Barnard Castle author is a hit in Portugal

Dogged by publisher’s production problems and the illness of the translator historical fiction writer Linda Carlino feared the worst. The contracts were exchanged in May 2007 and when months passed without any news she feared it had all fizzled out. “I thought it would never happen”

But last month the first book of her Hapsburg Trilogy, That Other Juana, was finally published in Portuguese and by one of Europe’s most prestigious publishers, Editorial Presença (publisher of JK Rowling, Ian Rankin, Paul McCartney, Fay Weldon, Terry Pratchett, Alexander McCall Smith,…)

It will be sold worldwide with the title Joana a Louca (Joan the Mad) with a stunning cover - a contemporary portrait of Juana as a young girl, which can be seen at www.lindacarlino.com

Linda said, “The wait was well worth it. I’m over the moon.”

Linda’s much loved first career was in Primary education. After teaching early on in Darlington and Newton Aycliffe she went on to become Head Teacher at East Harlsey, Mickleton, West Auckland and Darlington.

But writing was never her planned way of spending her retirement. A six week travelling holiday in Spain twenty-two years ago transformed her life. It led to studying Spanish seriously, doing a lot of research and making many more trips to Spain; she became hooked on the fascinating characters of their 16th history and their links with England. And then came the dream to write about some of these historical figures. “It has been very hard but enjoyable work -  and now that I have my first foreign success I am absolutely thrilled to be able to say- and rewarding beyond words.”

If the Portuguese publication is well enough received then they will publish the other two books of the trilogy - A Matter of Pride (a sceptical, irreverent and humorous view of Juana’s son Charles V, HRE) and finally, Wives & Other Women about her grandson, (Philip II of Spain – husband of Mary Tudor and notorious for the Spanish Armada).

But there’s plenty of work still to be done. Linda is working hard on her fourth historical novel, which has very strong Portuguese connections, and her publisher in Portugal is very keen to see the completed manuscript. So she is now experiencing the new sensation of being under pressure to produce. “It’s very exciting, a strange but quite thrilling situation to have a big publisher chasing me instead of the other way round”.

All of Linda’s books, in English, can be ordered from bookshops or via the internet.