We welcome Juno Dawson to the blog. She’s the author of the historical fantasy series Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. Today, we’ll be talking about her latest release QUEEN B.
QUEEN B is a novel within the universe of Her Majesty’s Royal Coven that reveals the coven’s origins. What made you want to delve deeper into the backstory and lore of HMRC?
I first wrote that Anne Boleyn was part of the coven as an aside because it was funny! The more I thought about it, the more I became curious about her. A lot of effort has gone into proving that Boleyn was NOT a witch, and that she was a victim of a smear campaign, but I thought it was interesting to consider her as a witch. Would that make her bad? As soon as Ciara found the ‘lost’ portrait of Boleyn in The Shadow Cabinet I knew I wanted to explore who’d protected it.
Can you read QUEEN B without having read Her Majesty’s Royal Coven and The Shadow Cabinet?
I wanted to give readers a ‘Get On’ point. There’s nothing like the feeling that a book series has passed you by and it’s too late to join the party! You can start with QUEEN B or read it after HMRC!
We learn the coven began in Tudor England, during the rise of Anne Boleyn. Why did you choose this point in history?
I think people are fascinated by British royalty (and remain so to this day) because it’s so soapy. The Tudor court has it all; betrayal, romance, death and sex!
QUEEN B is historical fiction, which introduces certain parameters of fact that you have to incorporate into the plot. Did that effect how you approached your writing compared HMRC and TSC?
I didn’t want to lose myself in period detail, but I did have to do some very enjoyable research. I’d never been to Hampton Court or the Tower of London. I can’t recommend them enough. What a fascinating way to spend a day if you’re visiting London.
Who are your favorite writers of historical fiction? Who were your influences when writing QUEEN B?
I was very intimidated going in because of the legacy of Hilary Mantel. Wolf Hall is a masterpiece. No-one writes like she did. What a phenomenal talent.
Are there other parts of the coven’s history you would want to explore in another standalone novel?
There’s always the temptation to focus on the young characters of Theo and Holly and their teenage life. Her Majesty’s Royal Coven officially began in 1869 so it’d be cool to look at the first formal coven in the foggy streets of Ripper London.
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven was a #1 Sunday Times bestseller – making you the first trans author to have a #1 hit in the U.K. Can you talk about what that means to you?
I cried! I really did! I never imagined I’d have the #1 book in the UK. It means a lot as a trans author because our wins are never ever celebrated. When we read about trans people in the press, it’s always a negative story, or a story of struggle. When I went to #1, the Sunday Times couldn’t ignore it, however transphobic most of their coverage is. It felt like a personal victory. Moreover, HMRC isn’t a sad story of trans suffering, it celebrates trans lives, so that was a double win.
Witches continue to be immensely popular, whether we’re talking about Netflix’s hit show Wednesday, the long-awaited Hocus Pocus sequel, or the 36+ billion views on #WitchTok. What draws you to writing in this space? Why do you think witches are more popular now than ever?
In the UK and in the US, we’re in the grip of a moral panic around trans rights. I wanted to write around the issues, but in a way that would appeal to me as an author and fan of fantasy and witchcraft. Women from minority groups have always faced persecution: poor women, Black women, sex workers. We are currently seeing a new witch hunt on both sides of the Atlantic. Trans women and trans youth in particular are under intense speculation. It made sense to me to turn a very real witch hunt into a fictional one with actual witches.
I think women and queer people know how it feels to be ‘the witch’. We are often made to feel monstrous by the patriarchy and the media. I think modern women also know sisterhood is magical. When we come together in solidarity it is magic. Perhaps the difference is we’re no longer scared to call ourselves witches. We are proud of it.
In your role as an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, you have campaigned against censorship and book bans. In 2022, your YA nonfiction, This Book Is Gay—a bestselling guide to sexuality and gender for teens—was the ninth most challenged book in the United States, per the American Library Association. What are your thoughts on this?
I wrote This Book Is Gay because I wanted young queer people to be able to enter adulthood armed with better knowledge than I had at their age, and ways of being smart about sex and dating. This felt like a good thing to me, and it still does. But I’m not surprised that it’s become one of the most frequently banned books in public schools – disappointed, but not surprised. It didn’t happen overnight; it’s because the people advocating for book bans in the U.S. have become a much more organized campaign over the last 10 years.
The complaints about this book are not about keeping kids safe. Because if we really wanted to keep kids in the United States safe, we wouldn’t be talking about books. We would be talking about guns.
I think it’s a shame, like a real crying shame, that in 2023 queer teenagers are still seeing that there’s something controversial about them. At the same time, they’re getting to hear about a bunch of really good books. As unpleasant as this discourse is, hopefully, the right reader might be connected to the right book at the right time when they need it the most.
What can you tell us about the final book in the HMRC trilogy?
Human Rites is due to come out in 2025! I will say it’s epic and heartbreaking. Leviathan will rise!
Fascinating series! Thank you so much for joining us today. Readers, QUEEN B release today! Here’s a quick look::::
This next spellbinding installment of Juno’s “irresistible” fantasy series Her Majesty’s Royal Coven (Lana Harper) takes us back to the reign of Henry VIII and the origins of Her Majesty’s Royal Coven under the beautiful, the bewitching, Anne Boleyn.
It’s 1536 and the Queen has been beheaded.
Lady Grace Fairfax, witch, knows that something foul is at play—that someone had betrayed Anne Boleyn and her coven. Wild with the loss of their leader—and her lover, a secret that if spilled could spell Grace’s own end— she will do anything in her power to track down the traitor. But there’s more at stake than revenge: it was one of their own, a witch, that betrayed them, and Grace isn’t the only one looking for her. King Henry VIII has sent witchfinders after them, and they’re organized like they’ve never been before under his new advisor, the impassioned Sir Ambrose Fulke, a cold man blinded by his faith. His cruel reign could mean the end of witchkind itself. If Grace wants to find her revenge and live, she will have to do more than disappear.
She will have to be reborn.
In this gripping, propulsive, sultry short novel, Juno Dawson takes us back to the bloody beginnings of Her Majesty’s Royal Coven to show us the strength, steel and sacrifice it takes to make a sisterhood.
