Sophie Perinot Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

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Sophie Perinot
Sophie Perinot writes stories set against the past that explore issues and feelings so essentially human that they transcend any era in particular.

Sophie has a law degree and a BA in history. She quit practicing law in order to pursue more artistic interests, including writing. As an active member of the Historical Novel Society, she’s attended all of the group’s North American Conferences and has served as a panelist on numerous occasions.

Sophie has worked with novelists such as Eliza Knight, Kate Quinn, Ben Kane, and Heather Webb to create collaborative novels about Pompeii’s destruction and the French Revolution.

When she is not visiting corners of the past, she lives in Great Falls, Virginia.

While searching for one novel she quite often finds ideas for another. “The Sister Queens”, for example, arose out of this footnote in a book on Notre Dame during her research on some 16th century project. Her current WIP was sparked by a song, which was so striking that her young son and Sophie needed to pull off the road in order to finish listening to it. She is gut driven, she needs to have a genesis moment, as she calls it.

At one point, she had the privilege of hearing Bernard Cornwell speak. He insisted that writing is a business and there’s no real thing of writer’s block anymore than there’s a “dentist’s block”. He asked them to imagine showing up for some dental appointment to just get told by the nurse the dentist was not filling teeth on that day. It helped Sophie immensely hearing that. During work hours, albeit truncated by some other occupations, she sits in her chair and writes without excuses.

“The Sister Queens” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2012. Eleanor and Marguerite were rivals, like most sisters are. They were queens, too.

Raised at the court of Raymon Berenger (their dad), Court of Provence, Eleanor and Marguerite are separated by their royal marriages, yet never truly parted.

Perfect, patient, and used to being first, Marguerite ends up becoming the Queen of France. However Louis IX is a religious zealot that denies himself the companionship and love that his wife so craves. Can she borrow just enough of her sister’s boldness in order to grasp her chance for happiness in this forbidden love?

Strong willed, passionate, and stubborn, Eleanor becomes the Queen of England. Henry III is a good man, sure, however just not a good king. Can Eleanor quit competing with Marguerite and value what she’s got or is she going to let it slip away?

This is historical fiction at its most compelling, and is quite an unforgettable debut novel.

The writing here is easy and polished, with natural and distinct voices. The expert use of present tense brings some immediacy to what very well might be a foreign setting. It’s easy to root for Marguerite, and you long to drop an anvil on King Louis’ smug head. This is an accomplished debut. The men in the novel are not mere paper doll accessories for the women, however they’re fully rounded and complex characters all on their own. Henry of England is an impulsive and flawed ruler yet a doting husband and a loving dad. Louis of France is quite the able administrator yet also a religious fanatic.

“A Day of Fire” is the second stand alone novel and was released in 2014. From six bestselling authors (including Kate Quinn and Sophie Perinot) comes this vividly imagined novel that follows the lives of those living in ancient Pompeii on the fateful day Mount Vesuvius erupts.

Pompeii was this lively resort that flourished in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius right at the Roman Empire’s height. When Vesuvius erupted in this explosion of ash and flame, the whole town would be ruined. Some of its citizens died in all the chaos, some escaped from the mountain’s wrath, and here are their stories:

One young mom faces this impossible decision for her unborn child while the ash falls.

One heiress dreads her wedding day, not knowing it’s all going to get swallowed by fire.

This boy loses his innocence in Pompeii’s flourishing streets.

This crippled senator welcomes death, until this tomboy riding a horse comes to rescue him.

One prostitute and priestess seek resurrection and redemption while the town gets buried.

One ex-legionary stakes his whole future on a gladiator bout destined never to get finished.

Six writers bring to life some overlapping tales of slaves and patricians, politicians and warriors, heroes and villains who cross one another’s paths during the fiery end of Pompeii. However who’ll escape, and who will get buried for eternity?

“Medicis Daughter” is the third stand alone novel and was released in 2015. Winter in 1564. Young and beautiful Princess Margot gets summoned to the court of France, where one wrong word can lead to ruin and nothing is what it appears to be. Known all around Europe is Madame la Serpente, Margot’s intimidating mom, Queen Catherine de Medicis, is this powerful force in a country having been devastated by religious war. Among all the crafty nobility of the royal court, Margot learns the unspoken and intriguing rules that she must live by in order to please her rather poisonous family.

Yearning to be an obedient daughter, she accepts her role as a marriage pawn, even while being charmed by Duc de Guise, the charismatic and powerful. Even though her heart belongs to Guise, her hand is going to be offered up to Henry of Navarre, this Huguenot leader and quite the notorious heretic that’s looking to seal this tenuous truce. However this promised peace is just a mirage: her mom’s schemes are neverending, and her brothers plot vengeance in the Paris streets. When Margot’s wedding devolves into the bloodshed of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, she’ll be forced to pick between her soul and her family.

This is historical fiction at its finest, weaving quite the coming of age tale and a forbidden love with one of the most violent and dramatic events in French history.