Why I wrote The Saint’s Mistress (part one)
I came to write The Saint’s Mistress via a trail of books.
At the library one April night in 2006, a book called The Well-Educated Mind caught my eye. The Well-Educated Mind recommended Saint Augustine’s Confessions as the first example of a modern autobiography. I was intrigued by that, but a little daunted by the prospect of a book written in the 5th century by an early Father of the Church.
A few months later, again at the library, I happened to notice a short biography of Augustine by Garry Wills. I remembered my interest in the Confessions and thought this short, modern book might be a way to ease myself into Augustine. It was in the Wills book that I discovered Leona – or, more accurately, the faint, ancient scent of her.
Wills wrote a little of Augustine’s beloved, whom he mentions briefly, but never names, in his Confessions. I learned that this unnamed woman had been Augustine’s mistress of many years, and that they had had a child together who died as a young man. Wow, I thought, what must her life have been like? Then: Hmmmm, what WOULD it have been like? And so a flame was lit.
The wonderful thing about Leona is that nothing was known of her, other than what little I learned from Wills. She was Augustine’s mistress. They are believed to have met in Carthage. They had a son. The son died. After that, history is absolutely silent. I could make up anything I wanted, including her name. My only constraints were the historically established facts of Augustine’s life and 4th-5th century Christianity.
I was an amateur, sporadically published, writer of short stories, travel articles and essays. I had finished one novel that I wasn’t quite satisfied with and had no idea how to submit for publication anyway. I had no experience with historical research. My life also included a demanding full-time job, a husband, a son in college, and a daughter and baby grandson who had just moved back in with us. So, of course, I had to write this book….TO BE CONTINUED