The Immigrant Queen
Peter Taylor-Gooby
Hated as a foreigner, despised as a woman, she became First Lady of Athens.
Aspasia falls passionately in love with Pericles, the leading statesman of Fifth Century Athens. Artists, writers and thinkers flock to her salon. She hides her past as a sex-worker, trafficked to the city, and becomes Pericles’ lover.
Her writings attract the attention of Socrates, and she becomes the only woman to join his circle. She is known throughout the city for her beauty and wit and strives to become recognised as an intellectual alongside men.
Pericles’ enemies attack him through Aspasia and charge her with blasphemy. As a foreigner she faces execution, but her impassioned address to the jury shames the city and saves her. Pericles is spellbound, they marry, and she becomes First Lady of Athens.
Sparta besieges the city; plague breaks out and Pericles is once again in danger.
THE IMMIGRANT QUEEN tells the true story of how Aspasia rose to become the First Lady of Athens and triumphed against all the odds.
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/4EvoOg
Paperback Buy Links:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Immigrant-Queen-Peter-Taylor-Gooby/dp/1836280602/
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-immigrant-queen/peter-taylor-gooby/9781836280606
https://troubador.co.uk/bookshop/historical/the-immigrant-queen
Interview with the Author:
Often writers started out as readers. Was there a particular book that inspired you to be an author?
So many! I read voraciously as a child. “The Secret Garden” holds a special place, it is so warm – and Silas Marner. If only I could write like that!
Do you tend to read the same genre you write?
No, I read in all directions – novels I pick up in the book shop and the library, Booker recommendations, items from blog posts, my partner’s reading group. It has to engage me in the first ten pages, but really I read for enjoyment.
Do you have a favorite time period to write about? If so, why?
Again no. It’s really trying to visualize what it was like for people, human like me, but in a different world with different beliefs and rules. I am fascinated by Athens and am currently writing another story set there.
Writers sometimes have furry, feathered, or scaled helpers. Do you have a writing companion?
My companion is the East Kent countryside, so beautiful at this time of year. I do love the colours of Autumn. Whenever something isn’t going right, I just take a walk.
How long have you been writing, and how long did it take before your first book was published?
I’ve been writing as long as I can remember, all sorts of things. Sometimes I wake up with a story in my head and need to put it down before I lose it. Sometimes I can see characters and I know their feelings from their body language, but I can’t hear what they are saying to each other.
Do you have a routine you follow when you’re working on a book? A certain time of day when you write, or a snack you keep nearby?
No, when I have an idea I write relentlessly. Then I have to spend hours rewriting and rewriting the next day.
Did anyone give you writing advice when you were first getting started? Do you think it helped?
Yes definitely, and a lot of it was good advice. If only I’d taken it I would have moved a lot faster. But you only really learn through your experiences I find.
What is the scariest thing you face as a writer? How do you handle it?
Blank paper – and suddenly there is nothing in your head. You just have to face it down, write about anything, the view from the window, an incident on the bus yesterday, your children and after a while it will come.
About the Author
Peter Taylor-Gooby is an academic who believes that you can only truly understand the issues that matter through your feelings, your imagination and your compassion. That’s why he writes novels as well as research monographs. He worked in India as a teacher, in a Newcastle social security office and as an antique dealer.
Now he’s professor of social policy at the University of Kent, a Fellow of the British Academy, loves playing with his grandchildren and writes novels in what time is spare.
Author Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peter.taylorgooby/
Troubadour Author Page: https://troubador.co.uk/author/glndwnle
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Taylor-Gooby
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B001HD2YWQ
