Learn how the author went from writing her memoir to historical fiction
Author Signe Pike has done extensive research in Scotland for her “Lost Queen” series, which reimagines the lives of the historical figures who inspired the legend of King Arthur. The third book, The Shadowed Land, comes out on December 3.
In prose reminiscent of Lauren Groff ’s The Matrix or Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet, which is to say, prose of the highest order, local author Signe Pike immerses her readers into ancient lands alive with passionate, compelling, historically based characters. This month marks the release of The Shadowed Land (Atria Books), the third book in her much-heralded “Lost Queen” series, which delves deeper into the often brutal and heartwrenching sixth-century Scotland. Here Languoreth; her daughters Gladys and Angharad; her twin brother, Lailoken (believed to be the historical reference for Merlin in the Arthurian legend); as well as a large cast of other Angles, Britons, Picts, and Scots populate a world of medieval mystery, ambition, love, and war.
It’s all set amid a time of transition and tumult as kingdoms fight over territory, and the “Old Ways” and emerging Christianity bump against each other like clashing storm fronts. Even today, the rich realm of Celtic wisdom remains rooted in the early mysticism, ancient ritual, and nature-based awe of that formative era, and Pike proves it’s equally good fodder for page-turning, historical fiction as for spiritual enlightenment—despite the fact she never intended to write the saga.
“I was in England on a tour for my memoir, Faery Tale (Penguin Publishing Group, 2011), and a book in a bookstore caught my eye—Finding Merlin by Adam Ardrey, who had a theory that there were historical figures that underpinned the characters in the King Arthur tales,” she says. Pike flipped through some pages and read about Languoreth, a real historical queen whose brother was supposedly the inspiration for Merlin—though he’s now known only as a fictionalized character. “I was intrigued; if she’s real, why would he not be?” Pike wondered. She bought the book and was hooked, “and that was the beginning of it all.” With encouragement from her friend and fellow best-selling author, Mary Alice Monroe, Pike pivoted from her plans to write a follow-up memoir.
“This turn to Languoreth’s story took me completely by surprise,” Pike says, and now, three books later—The Lost Queen, The Forgotten Kingdom, and The Shadowed Land—the surprise is still unfolding. She does extensive historical research for each book, much of it on-site in Scotland. “I’ve always felt that maybe I was born in the wrong time,” she adds. “I’m interested in bringing forward lost stories that explore a hidden kernel of truth. Every time I go to Scotland, I feel like there are ghosts knocking on my door.”
Pike keeps opening those doors. Her deep and meticulous research, plus her robust imagination and narrative swashbuckling, creates a tale that keeps getting more intriguing and complex. “By the end of The Forgotten Kingdom, we’ve met the historical figure of Artúr mac Aedan, and I can’t find any other book that tells the full arc of his story. We know how he died, but not how he lived,” says Pike, who had planned a trilogy, but has extended her contract with Atria Books to a forthcoming fourth book. Fans will be happy to know a television series is also in the works thanks to a competitive Hollywood auction over TV rights.
Though writing about faraway lands in a distant time, complete with characters whose esoteric vowels require a two-page pronunciation guide, Pike is firmly rooted in the Lowcountry, where she moved after seven years in New York City working as an acquisitions editor for major publishing houses. “I was just a baby writer—a 29-year-old who didn’t know many people here. I never expected to find this amazing community of writers and booksellers—people who feel like family,” she says. “What the South and what Charleston is for readers and writers is really, really special. I’m not sure it exists anywhere else.” While Pike may be writing about kingdoms lost, forgotten, and shadowed, lucky for us, she’s found her home.
