Episode 98: Kerry Chaput, author of Daughter of the King
Kerry Chaput shares how researching her husband’s family history inspired her to write DAUGHTER OF THE KING, which is about the protestant struggle in Catholic France in the 1600s and based on the real story of girls known as a daughter of the king who were taken from poverty, given money and protection and allowed to select their own husbands through an interview process if they would help populate the region of Canada.
We chat about what her research looked like, how she first heard about the daughters of the king, and her favorite books she’s read lately. Kerry also shares the best advice she has for aspiring authors.
Books Mentioned:
Daughter of the King by Kerry Chaput (Bookshop.org / Amazon.com )
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (Bookshop.org / Amazon.com )
The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis (Bookshop.org / Amazon.com )
Connect with the author:
Transcript:
** Transcript created using AI (so please forgive the typos!) **
Ashley Hasty 0:00
Well, Kerry, thank you so much for joining me. We've been Instagram friends for a while, but haven't had a chance to chat in person until now. So I've really been looking forward to this.
Kerry Chaput 0:10
Oh, me too. Thanks for having me.
Ashley Hasty 0:11
Okay, so will you start by telling our listeners what daughter of the king is about?
Kerry Chaput 0:17
Yeah, so Daughter of the King is actually based on a true story. It's set in 17th century France. And it is, in part, a story of the Protestant struggle in Catholic France at the time. And it's the story of as well, the daughters of the King, which were young women that the King of France, basically offered a new life to in Canada, if they helped populate the region. And so my character Isabel, is both a Protestant in the beginning, and she has the opportunity to become a daughter of the king and change her life. The problem with that is that she has to turn against the religion that she has fought for her whole life, and except this belief that she really doesn't believe and that she's been fighting against, and sort of it's her internal battle of trying to find herself.
Ashley Hasty 1:07
As you mentioned, donner, the king is based on a true story of French orphans who settled in Canada. Do you remember the first time you heard about these French orphans or what it was about their story that inspired you to write a novel
Kerry Chaput 1:20
about it? Absolutely. So I was researching my husband's French Canadian ancestry. And it really was just sort of a fun project that I wanted to find out where in France his family's from, because they're from his entire family, both sides all the way through and through his from Quebec to the last hundreds and hundreds of years. So no one really knew where in France they were from. So we thought, okay, I'm gonna do this just as a fun little present for him. And so I started researching. And I kept coming across this symbol of the Florida lead next to certain women's names from the time and we're talking back like 1660s 60s 70s. So I mean, it took a while to follow the line to get back there. But I started researching going, what does this mean? And then I saw something about feederwatch in French, which is daughters of the King. And I thought, Okay, this is interesting. So I started reading about them. And I was blown away I went, why don't I know about this already? Why didn't I learn about this in school, because we're talking about 1665 ish. And these women who were from complete and utter poverty and France, the king basically said, I'm going to give you the opportunity for a new life, you can move to Canada, I'm going to give you money, passage protection, I'll give you the honorary title of daughter of the king. And when you get to Canada, I'm going to give you the opportunity to choose your husband. So they they held interviews to choose the men, right. So 17th century colonial Canada, yes. It's crazy. And they were holding these interviews and they'd have to choose them, the husbands and the men said, okay, and they went into these marriage contracts, they got paid for every baby they had. And the really the most amazing thing is that, you know, early Quebec was completely through and through run by the Catholic Church, and they allowed these women to marry under a notary not in the church so that they could break their marriage contract if they wanted to be approved by the church. Yeah, it really I mean, so yes, every time I read more about these women, I was like, This is amazing. I'm totally obsessed with it by this point. And then so I went through my husband's planning to find how many I could find and I found 33. There's probably more but I kind of ran out of time once I reached 33. And okay, three dozen of them that he's descended from, it was really neat.
Ashley Hasty 3:39
33 daughters of the King were in his family alone. Fascinating. What I'm finding particularly interesting about this season on the podcast is talking to historical fiction authors like you about the research process, by some authors researched before the pandemic started others did all of their research during the lockdown. So what was the research like for you?
Kerry Chaput 4:02
Because I started researching this really, before I started as a writer, I had done a lot of the legwork just from, you know, my own family or my husband's family. I did that for a good year, 10 months or something. And then I was reading another book at the time, I was terrified. Write this book. I was like, I'm a new writer. I'm not taking on wars of religion, and 17th century France and the Protestant struggle and all that. And then history just kept happening. I mean, it was my sister who was like, You have got to write this. This is incredible story that people need to know about. Then I started really kind of digging in at that point. And that was pre pandemic. It was hard, and I'll be honest, it was we're talking pretty far back in time. Colonial Canada was just starting. The records are pretty amazing for the time but it was still tough. And then going back to the time in France, you can find the big picture items, right? Like you can talk about the monarchy and you can talk about what was going on in In the bigger world of Protestants and Catholics, but to find the everyday life of what these people were living, and what a Protestant would have done during the day, and how like, what was the name of the Bible that they pray to, like, all of these things were really kind of hard to find. And so I spent a lot of time doing library searches and textbooks, like a lot of kind of facts based not very exciting, you know, going through pages and pages and pages to find one little nugget of something. So it was a really long process. And then I think I signed with Black Rose before the pandemic, so I kind of bypassed that whole difficult time, luckily,
Ashley Hasty 5:40
were you able to travel? Or did you need to travel to do any research? And did you have favorite sources? Or was anything particularly challenging or surprisingly easy to find?
Kerry Chaput 5:50
Yeah, so I really wanted to my sister and I were supposed to go to Quebec, actually, last summer, and of course, didn't happen. And so I really didn't get a chance to do that. I have been to France several times. But I've never been to La Rochelle, where the book takes place. What surprised me that was really helpful was the Google Streetview because I dropped into lava shell and then I would follow the streets or and you could see the buildings. And you could see because you know, of course, France will. And actually, Old Town, Quebec is exactly the same pretty much as it was back in the 1600s. So it was able to get a view of what the street look like and what the layout was. And that was surprisingly helpful to orient yourself to know where things are. And you know, I have a lot of action in this book. And so discret, you can't just keep describing reading demonstrates, like you need to talk about, you know, landmarks or whatever. So that was really helpful. And then, you know, little things, like, I found YouTube videos of a teacher who she teaches fashion, and how history kind of was shaped by fashion and vice versa. And she broke down exactly what people were wearing around the time of King Louie, you know, and it was really quite fascinating. And she broke it down to the undergarments to the next layer to the next layer to the hats. And I was like, Oh, that was surprisingly helpful. Because when you can't envision what the dress looks like in the shoes, it was actually a lot harder to write. So these little things that came up, not in your typical historical searches, were actually really helpful.
Ashley Hasty 7:20
So this is your third novel, correct? Is my third published Yeah. Republished as your writing process changed between your first novel? And this one?
Kerry Chaput 7:30
Yes, very much. So this was the second one that I wrote, I was still a very new writer. And I'm, I found out through this process that I'm a revision writer. I'm big revisions, like starting over from the beginning, over and over again. So I did that several times as daughter of the king, I was reading all the craft books and, and learning at the time working with a great critique group, it was just sort of trial and error thing when I was reading this, this first book, and then actually put it away for a while because you know, you can only do so much. And it was like a break. And then I wrote another book, I think I just learned a lot more about the craft of it. Every book you write, you learned something new.
Ashley Hasty 8:04
What advice would you give to writers like me who have not yet published a novel?
Kerry Chaput 8:09
Oh, gosh, you know, my favorite piece of advice is to not be afraid to write the wrong thing. I say this to people all the time, because I feel like writers paralyze themselves with fear, you know, we're very afraid to write the wrong thing, and that the sentence has to be perfect. And the word choice has to be perfect. And what if the scene goes wrong, and you've got a million choices, right? And so it's easy to stop yourself and think I have to find the perfect one of those. And I'm gonna say, you don't, okay to write the wrong thing. It's okay to write the wrong direction. And sometimes you'll run in the wrong direction. And you can feel it and you sense it, you go, it's not right. And unfortunately, you do have to erase a page or two or three sometimes. But that taught you one of those ways isn't going to work. So you need to find another way. So I just really believe in the forward momentum, and continuing to write by intuition. And you can feel as you're writing if something feels off or not, right, or you know, you need to change it, but you can't do anything if you're not putting words on the page.
Ashley Hasty 9:07
I've not heard the term before revisionist writer, but I'm afraid that that might be what I be
Kerry Chaput 9:14
say it's not the easiest way.
Ashley Hasty 9:19
I'd love to hear what authors are reading. They always had the best book recommendation. So can you tell us a bit about your reading world? What do you like to read? What books would you recommend right now?
Kerry Chaput 9:29
So I of course, like a avid historical fiction reader, but I read a lot I'm three different book clubs. And you know, I just also like to browse the shelves and see what comes up and so I kind of read a little bit of everything, but my first love is historical and currently, my latest obsession is Ruda set up in a say her name wrong Ruta. Sepetys, I believe is how you say her name. She writes historical with younger protagonists, so she's actually why considered way but I've read two of her books recently. that have just blown me away. The most recent one was I must betray you and it said in 1989, Romania, and it's kind of what teenagers were going through behind the Iron Curtain. And it is mind blowing. I mean, I read it in a weekend, I couldn't put it down. So she really is high on my list of favorites. I have another one of my favorites recently, I think is one of yours as well. Magnolia Palace, which is great. I think anything by her and like, yeah, great claim. Yeah. But I pretty much read it comes out from her. So. So those are been a few of my favorites.
Ashley Hasty 10:32
And can you tell us anything about your work in progress? What can we expect next from you.
Kerry Chaput 10:37
So I've got two works in progress. Because I can't stop myself, I actually a sequel designer, the king will be coming out in March of 2023. I, that rough rough draft is done. It's just sort of breathing for a little bit. And then I'm going to go back probably next month and keep editing that. And then I'm also working on a actually a ye historical fantasy, which I'm in revision sport as well. So I'm kind of jumping back and forth between these two worlds.
Ashley Hasty 11:04
I of course, want to share how people can find you can you tell us where you hang out on social media?
Kerry Chaput 11:09
I'm most active on Instagram, I find that that's your I think you're like that too. Right? It's it's definitely kind of my preferred platform. But I have to say I started tick tock and I'm really enjoying it. I did not expect to, but I'm actually really having a lot of fun over there. So I'd say Instagram at Carey writes and tick tock care rates. And then I have the same website Kerry rates.com.
Ashley Hasty 11:29
They say tick tock is like the next big thing for books and I have not yet figured it out. So I'm gonna have to follow you. I thought already. I might be
Kerry Chaput 11:38
like, yeah, it's this whole new world and this whole new language and like just sort of lurked for a little while and checked everybody out. And then once I have kind of gotten into it, I've had fun just reaching out to the community and meeting other other authors that are kind of in our same position. It's been fun.
Ashley Hasty 11:54
Yeah, Instagrams definitely been my platform. It's the one that I gravitate to the most. Yeah, like most writers are hanging out on Twitter. Most readers are on Instagram and probably now the younger readers are on Tik Tok. So absolutely well replaces
Kerry Chaput 12:10
all the places well, and I kind of wanted to get on tick tock because I'm my protagonists are always around 1819 years old. So I kind of straddle that line between adult in the way, but some projects like this one I'm working on is definitely in the way camp. And so we got on tick tock just to kind of get in that world a little bit for those readers to see what they're looking for and what they like. And I found some great authors that I could read, you know, through doing that.
Ashley Hasty 12:32
That's interesting. I'm curious, what draws you to have your protagonists be that age?
Kerry Chaput 12:38
That's a really good question. My husband has asked the same thing. Like why why do you keep writing the same time period? I think it was just because for me in my life, that was the first so I like that moment of vulnerability where you get to learn something new about the world, I think that I'm continually drawn to that I write a lot about found family is probably the most common thing in all of my books. Because I love that idea of forming your own life as you step into adulthood and surrounding yourself with people that make you feel like you've found a home and ever home.
Ashley Hasty 13:10
Yeah. And take that natural progression at 18 into adulthood and then compound that with what the daughters of the King experience.
Kerry Chaput 13:21
And that's what's so funny about this. I mean, what makes it an adult book is because yeah, she was you know, might teen but she was like running for her life on the streets of France and was fighting the cake, you know, and the rules at the time. And so it it's another layer of stress for that poor 19 year old
Ashley Hasty 13:41
one, Carrie, it was such a pleasure meeting you. Thank you so much for joining me and sharing your book with our listeners. Oh, thanks
Kerry Chaput 13:47
for having me. It's so fun. Oh,
Ashley Hasty 13:49
my pleasure. Always.