Kate Heartfield is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling The Embroidered Book, the Aurora-winning novel Armed in Her Fashion (published in the UK as The Chatelaine), and the Nebula-shortlisted novella Alice Payne Arrives, along with dozens of other stories. Her most recent novel is The Valkyrie, and her interactive fiction projects ‘The Road to Canterbury’ and ‘The Magician’s Workshop’ were shortlisted for the Nebula in game writing. She lives in Canada.

Welcome to the Hive, Kate! Firstly, can you tell us about your latest release, The Tapestry of Time? What can our readers expect?

Thanks for having me! The Tapestry of Time is about four clairvoyant sisters racing against the Nazis for control over the Bayeux Tapestry in the summer of 1944. When the book begins, Kit Sharp is in Paris, working at the Louvre as an archivist. Just after D-Day, she sees a ghostly image of her sister Ivy on the street–which sends her on a quest to find out what’s happened to Ivy, and what her visions mean. It’s a suspenseful read, and largely based on real historical events, although the Sharp sisters themselves are invented. 

Your novel is set in WW2, what drew you to set it during this period of history?

The novel is dedicated to two of my grandparents, and while almost nothing from the book is taken directly from my family’s history, I was very conscious of the need to preserve these stories and learn as much as we can about the many ways ordinary people resisted fascism in the past. I’m fascinated in particular by the many kinds of war work that women did, from planting potatoes to decoding at Bletchley Park, from finding homes for refugees to parachuting behind enemy lines to conduct sabotage. In occupied Paris, small acts of resistance could include things like creating bureaucratic tangles to prevent Nazis from looting art. Each of the women in the novel takes a different path, but they’re all fighting back in the best way they can.

You also include an element of the supernatural, can you tell us more about this? What does the Second Sight entail?

Like many families, the Sharps have a half-serious family tradition of certain ancestors having had the Second Sight: people knowing things they couldn’t possibly know, such as seeing a loved one dead on the day before they actually die. It isn’t until the war, though, that the modern Sharps start to believe there might be something to it. Historically, during the war, interest in clairvoyance, communication with the dead or just “funny feelings” was high, for obvious reasons. So many people had near-misses: if they’d taken a different route home during the Blitz they might have been killed, for example. And so many people were grieving loved ones and anxious about the future. Many of the top Nazis, including Hitler, were very interested in the possibility of clairvoyance. So the book explores what might have happened if some people on both sides had discovered – or convinced themselves – that the Sight was real in the summer of 1944. How might they have tried to use this against their enemies?

How did you find blending history and fantasy together? Did this come naturally to you as you were writing or was this something you had planned from the beginning? 

I often mix the impossible or the supernatural with real history, because I find it’s a useful way to take a fresh look at the past. The idea of clairvoyance was with me from the beginning of this project, but I wasn’t sure at first how it related to the Bayeux Tapestry. The real history of the Tapestry in 1944, as Heinrich Himmler attempted to remove it from France before the Allies could take it, fascinated me. The politicisation of history, the reshaping of stories and memories in an attempt to shape the future, was connected in my mind to the questions raised by the idea of the Second Sight, so it felt natural to weave them together.

Can you tell us a bit more about your characters? What kind of dynamic do the Sharp sisters have?

When we meet the sisters, they’re in their 20s. Kit is independent and bookish, a very strong-willed person, but at the same time, a little bit lost. She thought she wanted to be an archaeologist, but it didn’t suit her, and arguing with her father – a historian from another generation – caused a rift that she fears she can’t heal. She’s also a lesbian, which is another reason she’s chosen to stay in Paris, far from her family, where she’s found a queer community. Ivy is the youngest, and is a little bit frivolous, and sick of being treated as the baby. She lived with Kit briefly in Paris so they have history with each other as adults, but Ivy left when the French government surrendered, and Kit did not. Back home in England, Helen is the most domestic and pragmatic sister, and just wants a peaceful family home with her sweetheart, who’s gone off to the front. Rose is quiet and shy, a musician and an observer. Although there are some complications between them, there’s a close bond between all the sisters, which factors into why the Second Sight connects them.

Which of the sisters would you say you are most like or relate to the most?

There’s a bit of me in all of them! As a blonde, I relate to Ivy’s frustration at always being underestimated or talked down to. Like Rose, I play the piano, and I’m an introvert. I’m a mom, so I relate to the depths of Helen’s maternal feelings. But Kit’s probably the most like me; I’m stubborn and I share her tendency to assume that I have to solve my problems, and everyone else’s, on my own.

We always appreciate a beautiful book cover! How involved in the process were you? Was there a particular aesthetic you hoped the artist would portray?

It’s a wonderful cover, and I’m so grateful to Toby James and to everyone involved in the production. This book brings together a few different tones and themes, and conveying a supernatural element during the Second World War, with a backstory of medieval history, was a tall order! I can’t take credit for anything except for being there to consult and give my opinion.

Without giving away any spoilers, was there a particular scene in The Tapestry of Time which you enjoyed writing the most? 

That’s a tough question! Ivy’s story, which is told as a flashback, took on a life of its own and  found it really gripping, so I hope readers will too. I enjoyed getting to see this apparently unlikely heroine learn the depths of her own power.

One of our favourite questions here on the Fantasy Hive: which fantastical creature would you ride into battle and why?

I know it’s not the most original response, but I’m going with unicorn. You have to love any creature that shows up with its own sword. Very considerate! Also, I’ve ridden horses, so I figure a unicorn can’t be much different – the learning curve on something like a manticore or a roc would be pretty steep.

Tell us about a historical fantasy book you have recently loved. Any hidden gems?

One thing that historical fantasy can do is take the magic that’s already part of the stories we tell about the past, and just shine it up a little. A beautiful example of this is the 2022 novel Flint and Mirror, by the great John Crowley. It’s about a 16th century Irish earl who resisted the rule of Queen Elizabeth I, with the help of some magical artefacts. Crowley always writes beautifully and with such authority. It’s a quiet little book, but the kind that makes you spend a lot of time staring into the distance between sentences.

Can you tell us a little something about your current work(s) in progress? Have you any upcoming projects which you can share?

I’m just finishing the first draft of Mercutio, a prequel story to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which will be my next book coming out from HarperVoyager UK. It’s set a couple of centuries before Shakespeare, during the factional wars in Italy that inspired the first stories about the Montagues and Capulets. Mercutio meets the poet Dante Alghieri on a battlefield, where they accidentally open up a door to Faerie, and adventures ensue. It’s been amazing fun to write.

Are you planning anything fun to celebrate your new release? Do you have any upcoming virtual events our readers may be interested in?

In late October, I’ll be on stage at the Ottawa International Writers Festival, which has an option for people to watch online. This festival is very close to my heart (I’ve been attending it for years and have been a host and guest a few times) so it’s the perfect way to celebrate my new release.

Finally, what is the one thing you hope readers take away from your writing?

I think every reader has their own relationship with a book, and I love to hear that a reader has found something there I didn’t consciously intend. But in general, I hope that when readers turn the last page, they see the world around them and the past just a little differently, and have found something in the book to spark their sense of wonder – or at least send them down a Wikipedia rabbit hole! I hear that last one from readers a lot.

Thank you so much for joining us today!

Thank you! It’s a real pleasure.

The Tapestry of Time is out this week from HarperVoyager – 26th September! You can pre-order your copy on Bookshop.org