New Books Network Interview: Meg Wahlberg

As Meg Merriet Wahlberg notes in my latest New Books Network interview, the view of the Middle Ages conveyed in a lot of historical fiction—especially romance novels, although she doesn’t mention them specifically—bears little resemblance to the harshly regulated and stratified society, based as much on violence as on chivalry, that characterized Europe in the eleventh through fifteenth centuries. In particular, the restrictions placed on both men and women from birth could cripple personalities that, for one reason or another, did not conform to society’s rules.

Such is the case of Rowen and her twin brother, Roland, in Chivalry in the Shadows, the first novel in Wahlberg’s historical series. Read on to find out more, but then listen to the interview, where we discuss these and other related topics in greater depth.

As usual, the rest of this post comes from New Books in Historical Fiction.

Medieval Brittany, with all its contradictions and complexities, comes alive in Meg Wahlberg’s Chivalry in the Shadows (Parkwood Manor Press, 2024). The author has studied and taught medieval literature, and it shows in her richly imagined descriptions of a world long lost, ruled by assumptions and obligations very different from our own.

But however evocative of the time and place in which it is set, Chivalry in the Shadows goes far beyond standard descriptions of the Middle Ages. Its heroine, Rowen, and her twin brother, Roland, would have to have been born in each other’s bodies to fit neatly into their society. Rowen will gladly fight for the woman she loves, whereas Roland would rather abandon chivalry altogether for music—to the great disgust of their father, determined to see both his children honor the traditions that have defined his life.

How the twins negotiate the gap between their individual strengths and the expectations placed upon them, you will have to read the novel to find out.