protestant woman. The idea of an object linking the past and the present came later, too.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I was surprised in a good way! This is my first experience publishing a novel, and working with an independent publisher has been great. I especially loved working with my editor, Luisa Cruz Smith—she has a wonderful eye and the editing process was fascinating to me.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I was surprised constantly! I come from the academic writing tradition, specifically the discipline of history, and scholarly articles and books are limited to what is contained in the source material.
Writing a novel allowed me the freedom to create the story instead, to invent my own characters with unique backstories. It was liberating and fun, and I particularly enjoyed not having to include footnotes!
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope readers will be entertained, transported to new, immersive worlds, and learn a little bit of history along the way.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
To borrow the wisdom of the last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials, the brilliant Ben Ferencz (who just celebrated his 102nd birthday) “Never give up. Never give up. Never give up.”
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
