Meet Catherine
Meet the Author - Catherine Mathis
Facing the first Christmas without our only child and overwhelmed with work obligations, I asked my husband to plan a holiday trip. Proudly he lay out an itinerary to Portugal though not to the beaches of the Algarve. It helps to know we both love history. We drove north from Lisbon to wine, dine, and explore the country’s past.
Inspiration comes from the oddest circumstances. In a town less visited I found a stunning pair of tombs for a country with few intact relics of the time before The Earthquake (All Saints Day, 1755). A single question led to a rabbit hole from which I have yet to emerge. Who lay in the elegant pair of sarcophagi in Alcobaça's Abbey? We stumbled upon Iberia’s Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s tale overwhelmed one of the medieval antecedents to his play. From the legend of Inês and Pedro, the story continues into the next generation with Leonor's tale. Finally, Queen Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt and mother to one of the greatest generations of Portuguese royals. Fear not, Iberia has more tales to tell keeping my writing future fully engaged.
Born in Berlin as the first child of a spy and his secretary then wife, I grew up oblivious to their past. My earliest memories arise from growing up in the Washington, D.C. area where I went to public schools. As I entered junior high, my dad took a job with the Drug Enforcement Agency; a detriment to high school popularity. I graduated from Sewanee|The University of the South
with a major in history. A career in corporate and international banking gave me the opportunity to travel to Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. I now write, live, and work in Atlanta near our son and his treasured family.
i am a member of the Historical Novel Society and the Atlanta Writers Club. Both organizations hold terrific conferences for writers providing workshops, access to agents and publishers, and networking with the smartest people in the industry. I am also a member of the Authors Guild.
Once you've read my books (a girl has to have priorities), head over to the Historical Novel Society web page
where you will find thousands of book reviews. The reviews can be sorted by time period or author. For a wider range of books beyond historical fiction go to the Chanticleer Book Reviews site and find award winning authors for non-fiction and fiction. If you are a writer you should check out Chanticleer's annual conference.
Outside of writing, my spare time joys are family, friends, reading, folk/outsider art collecting, and travel. There are just never enough hours in the day for all the opportunities to enjoy and thrive.