I didn’t know I’d be tracking a werewolf that day.
It was hot and sunny and the university library the University of Nevada in Las Vegas was sleek and modern. I was researching the daily life of a medieval heroine I wanted to write about. I dusted off a book of academic essays that looked as if it had never been opened before, and scanned the contents for the article on weaving.
And there it was: a piece with the enticing title, What the Werewolf Will and Will Not Wear. And I followed that title right off my research track and into the deep, dark woods.
Now, this all happened once upon a time and rather long ago. I wasn’t a werewolf fanatic. I was into historical realism. But among the forest of dull titles in the collection, this title grinned at me, and lured me off track. And I entered the 12th century world of Marie de France and her amazing stories in verse.
I especially loved the one about the lovelorn werewolf, the Bisclavret.
The Bisclavret’s transformation didn’t seem to depend on the moon. He’d just get into a mood. Then he’d plunge deep into the forest, take off his clothes and hide them to retrieve later, and—presto, change-o—he became the werewolf, the Bisclavret, and did all the wolfish things. When the mood wore off, he’d put on his clothes again, and go back to his regular life as best buddies with the King.
What could go wrong? He married the wrong lady.
That day, I raced through the library to find and read Marie de France’s (translated) original. As in so many fairy tales, the Bisclavret’s life gets exceedingly sad before it reaches its happy ending.
By then, he’d captured my heart. Because who wouldn’t love a sweet and noble knight, and root for him to overcome his curse?
A match-up/mashup of the Bisclavret’s story (which you can read about in lots of places online nowadays) with Little Red Riding Hood’s immediately jumped to mind.
I wondered, What if Grandmother actually was the wolf?
It took several years to work out the details.
The result is The Scarlet Mantle, a YA romance set in a real world touched with magic. My King rules a tiny but prosperous kingdom in the forested northeastern coast of what will later be called France.
There’s also a woodcutter’s daughter who’s as sweet and noble as any knight. There’s a forest foundling with no memory of her past. There’s a charming exile from the land across the channel who may have the knack of turning lead into gold. There’s magic, mystery, true and false love, and the perilous darkness of the forest.
And of course, there’s a wolf who seems to be much more than wolf.
I’ll be releasing The Scarlet Mantle early in 2023. But you can request a general sample of the story now. [some kind of link—what do you suggest?]
For further reading:
The essay that inspired me: Marie de France’s Bisclavret: What the Werewolf Will and Will Not Wear by Gloria Thomas Gilmore, in Encountering Medieval Textiles and Dress.
You can find English translations of Bisclavret here.
P.S. What about the character I was actually researching that day? She’s fine. She only needed a long nap in my writer’s trunk of unfinished fragments.
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