A Renaissance-era woman artist and an American scholar. Linked by a 500-year-old mystery… The secrets of the past are irresistible—and dangerous.
Tell us about your latest series.
My Miramonde Series tells the story of a Renaissance-era woman artist and an American scholar linked by a 500-year-old mystery. In Book 1, The Girl from Oto, the heroine of the series is born into a ruthless and violent noble family; her mother names her Miramonde, ‘one who sees the world.’ Raised in a convent, Mira becomes an extraordinary artist—never dreaming she will one day fulfill the promise of her name.
Mira’s modern-day counterpart, Zari Durrell, is a young American scholar doing research in Europe who discovers traces of a mysterious woman artist in several sixteenth-century paintings. Soon she’s tracing a path through history to Mira herself. But the art world ignores her findings, dazzled by a rival academic’s claim that the portraits were in fact made by a famous male artist.
Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research.
During travels with my family about seven years ago, I was lucky enough to visit Oxford University. In a lonely hallway at Magdalen College, I stumbled across a sixteenth-century portrait of a woman that was attributed to a female artist. I was floored. After visiting many museums full of Renaissance-era portraits and learning about art history as a college student, I had somehow never heard of women Old Masters. But now, before my own eyes, was evidence that there were women painters in those days! I soon learned that because women’s work wasn’t valued, their paintings were often attributed to men or kept anonymous. I became obsessed with the lost stories of these women—and I resolved to write a novel on the topic.
What was the hardest scene you remember writing?
When I dug into the research, I developed a fascination with the field of art conservation. Using X-rays and other tools, researchers can now see under the layers of paint in a portrait, determine the age of a wooden panel, and more. We used to rely solely on the ‘eye’ of an art expert to determine who actually painted a portrait.
But today, science can debunk the opinion of an expert and reveal secrets within paintings. Zari, my modern-day heroine, uncovers clues about artist Mira using these high-tech sleuthing techniques. Each time I sat down to write about her efforts, I felt like was studying for a college exam. I would pore over the technical material and then, over painstaking hours, translate it into a compelling scene.
What is your preferred writing routine?
I typically write for a few hours in the morning and then shoehorn in more writing if I can between all the marketing and publishing tasks on my plate. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything, I find it’s a bit harder to focus. Listening to inspirational music on my headphones while my husband, kids, and dog go about their lives in our house has helped.
What advice do you have for new writers?
If you want to write and publish books, don’t wait for an agent or editor’s approval. Today’s indie publishing scene means you can do it. Read a lot in your preferred genre. Study covers, titles, blurbs. Hire editors, get beta readers, seek out feedback from people whose opinions matter to you. Make deadlines so you get that book out the door instead of tinkering with it forever. Then keep going—and write another one.
What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?
Approaching book bloggers for blog tours and guest posts, teaming up with other historical fiction authors for group promotions, paying for advertising and marketing, spending some time on social media each day to engage with authors and readers, and meeting with book clubs.
What are you planning to write next?
The Miramonde Series is a trilogy. After Book 1, The Girl from Oto, came out in 2016, I published Mira’s Way in 2018 and A Place in the World in 2019. I am currently working on a new series set in medieval Rhodes, when the Knights Hospitaller ruled that Greek island. At least one female artist will figure large in this new series, too.
Amy Maroney
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About the Author
Amy Maroney reading from Chapter One of The Girl from Oto:
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