Interview with Audio book Narrator Alex Lee.

Today I'd like to do something a  bit different and introduce you to the lovely lady who narrates my books for Audible listeners. For once she has stepped away from the microphone and written a lovely piece. Take it away Alex Lee!

Hello, thank you for hosting me on your blog, Judith. It is great to be here.

There is something transporting and magical about bringing stories to life as a voice actor, escaping some of the day to day stresses and worries and settling down – even if it means disappearing into my converted cupboard under the stairs LOL, to sit motionless in front of an ipad and microphone and  begin to  inhabit  the characters in the books you are narrating.  Feeling and expressing their thoughts, hopes, loves, fears and intentions is the next best thing to stage acting !!.

Narrating and producing audio books, ticks every creative box for me. Being given the opportunity to add another  dimension to an author’s words and plot, giving their cast of characters a range of voices, accents, ages personalities, attitudes and emotions is a huge privilege and a thing I love to do.

I have been lucky to have narrated almost 100 titles across many different genres including, cosy murder mysteries, (currently working on five series) historical fiction, psychological thrillers, romance, literary classics, children’s literature, biographies, adventure, comedy, science fiction and poetry.

I have been so lucky to work with the multi award winning author Judith Arnopp.  I auditioned a few years ago now for Judith’s trilogy, The Beaufort Chronicle but missed the boat as when I went to upload the audition the title had disappeared because Judith had found another narrator. How glad I am that I decided to e-mail Judith and send her my audition - asking if I might be a fit for any of her other books.  Although I was too late for The Beaufort Chronicle Judith thought my voice would suit Anne Boleyn. I was so thrilled, and went on to record one of my favourite of Judith’s books   The Kiss of the Concubine.

I loved narrating this fresh look on Anne and Henry. All Judith’s books have great character development, flowing prose that is a joy to read so that you immerse yourself in the plot.  Another great favourite for me was The Winchester Goose and in particular voicing a Tudor tart with a heart, Joannie Toogood.  Huge fun.

I also narrated Intractable Heart, the story of Katheryn Parr so I have been very close to most of Henry VIII's queens now and love the atmosphere of the Tudor court she creates where you can almost smell it.

I have recently completed A Daughter of Warwick: the story of Anne Neville who was queen to Richard III. It is extraordinary how we know all about Richard yet next to nothing about Anne. Although Judith worries it is not her best work as she wrote it very early on in her career, I enjoyed it immensely. You can listen to a sample on the audiogram below.

Contacting Judith was serendipitous as it marked the beginning of what is now a great collaboration I have now narrated seven of her wonderful titles. I am hoping that I may get to voice the fierce, furious and fabulous queen,  Marguerite of Anjou in her new novel, Marguerite: Hell Hath No Fury! in the future.

Thank you so much for joining us today Alex Lee, our collaboration has opened up a whole new avenue for me as an author.

Here is a link to Alex Lee webpage so you can check out her work with other authors. https://www.alexleeaudio.uk/

You can find my audio books on Audible. If you'd like a FREE listen code for any of the books mentioned, you can approach either Alex or myself, tell us if you need a UK or a US link and we will send one to you.

www.judithmarnopp.com

author.to/juditharnoppbooks

A Queen in Shadow - a look back through time to Anne Boleyn and her daughter, Elizabeth

The Hever Portrait

The subject to Anne Boleyn’s true physical appearance has been discussed time and time again in books, blogs and journals, yet it is a subject that remains endlessly fascinating, the varied opinions and theories almost as intriguing as the woman herself.

Almost instantly recognisable, Anne Boleyn’s portrait graces thousands of book covers, mugs, tea towels, key rings…her face is everywhere. But is it really her face that we are seeing? Do the portraits show us what was Anne really like?

I don’t intend to hold a full debate on the portraits here but none we have are contemporary and the closest  are copies made of likenesses painted in her life time.

 

National Portrait Gallery

After her execution it wasn’t wise to have representations of a fallen queen gracing one’s walls so during the remainder of Henry’s reign and the years of Edward and Mary’s rule, her face and many artefacts belonging to her, slipped away. It wasn’t until her daughter, Elizabeth, ascended the throne that Anne became acceptable again and the demand for her image increased. As a consequence most extant images were worked long after her death – some as late as the 17th century.

The likenesses attributed to be her range from softly pretty to plum ugly as do the textual descriptions. Opinions of Anne Boleyn depended enormously upon the political stance and agenda of the author and as a consequence the documentary evidence is as varied and unreliable as the pictorial.

Due to her efforts for religious reform and the displacement of Catherine of Aragon, Anne was never a favourite of Spain or the Catholic faction and this is clear from some of the descriptions of her. Roman Catholic Nicholas Sander saw her as: ‘…rather tall of stature, with black hair and an oval face of sallow complexion, as if troubled with jaundice. She had a projecting tooth under the upper lip, and on her right hand, six fingers. There was a large wen under her chin, and therefore to hide its ugliness, she wore a high dress covering her throat. In this she was followed by the ladies of the court, who also wore high dresses, having before been in the habit of leaving their necks and the upper portion of their persons uncovered. She was handsome to look at, with a pretty mouth.’

Very nice of him to go to the trouble of saying so. And the Venetian ambassador was scarcely more flattering in his account.

‘Madame Anne is not one of the handsomest women in the world. She is of middling stature, swarthy complexion, long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised, and in fact has nothing but the King's great appetite, and her eyes, which are black and beautiful - and take great effect on those who served the Queen when she was on the throne. She lives like a queen, and the King accompanies her to Mass - and everywhere.’

 

The Nidd Hall Portrait

It is quite clear that she was not a ravishing beauty although of course, what is considered beautiful today is vastly different to that favoured in the 16th century. If you look at the line-up of Henry’s wives, the ‘Flanders Mare’ of Henry’s stable, Anne of Cleves, was by today’s standards, rather pretty.  

In a society that favoured delicately complexioned blondes, Anne’s dark hair and olive skin were far from fashionable and neither did her slim, small breasted (‘not much raised’) figure fit the current vogue for voluptuous women.

But most descriptions, even the most unfavourable, agree that Anne possessed expressive eyes and a vivacious wit and it must have been those attributes that captivated the king. Which, for once I think, speaks  rather well of Henry in that he was able to see past contemporary ideals to what lay beneath. Shame it didn’t last.

The only truly contemporary image we have of Anne is a badly damaged portrait medal that nevertheless bears some resemblance to the Anne we see depicted in later portraits.  From this we can deduce that we can come quite close to discovering a likeness to the real woman.

 

Princess Elizabeth (later Queen)

The medal was struck in 1534 with Anne’s motto, ‘The Most Happi’ and the initials ‘A.R’ – Anna Regina, so we can be quite sure that it is her. These medals were usually struck to commemorate a great event, often a coronation but since the date does not tie in with this, Eric Ives believes that it was more likely to have been intended to mark birth of Anne’s second child in the autumn of 1534 that she miscarried. This theory also explains why few copies survive.

 

The Anne Boleyn Medal

Other portraits include the familiar Hever portrait and the one at the National Portrait Gallery as well as some sketches by Holbein which receive varying degrees of certainty from the experts. The Nidd Hall portrait shows an aging Anne which is closer to some of the less favourable documented descriptions discussed previously. Another rather touching artefact is the Chequers Ring, a jewel removed from the finger of Elizabeth I on her death bed and found to contain the image of herself and her mother, Anne.

 

The Drew Portrait of Elizabeth I

Of course, we can never know the extent of Elizabeth’s attachment to her mother but some documented incidents point to a curiosity about her. Although Elizabeth was just two years old when Anne was executed and is not likely to have had strong memories of her, there were those around her who had known Anne and would have been able to keep her memory alive. If Elizabeth was satisfied that the image bore a likeness to her mother then I think we can be fairly confident too.

The recent (and not so recent) discussions of Anne’s appearance have led to the assumption that she and her daughter bore a close resemblance. Apart from Elizabeth’s colouring which was auburn and Tudor in origin, there are likenesses to Anne, especially in the earlier portraits before Royal iconography began to overshadow Elizabeth’s personality. The dark eyes are particularly similar.

 

NPG Margaret Beaufort - Grandmother to Elizabeth I

I spend a lot of time looking at paintings of historical figures and it has always struck me that in later life Elizabeth closely resembled her great grandmother. I suppose it should come as no surprise that there is also a look of Henry VII, Elizabeth’s grandfather.  Perhaps there is more Tudor in Elizabeth than we thought.

The Kiss of the Concubine: a story of Anne Boleyn is now available in paperback, kindle and also as an audiobook. To celebrate the new audio format I have a few FREE codes for audible members. You can also use it to make your first purchase when you take out a FREE three month trial of audible.

UK: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B07DX6JT53/?source_code=AUKFrDlWS02231890H6-BK-ACX0-119669&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_119669_rh_uk

US: https://www.audible.com/pd/B07FGDMMZZ/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-119669&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_119669_rh_us

Contact me via messenger or email for FREE Codes.