The Queen of Subtleties

Suzannah Dunn

Novelist living in Brighton

The lives of two women at opposite ends of the social scale, one the Queen of England the other a confectioner at the royal court of Henry the Eighth, intertwine in The Queen of Subtleties. Lucy Cornwallis is confectioner to the king. The only woman working in a kitchen with 200 men she sculpts sugar into fantastic 'subtleties' for royal celebrations and tries to avoid the complexities of court life. Above stairs the stunning and ambitious Anne Boleyn, Henry's second wife, has made many powerful enemies who intend to make her pay dearly for gaining her prize. Then the innocent Lucy and her musician confidante Mark Smeaton, are caught up in the maelstrom that will claim Anne's life and could destroy their dreams.

Suzannah Dunn, who came to Brighton in 1988, lives in the city with her partner and young son. She was born in a small village outside Potters Bar in 1963 and has a degree in social history and political science from Cambridge University. She later gained an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia and subsequently taught creative writing to undergraduates and MA students at Manchester University. Her first book was published in 1990 and her second, Quite Contrary, won the Betty Trask award.

The Queen of Subtleties is her first historical novel -  her next book, due out in January 2007, is about Henry's sixth and final wife, Katherine Parr, and her life after Henry's death.

Suzannah's favourite author is Alice Munro.