Snow in Leiden: Larne author Angeline King pens new historical novel
A Larne author has told of how time spent living in The Netherlands and working in the publishing industry inspired her new historical fiction novel.
Angeline King's ‘Snow in Leiden’ is set in The Dutch Republic in 1685.
It follows the story of Cassie and Gilbert, who arrive in the city as refugees after fleeing religious persecution and the ‘Killing Times’ in Scotland.
Backed by the Scottish Kirk in Rotterdam, they set up a printing press to fight for religious freedom. While Cassie finds her voice in a bustling university town, writing and distributing covert pamphlets on women’s anatomy, she cannot escape the watchful eyes of her kirk or her patron - nor can she escape her marital inheritance.
The author of a number of novels, including 2024’s The Secret Diary of Stephanie Agnew and 2020's Dusty Bluebells, Angeline lived in Leiden for three years.
She was working for McGraw-Hill Ltd, an international publishing company during one of the most tumultuous periods in modern history. "11 September 2001 was my first day; I was on a plane to London at the time of the attack on the Twin Towers," Angeline recalled.
Explaining the historical basis for her latest book, she added: "In the seventeenth-century United Provinces, there was a Scots and Scots-Irish expatriate community of exiles and refugees built around the Schotse Kerk of Rotterdam. The Livingstons from the famed Eagle Wing journey of 1636 from County Down ended up there.
"My characters, Cassie and Gilbert Ferguson, are fictional, but I surrounded them with real refugees and exiles, like the Livingstons and John Locke. Prince William from the wall near my childhood sweetshop features in the background. This was a period of enlightenment. Such ideas fed directly into the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution and Ireland’s own United Irishmen movement."
During the early 2000s, Angeline experienced publishing at a time of significant change. "Online distribution was about to explode; I visited a giant warehouse in England once and thought I was surveying the end of civilisation," she said.
"Five novels, a history book, a children’s book and umpteen poems and essays later, and I began thinking about why we publish in the first place – or, rather, why I publish. Is it from necessity or will?
"My characters in 1680s Holland were Scots and Scots-Irish Covenanters who wrote with clear political objectives. Independent publishing was publishing. Pamphleteering was big business, and whoever had the keys to the press had the keys to something much greater. The press was one of the most powerful weapons used against the aggressor of the day, Louis XIV of France.
"The protagonist of Snow in Leiden asks if we should publish when we feel murderous. I have never felt particularly murderous about anything, but maybe reclaiming the voices of those brave women and men who stood up to tyrants in the 1680s is a good enough reason to write a book."
Published by Leschenault Press, the Belfast book launch of Snow in Leiden is on Thursday, October 29 at 6.30pm in the Shankill Library.